2007-07-26 First Amendment Festival

MEDIA ADVISORY
 
 
 
PHOTOGRAPHERS, PERFORMERS AND CYCLISTS JOIN FORCES TO PROTECT AND CELEBRATE FIRST AMENDMENT FREEDOMS
 
Festival of First Amendment Held Before Critical Mass Ride
 
 
6:30 pm 
First Amendment Festival followed by Critical Mass Ride
Friday, July 27, 2007
Union Square Park, 17th Street & Park Avenue
 
New York, NY (July 26, 2007) – This Friday, July 27th, Critical Mass participants are joined in Union Square Park by a broad range of supporters brought together to resist the current wave of regulatory constraints overwhelming the civil liberties of  New Yorkers. A diverse group of artists, activists, and bicyclists will gather to celebrate and support the visionary authority of the First Amendment and voice concerns regarding discretionary enforcement by The NYPD.
 
One month ago in Union Square, New York City author Reverend Billy, also known as Bill Talen, was arrested and charged with two counts of harassment for reciting the First Amendment through a cardboard megaphone. Friday, Reverend Billy and The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir will sing and preach through 40 “First Amendment Megaphones” created especially for the event.  
 
PictureNY, a newly formed group of filmmakers and photographers, will join the festival in opposition to recently proposed regulations that seriously threaten the rights of photographers and filmmakers to operate in New York City.
 
“This is the time for New Yorkers to be willing to speak out in support of the first amendment rights of free expression and peaceful protest”, says Norman Siegel, Civil Right Attorney.
 
*Festival participants also include Civil Rights Attorney Norman Siegel, Assemble for Rights, Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, Time’s Up! Environmental Group, Pedicab Drivers Association, The Rude Mechanical Orchestra, and Grannies for Peace.
 
For edited version of Reverend Billy arrest see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8H4YATaX1k
 
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TIME’S UP! is a non-profit environmental group that has been using educational outreach and direct action for the last 20 years to promote a more sustainable, less toxic city.

 

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