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SCRANTON – A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the board that oversees Mohegan Sun Arena to allow animal rights protesters at the facility to distribute leaflets outside a fenced pen used by the authority to confine protesters.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and lawyers from Saul Ewing LLP filed a lawsuit on April 15 on behalf of Silvie Pomicter, a local animal rights activist, and Last Chance for Animals, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to eliminating animal exploitation, asking the court to allow the protesters to mingle with patrons attending circus performances that begin at the arena on Thursday and run through Sunday.
The order issued by U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani “strikes a balance between the plaintiffs’ right to protest and the ability of patrons to enter and leave the arena easily,” according to a statement from the ACLU-PA.
According to the order, 20 individual protesters may circulate among the patrons as they cross the wide sidewalks leading to the doors of the Wilkes-Barre Township venue, but protesters holding signs or standing in groups must stay in the area designated by the arena.
Protesters cannot cross a 35-foot buffer that marks off the doors and ticket windows, approach patrons who are already in line or who are in the parking lot.
At a hearing before Mariani on Monday, Pomicter explained that being confined to a pen made it difficult to speak to patrons and severely limited the activists’ ability to hand out literature.
“In 31 years of protesting, I have never before had to stand in a cage. This is the United States of America, not North Korea. We should not be treated like criminals for speaking out,” Pomicter had said.
“Leafletting is not dangerous, it is a time-honored way of advocating for causes, starting with the American Revolution,” Mary Catherine Roper, one of the lawyers on the case, said in the release. “We are pleased the court refused to cage speech.”
Dave Palermo, chairman of the Luzerne County County Convention Center Authority board, said on Wednesday he had not had time to review the judge’s order in its entirety, but he did review some of the specifics.
“In all practicality, the cases that he used are not reflective of what we do at our facility,” Palermo said. “It has the potential to back up our patrons into the parking area, creating a safety issue for us. … How we police this is beyond me. How many security guards does it take to police 60 protesters?”
Palermo said his reading of the order led him to the understanding that up to 60 protesters would be allowed to distribute leaflets — 20 at the East Gate, another 20 at the West Gate and 20 more on the sidewalk in between.
The section of the order referring to the number of protesters states: “No more than 20 individual protesters/leafletters may distribute literature on the sidewalk connecting the East and West Gates or on the darker colored concrete outside the East and West Gates at any one time.”
Palermo said arena officials “will do the best we can to follow the order and also take a look at what our legal options are.”
Palermo said he believes the policy under which protesters abided previously has been effective for their cause because “they were able to get their message out and successfully stopped the use of elephants (at Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circuses) worldwide.”
“I believe our protest policy honors the American citizen’s right to protest and I think they are asking a little too much and I think the judge is being very generous in what he’s giving them,” Palermo said.
This circus tour is of particular importance to the activists because Ringling Bros. has announced this will be the last tour using elephant performers. Pomicter, LCA, and other animal rights activists have protested the use of all animals by circuses, and the use of elephants in particular, for many years. Pomicter has been an animal rights activist for over 30 years, and is president of Voice of the Animals.
The plaintiffs are represented by Roper and Molly Tack-Hooper of ACLU-PA and Alexander Bilus and Amy Kline of Saul Ewing LLP.
The lawsuit, Pomicter and Last Chance for Animals v. Luzerne County Convention Center Authority and SMG, the arena’s contracted management company, is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
More information about the case, including copies of the lawsuit and Wednesday’s decision, are available at: www.aclupa.org/pomciter.