Question about protesting and the Masters....

[AllyandJack]

Can I ask why the Court can stop women from protesting the Masters Golf Tournament, but nobody can do anything about people protesting the war by laying in the streets?

I mean, I'm all for people getting together and holding signs and stuff and I guess I don't care if the golf course doesn't allow women since I went to a high school that didn't allow boys, but why is it that women couldn't protest outside the Masters, but a horde of people can block a ship sending supplies to our troops.

I only heard a small story about the Masters protest and how the Court said that they had to stay a certain distance away from the tournament, so if I'm wrong and someone else has more info I'd love to hear it.

 

[JoeThaNo1Stunna]

It's just a matter of location. We CAN stop the war protests from being in certain areas, but can't stop them alltogether. The "Anti-Hootie" protest is being allowed, just not directly adjacent to Augusta National.

 

[Geoff_M]

I haven't been up to speed on the Augusta topic of late, but here's what I remember from the last bit I read. The issue is that the protesters wanted to stand along the entrance road to the course. There is only about 3 feet of public space between the enclosure fence and the road were people could stand. Freedom to assemble doesn't mean you can protest where ever you like. The local police, right or wrong, ruled that the lack of space along a road, that would be very busy during the protest, for people to stand in the planned mass protest would likely create a safety hazard. Instead they ruled that the protest, if held on public land, would have to take place at a park.

As for the protesters laying in the streets, yes we can do something about them... they are arrested.

 

[AllyandJack]

Ah...thank you for the clarification. I saw something on TV about them selling souvenirs saying "Nice Try" or something about the protesters. I guess with the heightened security over everything these days the police had to do what they thought was best to protect the people attending and playing in the tournament. I just wish the police would be more pro-active in banning people from laying in the streets instead of just arresting them once they've done it. Then again, I doubt there were THOUSANDS of women planning the protest like there are for the war demonstrations, so being pro-active might be difficult. I'm not a police officer, so I can't tell them how to do their job.