Simi May OK Police Restrictions on Protests : Laws: Ordinance would require demonstration permits and allow law enforcement officials to deny requests.

In an effort to prevent a clash on city streets next month, the Simi Valley City Council will consider an emergency ordinance that would give police sweeping powers to arrest marching white supremacists or counterdemonstrators who fail to comply with permit restrictions.

The proposed law is designed to prevent violence on Sept. 12, when Nationalist Movement leader Richard Barrett plans to hold a parade and rally in support of the four Los Angeles police officers found not guilty in the Rodney G. King beating trial, City Atty. John Torrance said.

The ordinance, which the council will consider Monday, would give the Simi Valley police chief authority to deny or restrict permits for demonstrations.

It would allow the police chief to deny a permit if he decided that the demonstration would require too much police protection, diverting officers from the rest of the city, or that the demonstrators could not be protected.

If permits are granted, the ordinance would allow the chief to dictate where and when the rallies can be held.

City officials are trying to prevent a repeat of a June 6 Nationalist Movement rally in Simi Valley.

“We had violence,” Torrance said. “We don’t want it again.”

At the June rally, only Barrett and six supporters attended on behalf of the Nationalist Movement. But the event attracted 300 counterdemonstrators.

A few of the counterdemonstrators threw cans of soda and cursed the supremacists. A news photographer and two police officers were injured, leading police to call off the parade and whisk Barrett and his followers away for their own safety.

The law would be enacted on an emergency basis so it could apply to the Sept. 12 Nationalist Movement rally and planned counterdemonstration by Neighbors Against Nazis, whose organizers expect 400 to 500 participants. Emergency ordinances require approval from four of the five council members.

One council member said Friday that she has doubts about giving the government the right to deny free speech.

Council member Sandi Webb said she supports the concept of restricting the locations or times of demonstrations to prevent violent clashes.

But “I don’t like giving our government, which the police are, the ability to deny permits,” she said.

A constitutional law expert at UCLA said Friday that ordinances governing public demonstrations are common.

But such laws are unconstitutional if they give governments too much discretion about who will and will not get demonstration permits, law professor Jonathan Varat said.

“You can’t vest unbridled discretion in a public official,” he said.

Under the proposed ordinance, groups would have to apply for a permit at least five days before an event.

On Sept. 12, if either the Nationalists or the counterdemonstrators hold a march or rally without a permit, members could be arrested, Police Capt. Jerry Boyse said.

“All we know is, you don’t have a permit . . . you go to jail,” Boyse said.

But city officials said their intent is not to deny permits, but to regulate the demonstrations. Boyse said police may require that demonstrations be held in different locations or at different times.

“I think we would be able to put enough restrictions on it so you’re not going to be able to have a confrontation between the two groups of people,” Councilman Bill Davis said. “You’re going to keep them separated.”

City officials said the ordinance would help protect Simi Valley from lawsuits by Barrett. The Mississippi lawyer has repeatedly threatened to sue the city if police fail to protect Nationalist Movement supporters from counterdemonstrators.

A spokesman for the movement said Friday that the group would not object to being separated from the counterdemonstrators.

“We definitely want to be separate from the terrorists,” Nationalist Movement spokesman James Jones said.

But Jones warned that his group would legally challenge the new ordinance if it impedes the planned march and rally at the East County Courthouse where the King case verdicts were issued.

“If it’s in any way going to restrict us, then I’m sure Mr. Barrett will bring forth whatever legal means necessary to stop it,” Jones said.

Barrett has successfully sued other cities that restricted or denied his group the right to march. One case against Forsyth County, Ga., was decided in his favor by the U.S. Supreme Court in June.

As for the counterdemonstrators, a spokesman for Neighbors Against Nazis said the group hasn’t decided whether it will apply for a permit if the proposed ordinance is enacted.

The coalition, which includes groups such as local chapters of the National Organization for Women and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, is not planning a violent confrontation with the Nationalist Movement, said spokesman Willie Lapin, a Simi Valley resident.

“We plan on being, I’m sure, noisy, visible,” he said. “And we hope to be peaceful.” Lapin said he couldn’t guarantee peaceful behavior from every individual in the group.

“We would like to be seen by Mr. Barrett. We would like to see Mr. Barrett,” he said. But Lapin said he isn’t sure how the coalition would respond to being forced to rally in a different place from the Nationalist Movement.