The ACLU of Ohio is meeting with the City of Cleveland this week to revise demonstration times and places during the Republican National Convention.
The civil liberties organization says its clients are running out of time to plan their events.
ACLU officials say talks with the city are moving in the right direction but they haven't ruled out litigation. General Counsel Susan Becker says the meetings started with the ACLU laying out why it believes the protest route and times violate the First Amendment rights of more than a dozen groups.
“There is only 18 hours of permit time under these regulations, parade time, over the three or four days of the convention, Becker said. “We just found out about that recently. So we are hoping we can really negotiate these points but it is really up to the city to come back with more reasonable time, place and manner of regulations that we can live with.”
At issue, says Becker, is the designated protest route across the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, which faces the back side of the Q, and marching times that are limited to off hours of the convention. The ACLU is representing groups including Citizens for Trump and Organize! Ohio and asking the city to approve their permit applications.
City officials declined to comment on the talks that are on-going.