Judge Rejects Protesters’ Bid to Use Central Park

A federal judge ruled Monday that two protest groups could not use Central Park as a site for a demonstration days before the Republican National Convention.

“This court cannot blind itself to the daunting security concerns facing this city during the Republican National Convention,” U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III said.

Pauley said there were serious questions about whether the park’s Great Lawn could safely accommodate the 75,000 people expected to attend a rally sponsored by the antiwar ANSWER coalition and the National Council of Arab Americans.

The written ruling followed arguments Friday before Pauley in which the city maintained that it was treating all protesters equally and fairly in denying permits to use the Great Lawn.

City lawyer Gail Donoghue had argued that the lawn would be ruined if 75,000 people gathered there Saturday for a rally.

The two groups had asked Pauley to order the city to issue a permit, saying tens of thousands of people gather on the lawn for concerts each year.

The organization United for Peace and Justice has asked the city for a permit for 250,000 people to rally on the Great Lawn on Sunday. That group filed a lawsuit last week in state Supreme Court in Manhattan seeking to force the city to let it use the park.