City Council Advances Watered-Down ‘Buffer Zone’ Plan Near Synagogues, Schools

The New York City Council approved a watered-down version of Speaker Julie Menin’s “buffer zone” legislation governing protests near houses of worship and schools that will now require the New York Police Department to determine a plan on whether a security perimeter is needed and, if so, what distance is appropriate, it was announced Thursday. The legislation, measures 1-B and 175-B, which Ms. Menin introduced in January as part of the City Council’s Five-Point Action Plan to Combat Anti-Semitism, originally proposed establishing a 100-foot perimeter between protesters and houses of worship. The amended legislation, which was changed over concerns that it could impede First Amendment rights, will instead require the NYPD to “establish a plan to address and contain the risk of physical obstruction, physical injury, intimidation, and interference at places of religious worship while preserving and protecting the rights to free speech, assembly, and protest.”On Tuesday, the New York City Democratic Socialists of America party urged lawmakers to vote “no” on the bills, warning both would “limit our ability to protest” and “expand the capacity of the NYPD to police and surveil Black, brown, and immigrant New Yorkers, jeopardizing the safety of protestors exercising their First Amendment rights.”Just before Thursday’s vote, Council Member Alexa Avilés, a Democratic Socialist, voiced her opposition to the legislation, saying they were “a message against dissent, in particular against pro-Palestinian voices, in a moment when free speech is under attack.”Another Council Member, Shahana Hanif, also a Democratic Socialist, warned that the legislation “gives the NYPD too much power to police free speech.Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán, a co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, warned that the bills “cannot squash out hate through reactive domination and violence.”The city council approved the measure establishing security perimeters next to places of religious worship by a vote of 44 to 5, with one abstention, giving it a veto-proof majority. A similar measure for protests near schools passed with only 30 votes, meaning it could face a veto from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist who has raised his own concerns about what his spokesman said was a “limiting of New Yorkers’ constitutional rights.” So far, Mr. Mamdani has remained mum on whether he would sign both bills into law.“To be clear, these bills in no way infringe on the First Amendment right to protest, which is sacrosanct,” Ms. Menin said at a press conference on Thursday.Ms. Menin, the city’s first Jewish speaker, introduced the legislation aimed at curbing a sharp escalation in antisemitic incidents in the city, which the New York Police Commissioner called “the most persistent hate threat we face.” The legislation followed two high-profile protests staged outside the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan and the Young Israel of Kew Gardens – a synagogue and children’s school – where hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists were seen harassing attendees during events hosted by pro-Israel groups. In one protest, demonstrators chanted “we support Hamas here,” prompting a rebuke from Mr. Mamdani. In response to her legislation, PAL-Awda, a group that organized the protest outside Park East Synagogue, called it “a targeted attack on the movement for Palestinian liberation.”Earlier on Thursday, Ms. Hanif co-sponsored a City Council briefing on Islamophobia that featured anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil as one of its speakers. Ms. Menin told reporters she was not aware of the event, which was also co-sponsored by Council Member Shekar Krishnan, a member of the Progressive Caucus. “This is not an event coming from the speaker’s office. This is not a City Council event. This is two council members who hosted the event,” Ms. Menin said Thursday.

City Council Advances Watered-Down ‘Buffer Zone’ Plan Near Synagogues, Schools

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