PITTSBURGH -- A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction stopping the city from charging thousands of dollars in fees for parades and rallies, and she is allowing a lawsuit challenging the policy to move forward.
Under new regulations proposed by the city, parade organizers would have to pay $10,000 to cover police, security and insurance costs, Channel 4's Paul Van Osdol reported Friday.
Currently, parade organizers pay $2,000 in fees. St. Patrick's Day parade officials have said that the city's fee hike would prevent the annual event, scheduled for March 13, from being held downtown.
The city's new ordinance would not only affect parades, but protests and demonstrations. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit on behalf of the People Against Police Violence, the Thomas Merton Center and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Vic Walczak, the legal director of the ACLU's Pittsburgh chapter, is hoping that U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti's temporary injunction will become permanent.
The city is offering the use of Market Square and the portico at the City-County Building for rallies. Opponents of the city's ordinance insist Grant Street is the place to be when a group wants its message to be heard.
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