LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California sent a letter today to the Los Angeles Police Department demanding that it immediately stop the harassment of protesters at their organizing headquarters, the Convergence Center. The ACLU, joined by private attorneys Carol Sobel, Robert Myers, and Karl Mannheim, the Midnight Special Law Collective, the Working People's Law Center, and the National Lawyers Guild, sent the letter on behalf of the Community Arts Network, the D2K Convention Planing Coalition, and the Rise Up/Direct Action Network. The groups have been using a four-story building at 1919 W. Seventh St. in Los Angeles to prepare for the Democratic National Convention.

The letter cites numerous instances of harassment, including surveillance, selective enforcement of traffic laws near the Convergence Center, and police visits without warrants.

"The LAPD is once again engaged in a dangerous game," said Dan Tokaji, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, "They've crossed the line separating legitimate security preparations from unlawful harassment that violates protesters' First and Fourth Amendment rights. The mere potential for a disturbance does not justify the suspension of our Constitutional rights."

"Throughout the process of planning for this convention, the LAPD has pursued an unswerving course of alarmism, division, and fear-mongering," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California. "The tactics of intimidation and harassment targeting protesters at their organizing center are part of that approach. At each fork in the road during this process, the LAPD has had choices -- unfortunately, the department has too often chosen to lay the groundwork for a confrontation rather than build the framework for a peaceful convention. They envision another Seattle and their every action unintentionally contributes to just such a scenario."

"Harassment, surveillance, and 'visits' without any purpose and without a warrant create an environment that is ultimately hostile to free speech," said Tokaji. "These actions are intended to inspire fear and, as far as they succeed in doing that, they also put a chilling effect on speech."

The ACLU of Southern California has requested a satisfactory reply to its letter by August 9, 2000; without which, it will seek a temporary restraining order on August 10.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union and the City of Los Angeles signed an agreement today that will allow protesters to engage in free speech at the Democratic National Convention. The plan wasdrawn up as a result of a preliminary injunction issued by Judge Gary Feess of the U.S. Central District Court in a suit brought by the ACLU of Southern California.

The agreed upon plan shifts the security perimeter, allowing protesters to demonstrate across the street from the northeast corner of the Staples Center and along Figueroa St. N of 11th and lays out a provisional system of permitting in lieu of the city's unconstitutional schemes. The agreement was submitted today to Judge Feess.

"This plan works for free speech and works for security; it's something we've said all along was possible," said Dan Tokaji, staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern California. "After nearly a week of intensive negotiation, protesters will be within sight and earshot of their intended audience. Moreover, the city's unconstitutional method of dealing with parade and park use permits is history. The agreement means that the voices of the people will not be silenced."

"This is welcome news," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California, "especially in the context of the fear-mongering that has occurred of late. Free speech is not incompatible with planning for a secure and peaceful convention."

LOS ANGELES - Judge Gary Feess issued a written order today requiring the City of Los Angeles and its police department to accommodate free speech during the Democratic National Convention and prohibiting them enforcing their current park use and parade permit granting schemes. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sought the preliminary injunction on behalf of Service Employees International Union, Local 660; the Los Angeles Coalition to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the D2K Convention Planning Coalition, all of whom plan peaceful protests near the convention site.

"The court's order is a ringing defense of our Constitutional rights to speak freely and to gather peacefully," said Dan Tokaji, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. "It identifies political conventions as crucial to our democracy, and it decisively rejects the LAPD's attempt to cut off speakers from their audience. This is a real victory for free speech, for our democracy, and for the people of Los Angeles."

The ACLU brought its case to challenge three limits the City has placed or plans to place on free speech: the City's proposed "security zone," which would have sealed off a 186-acre area around the convention site from any free speech activity; the City's parade permit granting scheme, which requires a 40-day advance application and has a waiver process without any limit on the City's discretion, and the City's requirement of a permit for any free speech activity in a park which might draw a crowd. Judge Feess's order prevents the City from limiting First Amendment rights in any of these ways. The City and the Los Angeles Police Department must create constitutional alternatives to their unconstitutional plans.

"The LAPD's job is to ensure that officers create an atmosphere of respect, calm, and order within the bounds of our Constitution," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California, "The LAPD until now has insisted on presenting us with a false choice: security or freedom of speech. Judge Feess very properly rejected that formulation."

"It's absolutely critical at this juncture," said Ripston, "to defuse the fearful, overwrought atmosphere that has been created by LAPD leaders about civilians exercising their free speech rights. If officers are fearful and feel besieged before the Convention even starts, then they're much less likely to use their best judgment and reason when responding to the challenges an event of this magnitude presents."

The ACLU is joined in this lawsuit by attorney Carol Sobel, Robert Myers, of Newman. Aronson. Vanaman., and law professor Karl Manheim of Loyola Law School.