ACLU: Anti-war protesters’ rights violated by police

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, March 22, 2005 | 9:19 a.m.

The Metro Police officers who arrested scores of anti-war protesters outside the Bellagio on Saturday may have violated the demonstrators' civil rights, representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday.

Exactly how many people were arrested in connection with the alleged crime was disputed by the protesters, who contacted the ACLU on Monday.

Police recorded nine people arrested, Officer Jose Montoya, a Metro spokesman, said. Members of the loose-knit, anti-war coalition consisting largely of UNLV students told the ACLU that between 20 and 25 people were arrested, Allen Lichtenstein, an attorney for the Southern Nevada ACLU, said.

Montoya said the protesters were arrested after they began running into the resort and onto the road as part of the demonstration.

The demonstrators told the ACLU that they were told they needed permits to protest on the sidewalk. Montoya said a permit would have been necessary only if they were to be demonstrating in the landscaped median.

"On this one, I wouldn't think they'd need a permit, if all they're doing is protesting and it's peaceful," he said.

Gary Peck, executive director of the local chapter of the ACLU, said, "They don't need a permit to be out there exercising their First Amendment rights, period."

The protesters were arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and standing in the roadway, both misdemeanors. They were booked at the Clark County Detention Center, Montoya said.

If true, the protesters' allegations would go against what had become a cooperative relationship between the police department and the advocacy group, Lichtenstein said.

"It describes something very different from what we've in the past experienced with the (Metro) police," Lichtenstein said.

Yvette Monet, a spokeswoman for MGM Mirage, the Bellagio's parent company, said hotel security was not involved in the incident.

As owner of the sidewalk in front of the hotel, the company restricts commercial speech on the property but cannot enforce restrictions on protest speech because the sidewalk functions as a public thoroughfare, Monet said.

The company's hotels have been the site of other protests, ranging from anti-war groups congregating in front of New York-New York and animal rights organizations protesting outside the Mirage.