POG and city reach agreement

After filing a lawsuit against the city of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police on… After filing a lawsuit against the city of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police on Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Organizing Group and the city have come to an agreement.

The city’s lawyers met with POG and its lawyers, who are affiliated with the ACLU, yesterday and came to an agreement that gave the POG the right to continue their protest, if protesters stay within designated areas where they are allowed to sit and lie down.

“We were planning on going to court but this agreement came up, and we’re happy with it,” Butler said.

The group has been protesting the Iraq War and recruitment in front of the Army recruitment station on Forbes Avenue since Sept. 4.

After several citations and a couple of arrests – three citations issued on Monday morning alone – the POG decided to take legal action.

According to Mike Butler, a POG member who has been fasting since Sept. 4, the group also filed a restraining order.

“It’s basically telling the city in writing to stop arresting us for these false accusations,” he said of the order, which was filed along with the lawsuit on Tuesday.

The lawsuit states that the past weeks’ citations and arrests have violated the protesters’ freedom of speech.

The dispute is over a section of Pennsylvania law that prohibits the obstruction of public passages – in this case, sidewalks.

“Basically, we’re interpreting the law differently,” Butler said.

With the establishment of an agreement, the restraining order has been dropped, said assistant city solicitor Mike Kennedy.

“The city was attempting to balance the needs of the protesters with the needs of the students and pedestrians and business owners,” he said. “Our first and foremost concern at all times was that the safety of all be assured on a rather crowded public sidewalk.”

Now, after having its request for a month-long permit rejected at the beginning of September, POG can stay at its post on Forbes Avenue as long as it doesn’t put up banners or obstruct the sidewalk and local business entrances.

The protesters are now allowed to lie down in a section of the sidewalk near the entrance of Kinkos, and they can sit – and set up chairs – in front of the Army recruitment station.

“We hope that the agreement will lead towards everyone’s safety,” Kennedy said. “And we certainly recognize the protesters’ First Amendment rights.”

If the arrests and citations continue, Butler said, POG won’t hesitate to go to court.

But for now, the plan is to sit, stand or lie on the sidewalk until Sept. 30.

“As far as POG is concerned, this was a total victory,” Butler said.