The NYPD threw its support behind new legislation to establish buffer zones that would restrict protests outside houses of worship and schools, after the City Council watered down the bills to allow cops to decide where and how big the protest perimeter should be.
But civil liberties organizations, activist groups, and unions still denounced the proposals, saying they would suppress free speech and expose protesters to even more aggressive policing.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin introduced the legislation in response to pro-Palestine protests outside Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side and Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills in Queens.