Law Enforcement Has a Duty to Protect Safety of Protestors and Reporters, Says Organization
Dover-Foxcroft – The ACLU of Maine today called on top law enforcement officials in Piscataquis County to protect the First Amendment rights of protestors and the press, in advance of President Trump’s visit to a Guilford swab factory on Friday.
In a letter to District Attorney Marianne Lynch and Sheriff Robert Young, the ACLU wrote that the president’s “presence in Maine presents both a threat to our physical safety and to the safety of the fundamental values that hold us together as a state and as a country.”
The president’s visit is expected to draw crowds of protestors who wish to speak out against the him. The ACLU urged the county’s top law enforcement officials to provide clear guidance to their departments and agents “concerning their obligation to protect these protestors and their right to protest, and to offer as guidance not the President’s tweets and threats but the United States Constitution.”
The organization also urged the officials to protect the freedom of the press and the ability of reporters to do their jobs without interference, in light of recent attacks by police on reporters covering protests across the country.
The full text of the letter, which was also sent to Governor Janet Mills, Attorney General Aaron Frey and Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck, is here: https://www.aclumaine.org/sites/default/files/trump_visit_piscataquis_of...
