Court Asked to Nullify New Law : Krishnas Sue Laguna to Get Festival Permit

Laguna Beach Hare Krishna chapter members sued the city in federal court Monday, asking for the right to hold their Festival of India in Main Beach Park this summer.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles, claims that a new ordinance that forbids groups from setting up tables, booths or any other structures for events in the city’s parks denies the International Society of Krishna Consciousness of Laguna Beach its freedom of religion and equal legal protection, David Liberman, attorney for the group, said.

About 50 people live in the group’s temple on Glenneyre Street, with the total congregation numbering between 200 and 300, Liberman said.

Suit Targets Ordinance

The lawsuit asks the court to nullify the ordinance, adopted in March on a 3-2 vote, and order the city to issue a permit for the festival in August. The city turned down the group’s request for a permit two weeks ago, Liberman said.

No date was set for a hearing on the requested injunction.

The festival, featuring 14 exhibits, was described in the suit as a “missionary program to contact and educate” the public about the sect’s Eastern religious teachings.

“It is clearly a form of protected First Amendment expression,” Liberman said. “The festival is comprised of exhibits, sculptures, artworks, photographic displays. It is part of our religion, and the city feels it can prohibit this.”

The 6.3-acre park, which adjoins Coast Highway, has been used for similar festivals throughout its history, Liberman said. “Only when the Hare Krishnas applied for permission did they adopt this ordinance,” he said.

City Manager Ken Frank said the suit’s allegation that the ordinance infringes on the groups religious rights is “nonsense.”

No Tents, Official Says

“What the ordinance says is that you cannot erect structures on Main Beach Park,” Frank said. “They have an alternative--they can go to Irvine Bowl Park. Or, if they want to go to Main Beach Park and talk to people, pass out leaflets discussing their religion, hold signs--they can even conduct a religious ceremony--that’s fine, that’s OK. Just no tents or structures.”

Last summer, the Krishnas filed a similar suit against Laguna Beach, but then dropped it when the city, realizing that it had already granted permission to another group to hold a dance exhibition that would require a stage, backed down and allowed them to erect their displays.