Occupy nashville haslam

Historically, other groups had been permitted to gather at the plaza without a permit. The state arrested the Occupy Nashville demonstrators under the new rules. The lawsuit alleged that the state illegally revised the rules controlling Legislative Plaza, arresting protesters without probable cause and due process as a means to chill their free speech.

The new rules were adopted improperly, by fiat in secret and without notice. They were also being applied unequally, as patrons of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center were still permitted to be in Legislative Plaza after 10 p. On October 31, , a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that stopped the State of Tennessee from enforcing the rules that violated the free speech rights of the Occupy Nashville protesters.

News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Special Projects Highline. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. Part of HuffPost Business. Instead, troopers detained them at the jail and began issuing citations for criminal trespass.

They didn't go free until approximately 9 a. In Knoxville for a University of Tennessee trustees meeting the next day, Haslam warned that state troopers would enforce the Capitol's new curfew again that night if Occupy Nashville protesters refused to back down. And so they did. Just after midnight Saturday, Oct. In their dragnet, they also swept up Scene reporter Jonathan Meador, there to cover the protests — as he does in the story on p. For the second straight time, Judge Nelson rebuffed the troopers and refused to jail anyone.

That included the state's supposed basis for the curfew: TCA , a statute that essentially empowers the state Department of General Services to cut the grass and weed-eat on the Capitol grounds and tidy up in the offices. There's also this provision: "The department, through proper agencies, has the authority to preserve order among visitors who may be in and around the capitol and annexes, and to keep improper persons out of the different offices and rooms, in the absence of the regular occupants.

Throughout the weekend, the number of observers and supporters swelled on the plaza. For proof of the movement's widening base of support, there was the sight of conservative blogger and former Republican spokesman Bill Hobbs on the plaza, handing out cocoa to the media. The lawsuit filed Monday catalogs all the many ways the protesters say the governor and the state of Tennessee have trampled on their rights. Free speech and free association have been denied at probably the most prominent public forum in the state of Tennessee, and it was done on the fly with flimsy legal authority and without following the state's rule-making process, the lawsuit says.

At the same time, the curfew has been selectively enforced — raising obvious issues about equal protection of the law—with theater-goers from nearby TPAC given carte blanche to stroll freely across the plaza just before the troopers swept in to arrest the protesters.

Haslam claims he acted to protect public safety and because of increasingly unsanitary conditions at the encampment. Protesters say that's merely his pretext for banning their free speech. Recognize a Significant Legal Ruling or Excellence in Legal Services which advance a global understanding of freedom of expression and nominate here or learn more about the prizes.

Closed Mixed Outcome. Global Freedom of Expression is an academic initiative and therefore, we encourage you to share and republish excerpts of our content so long as they are not used for commercial purposes and you respect the following policy:. Attribution, copyright, and license information for media used by Global Freedom of Expression is available on our Credits page. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit found that the defendant Commissioners William Gibbons and Stephen Gates were entitled to qualified immunity as public servants and were therefore not liable for damages.

The State Officials are thus entitled to qualified immunity for their actions. After weeks of the Occupy Nashville protest and occupation of the Nashville War Memorial Plaza Plaza , officials raised concerns about public health and safety. On October 27th, , local officials enacted a curfew in the Plaza that restricted access to the public grounds from 10 PM to 6 AM.

Local officials believed they had the right to enact a curfew and believed they were not infringing upon the rights of the protestors.

However, the curfew was not legally established, as the local officials did not follow protocol for passing a city ordinance.

In addition, the undertaking of public hearings regarding the drafting of the ordinance was disputed, and it was argued that the implementation of the ordinance was done without sufficient warning.