LawCall: First Amendments Rights & Protest Rights

Attorneys Will League and Chris Wooten discuss First Amendments rights in regards to protests.

League: we have chris on zoom.

Social distancing still.

Welcome to lawline.

>> sharon doviet: and your office is close to where the protesting has been going on in huntsville.

You have seen things.

We started talking about your rights to protests and also your rights as a property owner?

>> will league: you know, unprecedented time for huntsville.

We had obviously -- i the everyone can agree in george floyd was awful, criminal and the result of that, it might be time for protest.

You have, with regard to protest, you have guaranteed right to free speech.

Basically you have a right to free speech unless you're inciting a riot, things of that nature.

If you get a permit, like, for example, june 3rd, ncaa -- excuse me... >> sharon doviet: you're missing your sports, aren't you?

>> will league: got a permit, well attended run organized righteous anger, all the things you expect from a righteous protest that was peaceful.

And after the time limit ran, there's debate when that time period was up, 95% of the protesters left and a couple hundred went up at the courthouse and began to protest as well.

So when does it become lawful protest into illegal activity?

So you're not allowed to gather five or more people with the cause of -- with the purpose of conducting a riot, which would cause any type of fear or injury or damage.

So once you're there, the police officers, if they ask you to disperse you have to do so.

A lot of people ask, they're on the sidewalk, why can't we protest on the sidewalk?

It it's outside the permit period, and while they're there -- there's two sides to this, but they were, you know, inciting an altercation with the police.

Now, the other side is they were peacefully protesting.

But, again, once you're outside the time period, the officers have a duty to protect the protesters, public property, and injuries to the officers.

They requested they disperse several occasions and once they failed to obey the law or the request from the police, it's a -- at that point it's an unlawful assembly, and that can be five or more people with the intention of inciting a riot, words of anger, things of that nature.

If that's the case, the police can use force to remove that.

Hpd, i was there, sharon.

We had -- our building was done town.

Other buildings were boarded up and there's debate whether or not there was intelligence, whether there was going to be damage to personal property in downtown huntsville.

So the officers have -- they've got to protect the protesters, themselves, the public, and all the property in downtown huntsville.

So they've got -- you know, a night is coming, and things get crazier as the night progresses, and so they made the decision -- it's my understanding they allowed the protest to go on an hour and a half >> sharon doviet: past the time period.

>> will league: past the permit time.

And asked everyone to disperse on several occasions.

The debate is were there things thrown at the officers?

Officers are trained to accept -- not threats but, you know, words and cuss words and things like that, but once it becomes an unlawful assembly, they can come in and clear.

Now, you know, the debate is, you know, with the gas that was used, would you rather police officers use gas or put their hands on human beings?

And once officers put their hands on people, things can get crazy real fast.

And so it's a difficult job for the police force, the sheriff's office, and huntsville city, you know, it's -- i feel like they did a good job under the circumstances based on what i saw.

Again, i did not see everything.

I'm sure there were protesters that were peaceful that, you know, were unfairly gassed or with rubber bullets.

But the law is if they request you to disperse, whether you're peaceful or not and you fail to abide by the law, they have the right and duty to protect public property, injuries themselves to clear the area, especially with the -- with nightfalling.

So there's a big debate going on no huntsville whether or not the huntsville police department and sheriff's department acted appropriately.

I feel they were within the law, based on what i saw.

But i didn't see everything, chris.

What are your thoughts?

>> sharon doviet: i wanted to take, chris, another damage.

If there's property damage, i assumed insurance will cover it.

Chris is saying that may not be the case.

>> chris wooten: that is something if you are a property owner and an event occurs and you suffer property damage, broken windows, graffiti, something gets set on fire, something like that, whether it's covered will depend in terms of your actual insurance policy.

You want to take a very close look at that.

There are some insurance policies that do not cover things that are considered acts of terrorism or civil disobedience, basically being a riot.

So if there is a riot and your property is damaged, depending on your policy, it may or may not be covered.

However just one person or small group of people throwing bricks or set something on fire but below the level of a riot, depending on your policy language it would still be covered.

Basically it's just regular everyday crime.

So that's why you want to really take a look at your policy.

>> will league: and in times of civil unrest, would you advise business owners, property owners in the downtown area where protests occur consider to look at the poll san diego obtain the coverage?

Nobody has a crystal ball, but, again... >> chris wooten: this is a situation where it's uncertain times and you want to make sure you're taking the appropriate steps to cross your is and dot your ts.

For instance, this incident that occurred over in atlanta, you know, a man was killed by police, there's debate going on right now whether or not that was appropriate.

But it just happened in a parking lot of a wendy's.

Now that wendy's has been burned down.