Cross References — As to emergency management, see Ch.
220; as to unlawful assemblies, see §
210.160.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.010; CC 1979 § 21-11]
For the purposes of this Article, the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this Section:
MEETING
Any assembly together or concert of action between or among
five (5) or more persons for the purpose of protesting any matter
or of making known any position or promotion of such persons, or on
behalf of any organization or class of persons, or for the purpose
of attracting attention to such assembly.
PARADE OR PROCESSION
Any assemblage of five (5) or more persons participating
in, or three (3) or more vehicles being operated in, any march, ceremony,
show, exhibition, or procession of any kind in or upon the public
streets, sidewalks, alleys, parks or other public grounds or places,
not including a bona fide funeral procession.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.020; CC 1979 § 21-12]
No procession or parade shall occupy, march or proceed along
any street, sidewalk or any other public place, nor shall any person
conduct any public or private meeting on any street, sidewalk or other
public place in the City, except in accordance with a permit issued
by the Chief of Police and such other regulations as are set forth
in this Article which may apply.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.030; CC 1979 § 21-13]
A written application shall be made to the Chief of Police by
any person desiring to have a parade, procession or meeting, setting
forth the object, time, place and route of the parade or procession
or the object, time and place of the meeting. The Chief of Police
shall have authority to designate the route of the parade or procession
and the portion of the streets or other public places to be used in
such a way as to avoid as much as possible the obstruction or impediment
of public travel or public business. The Chief of Police may refuse
to issue a permit for a parade, procession or meeting, unless application
therefor is filed with him/her at least twenty-four (24) hours before
the time thereof. In the absence of the Chief of Police, the ranking
officer of the Police Department present shall act in his/her name
and stead.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.040; CC 1979 § 21-14]
Hours of parades or processions shall be restricted to such
periods as necessary to minimize disruption of vehicular and pedestrian
traffic, and no parade or procession shall commence or continue after
sunset or commence before sunrise.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.050; CC 1979 § 21-15]
It shall be unlawful for any person to physically interfere
with processions, marches or meetings, or with the persons lawfully
engaged therein in the use of any street, sidewalk or other public
place, or to address profane, indecent, abusive or threatening language
or other fighting words to or at such participants, which would tend
to provoke such participants or others to a breach of the peace.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.060; CC 1979 § 21-16]
It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct or participate
in any parade, procession or meeting of such character, extent and
duration, or of such nature, as to create a public disturbance, to
operate as a nuisance or to tend to create or threaten rioting, disorderly
conduct or public or private mischief.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.070; CC 1979 § 21-17]
It shall be unlawful for any person conducting or participating
in any parade, procession or meeting to address profane, indecent,
abusive or threatening language or other fighting words to or at any
person, which would tend to provoke such person or others to a breach
of the peace.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.080; CC 1979 § 21-18; Ord. No. 4748 § 1, 2-22-2007]
A. Peaceful
picketing, including demonstrating, in the furtherance of a lawful
purpose shall be permitted in the City, provided the same is done
under the following conditions:
1. Picketing shall be conducted only on the sidewalks or on other City-owned
property normally used or reserved for pedestrian movement, including
easements and rights-of-way, and shall not be conducted on the portion
of a public street or highway used primarily for vehicular traffic.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section to the contrary,
it shall be unlawful for any person to loiter, loaf, wander, stand
or remain idle, either alone or in concert with others, in a public
place in such a manner so as to:
a. Obstruct any public street, public highway or public sidewalk or
any other public place or building by hindering or impeding the free
and uninterrupted passage of vehicles or pedestrians.
b. Commit in or utilize upon any public street, public highway, public
sidewalk or any other public place or building any act or thing which
is an obstruction or interference to the free and uninterrupted use
of such property or with any business lawfully conducted by anyone
in or upon or facing or fronting on any such public street, public
highway, public sidewalk or any other public place or building, all
of which prevents free and uninterrupted ingress, egress and regress
therein, thereon and thereto.
c. When any person causes or commits any of the conditions or acts enumerated
in Subparagraphs (a) or (b) of this Subsection, a Police Officer or
other Law Enforcement Official shall order that person to stop causing
or committing such conditions or acts and to move on or disperse.
Any person who fails or refuses to obey such orders shall be guilty
of a violation of this Section.
2. Picketers or demonstrators may carry written or printed placards
or signs not exceeding two (2) feet in width and two (2) feet in height
on such public property. The staff on which such placard or sign is
carried shall not exceed forty (40) inches in length, must be made
of wood, shall not exceed three-fourths (3/4) of an inch in diameter
at any point and must be blunt at each end.
3. If picketers or demonstrators promoting opposing objectives desire
to use the same public property for picketing or demonstrating, the
Chief of Police shall allot time to each group of picketers or demonstrators
for the use of such public property on an equitable basis, but each
group shall be permitted to picket or demonstrate, subject to the
provisions of this Section, at least once every two (2) hours.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.090; CC 1979 § 21-19]
It shall be unlawful for any person to physically interfere
with picketers in the use of the sidewalk or to address profane, indecent,
abusive or threatening language to or at such picketers, which would
tend to provoke such picketers or others to a breach of the peace.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.100; CC 1979 § 21-20]
The Police Officers of the City may, in the event of the assemblage
of persons in such numbers as to tend to intimidate picketers pursuing
their lawful objective, through numbers alone or through the use of
inflammatory words, direct the dispersal of persons so assembled and
may arrest any person who fails to absent himself/herself from the
place of such assemblage when so directed by the Police.
[R.O. 2007 § 395.110; CC 1979 § 21-21]
Whenever the free passage of any street or sidewalk in the City shall be obstructed by a crowd, the persons composing such crowd shall disperse or move on when so directed by a Police Officer as provided in Section
390.100.