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The official blog run by the City of Bethlehem Police Department. We will be posting event information, traffic alerts, crime alerts and suspect photos and video.

Bethlehem Police Supports Occupy Bethlehem

The political group, Occupy Bethlehem, has indicated that they will be in the City of Bethlehem starting on the morning of Friday 21 October 2011 protesting outside of the Civic Center Complex on Payrow Plaza. The Bethlehem Police Department supports an individual’s Constitutional Rights to Free Speech and Assembly.

Streets and parks “have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions.”, Hague v. C.I.O., 307 U.S. 496, 515 (1939). That principle has been reiterated in case after case. It is important to understand that protesters and demonstrators have rights protected by the Constitution, specifically regarding freedom of speech and the right to assemble peacefully.
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There is a general proposition that amplified speech, such as through the use of bullhorns, is protected expression. “The First Amendment protects effective speech, not merely uttered words, and effective speech sometimes requires that ideas be transformed into musical speech, loud speech, financial speech or other forms of expression that a casual reading of the First Amendment might not reveal as "speech." See Ward, 109 S.Ct. at 2753 (music); Federal Election Comm'n v. National Conservative Political Action Comm., 470 U.S. 480, 493, 105 S.Ct. 1459, 1466, 84 L.Ed.2d 455 (1985) (political financial contributions); Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 4, 96 S.Ct. 612, 627, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976) (same). In fact, the Court in National Conservative Political Action Comm. appears to endorse the idea that amplified speech is sometimes essential to effective communication and deserves protection” See Stokes v. City of Madison, 930 F.2d 1163, 1168-69 (7th Cir. 1991).

Any action taken by the Bethlehem Police will be based only on the conduct of persons at the gathering, rather than the content of their speech, absent fighting words which would be so inflammatory and directed at an individual so as to require our intervention.

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 414 (1989) “n public debate our own citizens must tolerate insulting, and even outrageous, speech in order to provide adequate breathing space to the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.”

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation, Occupy Bethlehem

Posted by Bethlehem Police at 8:34
http://bethlehempolice.blogspot.com/2011/10/bethlehem-police-supports-
occupy.html

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