Last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville is opening a new conversation about how local governments issue permits for groups to hold marches and rallies.
Should Charlottesville have issued a permit to the racist groups that marched last weekend? The violence that erupted is prompting Governor Terry McAuliffe to review the process of how local governments issue permits and how that process might improve. Frank Shafroth at George Mason University points out the British Parliament wanted to ban revolutionary groups from speaking in Virginia during colonial times.
“The state’s got to have a vital role in helping its cities and counties figure out how do we ensure the right to gather to protest but without endangering rights and property.”
One city councilman in Portsmouth wants to ban hate groups from receiving permits to assemble, but Virginia ACLU director Claire Gastanaga says there’s an existing case out of Arlington that provides a specific roadmap for that.
“If you are really seeking to deny permits to people, you have to provide specific evidence that that individual or group or speaker presents an imminent threat of harm.”
Officials in Governor McAuliffe’s administration denied several requests to be interviewed for this story.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
