The state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs has asked protesters to remove unattended signs and not set up furniture
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Less than a dozen protesters man the camp at Occupy Trenton, a much smaller off-shoot of Occupy Wall Street, set up shop at the New Jersey World War II Memorial, on Oct. 11. Tension between anti-greed protesters and police continues to grow nationwide. TRENTON — As tension between police and anti-greed protesters escalates across the country, the New Jersey American Civil Liberties Union today argued the state is infringing on first amendment rights of “Occupy Trenton” protesters.
The state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs has asked the protesters to remove unattended signs, and asked they not set up furniture or use the park’s electricity.
Judge Mary Jacobson heard more than an hour of arguments from the two sides today, but delayed making a decision on whether the state can enforce those guidelines.
“The state is making it up,” ACLU attorney Bennet Zurofsky argued in Superior Court in Trenton today. “They can’t change what’s available to the public because they don’t like the way some of the public is using it.”
The ACLU is asking the court to stop the State Police and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs from enforcing the guidelines established in an Oct. 13 letter from the Raymond Zawacki, an Assistant Commissioner for department. The department is responsible for the World War II Memorial across from the Statehouse, where the protesters have set up shop since Oct. 6.
Zawacki’s letter asks the protesters not to use the electricity or the generator, warns that unattended items, such as signs, will be considered garbage, and says the park is not a campground, so occupiers must remove tables, chairs and tents.
State Police have also seized some of those items, according to the ACLU.
The state argued today the clutter of the occupation diminishes the aesthetic value, accessibility, and safety of the park.
“It is not a campground, it is not intended nor designed to be a campground,” argued Assistant Attorney General Robert Lougy. “Camping is not in the parameters of the First Amendment.”
Lougy insisted the guidelines for using the park were not based on the subject of the protester’s speech.
“They’re not in any way content based,” Lougy said. “The constitution does not require the state to allow uses of property for what was never intended.”
But Zurofsky argued the protesters’ actions are in line with the purpose of the memorial, which honors World War II veterans who fought to uphold the Constitution.
“The best way to honor first amendment rights is to exercise them,” Zurofsky said, adding the state’s actions “doesn’t respect due process, it doesn’t respect speech, it doesn’t respect basic property rights.”
The Occupy Trenton group doesn’t typically number more than a handful of people. Some have stayed overnight at the memorial. They have a food station set up, and use a generator to plug into the park’s electrical outlets and power their computers.
Edward-Anthony Salter, 29, one of the organizers, said they will continue to use the generator while the judge makes her decision, despite the state asking the group to remove the generator.
“We’re facilitating the right of free speech for the community,” Salter said.
Related coverage:
• Occupy Wall Street protests march on Jersey City, Trenton
• Braun: Occupy Wall Street began as a message and grew into a movement