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> First Amendment rights: filming public officials, attending protests, blocking streets. Is blocking streets a First Amendment right? I heard protestors block
by rdtsc 10y ago
> First Amendment rights: filming public officials, attending protests, blocking streets.
Is blocking streets a First Amendment right? I heard protestors blocking an exit to a hospital sometime ago. I would think that puts lives in danger.
Just wonder what does the law state there. Say a patient in an ambulance dies on the way because of a protest blocking the street. Is there a precedent, what happens then?
- AnthonyMouse 10y agoThe problem with a lot of this is that it's just a pretext. You have laws against blocking an ambulance, and there are legitimate reasons for that. But if what you're really after is to prohibit protesting and the thing being protested is near a hospital so you just go around arresting every protester you can find in the street for blocking an ambulance, that's a different situation.
- rdtsc 10y ago> But if what you're really after is to prohibit protesting and the thing being protested is near a hospital It would seem it would be a good idea to just not organize a protest close to a hospital? Or have a more organized protest that would allow an ambulance to pass...
- itsjohncena 10y agoCan you show examples? This is feeling like a hypothetical you're using to dismiss political speech rather than a genuine concern. I don't doubt it's happened (I can think of a couple of anecdotal examples I've seen in person, as well as plenty of times we let cops through even though we were fully against them), but I also don't think you may have a respect for just how many peaceful protests block roads or buildings in this country every single day without major incidents. As someone else pointed out in this topic: the revolution isn't televised.
- dang 10y agoI appreciate (really, a lot) that you've been commenting civilly. But HN isn't a forum to be used primarily for political or ideological battle. It is for stories and conversations that gratify intellectual curiosity. Those things don't sit well together, because the more powerful forces (political battle) eventually overwhelm the more delicate ones (intellectual curiosity). https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html
- AnthonyMouse 10y ago> It would seem it would be a good idea to just not organize a protest close to a hospital? Or have a more organized protest that would allow an ambulance to pass... That would be fine if there was exactly one law that could be used in this way, but there are a hundred thousand.