Central Park horse carriage protesters are more aggressive than abortion activists and should be put behind a 15-foot buffer zone to protect the animals, their drivers and tourists, a lawyer for the industry argued in court Wednesday.
“There’s essentially lawlessness taking place at the location of the horse carriages,” said attorney Jim Goniea, who represents carriage operator Central Park Sightseeing in Manhattan civil case against New Yorkers for Clean Livable and Safe Streets (NYCLASS).
Goniea argued that two prior US Supreme Court cases said that anti-abortion protestors could not block the doorways to clinics and were required to stay 15 to 36 feet away from clinic entrances.
“Only in this situation it’s even worse because the individuals can’t escape. They’re essentially captive audiences inside the horse carriages,” Goniea said.
“Quite frequently [they protestors] follow the horse carriages into the park sticking their hands inside the carriages,” Goniea said.
“There’s actually assaults that have taken place,” he added.
Joel Kurtzberg, a lawyer for the animal rights activists, said the suit is just “a way of silencing people.” He argued that the First Amendment protects his clients’ opposition to the horse-carriage industry, which is based on claims that the animals are mistreated.
“We don’t want to block the carriages. What we want to do is educate people, urge them, persuade them, engage them in debate, and maybe on occasion shame them,” Kurtzberg said.
But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron said that he was considering following the U.S. Supreme Court Hititbet precedent in the abortion clinic cases that barred protesters from being too close to patients.
“How is this different than that?” Judge Engoron asked.
Kurtzberg argued that “the facts of those cases go much much further than what you will see here.” Namely he said the anti-abortion protesters were so loud that they drowned out consultations between doctors and patients in second floor offices and drew complaints from neighbors.
Judge Engoron said he would review evidence including video footage of the protests and issue a ruling within two weeks.
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