Legal, public protest is a protected right in the United States.
You can be arrested for protesting on a public sidewalk, but such arrests are rare and frankly, they are not allowed by the law, in this case, by the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The arrest last week of a man protesting corruption at Everett City Hall in front of city hall on a public sidewalk was a travesty.
Curiously, we do not fault the Everett Police for arresting the protester, as he allegedly “assaulted” a DPW employee “trying to do his job” removing the protester’s signs from the sidewalk.
What was unjust about the arrest is that we believe it was ordered by either the mayor or his paid errand boys and girls at city hall trying to show they are protective of the mayor’s sanctity.
By stifling public dissent about complaints alleging corruption at Everett City Hall, the city government is taking Draconian measures to keep city hall clean of corruption charges made on its sidewalk.
The only problem with such a policy?
Protesters have the right, the protected right, to protest in front of Everett City Hall while standing on the public sidewalk at city hall.
Protesters do no have the right to “assault” anyone at any time.
That being said, it is disappointing that the arrest of the protestor to satisfy the folks at city hall working for mayor did not have to come to that.
The EPD are experts at deescalating situations.
An arrest is the last thing the EPD wants to accomplish if the arrest can be avoided.
This arrest could have been avoided and it should have been avoided.
But it wasn’t because EPD didn’t cause the arrest to be made.
Rather, the mayor and or his underlings caused the arrest to be made.
This cannot be allowed to happen again.
City Hall is among the most sacred of public places in the city. Protesting in front of city hall is a right, not a privilege.
The right to peacefully protest on the public sidewalk in front of Everett City Hall must be protected instead of being abused, and in this recent case, it was abused.