Dan Smith, Acting Director of the National Park Service, will appear on Wednesday before the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee to be questioned about his agency's mission and spending priorities. It is essential that this Committee insist he withdraw the unpopular and unconstitutional new anti-protest rules proposed last fall by the Trump Administration.
As you probably recall, the Trump Administration is taking action to shut down protests in Washington, D.C.
Over 140,000 people resoundingly opposed this outrageous effort to eviscerate the cherished right to protest in the nation's capital, submitting formal comments to the National Park Service by October 15, 2018.
Now it's time to urge the House of Representatives to reflect this public opposition when Mr. Smith comes before them.
New proposed rules would impose steep fees and costs on demonstrations in Washington, D.C; effectively ban protests on the iconic White House sidewalk; force protesters to pay the costs of barricades erected at police discretion, park officials wages and overtime, and harm to grass from standing on it; create waiting periods removing any obligation of the government to promptly process or approve permits; restrict and suppress spontaneous demonstrations that respond to breaking events; create hair-triggers allowing police to end protests for the most minor of issues; restrict sound and staging; ban long term vigils or protest presences; make protesters pay for expensive "turf covers," among many other radical restrictions of free speech rights.
Feel free to personalize your letter before sending!
VERY urgent! Please circulate far and wide and on social media
• To read the formal comment on behalf of impacted organizations submitted by the PCJF click here.
• To read the PCJF's more expansive formal comment and legal analysis click here.
