Spoiled brat teabaggers get to do anything they want but WE can't get protest permits!

[Joanne98]

We can win elections but we just can't get treated like 1st class citizens!

6 Groups Sue Pittsburgh for Protest Permits

PITTSBURGH — Six groups that want to demonstrate during the Group of 20 summit meeting here on Sept. 24-25 filed a federal lawsuit Friday claiming they were being denied the right to protest.

The groups, which engage in a wide array of social justice advocacy, have been talking for over a month with the defendants — the city, the Secret Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources — about logistics surrounding demonstrations.

But only 2 of 13 permits sought have been granted, and those are for events that will be held either outside the downtown area, where leaders of 20 of the world’s largest and emerging economies are to gather, or before the meeting, the lawsuit asserts.

“What they’re essentially doing is refusing permits for any demonstration in downtown Pittsburgh, and that’s unprecedented,” said Witold Walczak, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which is representing the six plaintiffs: Codepink, the 3 Rivers Climate Convergence, the Thomas Merton Center, Pittsburgh Outdoor Artists, Bail Out the People and G-6 Billion.

The city and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which administers the state parks, have said they will grant a permit to the Alliance for Climate Protection, founded by former Vice President Al Gore, for a “free speech festival” on Sept. 23 at downtown Point State Park. The park is in a location where other groups have been denied permits to gather.

Mr. Walczak said a “message we’re hearing is that if you are politically influential and have a lot of money, you can have a permit, but if you’re a little edgy and more critical and not part of the political establishment, we don’t have a permit for you — sorry.”

The city, the state and the Secret Service all said they would not comment on pending litigation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/us/12pittsburgh.html