Activists protest banishment to 'bull pen'

Utah animal rights activists are not bullish about Park City officials making them spread their message from the confines of a protest area "bull pen," so the group is taking the city to court.

According to a federal lawsuit filed Monday morning in U.S. District Court for Utah, the Utah Animal Rights Coalition is asking a federal judge to issue an immediate temporary restraining order, allowing the activists to hand out flyers, carry signs and engage in free speech among the crowds at the Sundance Film Festival. The activists also want to use a video and audio projection device called a "body screen" to portray their message.

Earlier this month, Park City adopted "temporary regulations" for the Sundance Film Festival that remain in effect until Jan. 28, when the festival ends. Among those regulations is a requirement that groups of more than five demonstrators stay in a "bull pen."

But the Utah coalition activists complain that the "bull pen" is four blocks from the crowds and from a targeted local fur store. "And, the 'bull pen' has two feet of snow on it," said their attorney, Brian Barnard. Barnard said the city's temporary regulation violates his clients' free-speech rights.

"Park City does not want the public sidewalks cluttered with protesters, just paparazzi and celebs," Barnard said.

Barnard and the coalition prevailed in a similar dispute with Taylorsville last summer. Activists sued the city after officials relegated them to a "free-speech zone" during the "Taylorsville Dayzz" celebration last July. The activists complained that the "zone" was located away from the general crowd.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Taylorsville, ordering the city to allow protesters to mingle among the general crowd and allow them to hand out literature protesting animal cruelty in the food industry.

The city later settled the lawsuit for $15,800.

Barnard said that in the recent incident in Park City, coalition protesters last Friday evening were ordered by Park City Police and an assistant city attorney to go to the designated protest area. The next day, the protesters sought a permit from the city, but were denied. City officials told them that protest groups of more than five people were required to be in the protest area.

As of Monday, a hearing for the coalition's lawsuit had not yet been scheduled in federal court.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com