On Saturday, July 25, more than 75 Charlestonians braved the rain to defend their First Amendment rights, marching through downtown Charleston to mark the fifth anniversary of Charleston's First Amendment Demonstration Ordinance. The ordinance has led to the arrest of several activists over the years and has been widely criticized for creating a chilling effect on free speech in the city.
Passed in July 2021 during an emergency session of Charleston City Council without an opportunity for public comment, the ordinance significantly restricts demonstrations of 25 or more people and places arbitrary and contradictory limits on where residents can gather to exercise their free speech rights. While cities may impose "time, place and manner" restrictions on speech, they must be content-neutral. According to organizers, however, the ordinance has been used exclusively to criminalize demonstrations in support of Black lives, immigrant lives and Palestinian lives. Peaceful demonstrators have been arrested at multiple such gatherings since 2024. The ordinance was passed amid a wave of restrictive state and local laws introduced around the country following the 2020 George Floyd protests. Many of those laws have since been overturned or were never adopted.
"We are demonstrating against this ordinance because if we stay out here an hour too long or come back out tomorrow, CPD will rip us from our families and throw us in jail. That is what this ordinance does," said Alfred, an organizer with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
Organizers say other demonstrations that have complied with the permitting requirements have consistently had their event times and locations altered by the Charleston Police Department, which reviews and approves permits. They also say the department has consistently refused to permit demonstrations in downtown Charleston. No other municipality in the Charleston region has similar restrictions on free speech demonstrations.
Organizers also say police routinely keep protesters out of visible downtown areas.
"Marion Square functions in every way as a city park, though it's leased from the Board of Field Officers of the Fourth Brigade," said Bonnie Cleaveland, one of the march's organizers and a member of co-sponsor Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry. "But when we ask for protest permits in Marion Square, police deny them, arguing it's private property that requires the Fourth Brigade's permission before protesters can exercise their constitutional rights."
The "Fight for the First" march and rally is part of the First Amendment Restoration Campaign, organized by the Charleston Democratic Socialists of America and joined by 50501 Charleston, Black Lives Matter Charleston, Charleston Climate Coalition, Charleston Community Service Organization, CHS Hotline, FRSO Charleston, Lowcountry Action Committee, Elbit Out of SC Coalition, Silence Is Not an Option and Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry.
The campaign's petition calling for the city to rescind the ordinance has been signed by more than 1,640 people.