Raleigh leaders ban harassment in public spaces by 6-1 vote
Harassment is now a criminal misdemeanor throughout the city of Raleigh.
For a second time, the Raleigh City Council voted to create a new ordinance meant to “fill in the gap of state law” that protects people from being harassed in public spaces. Those other state laws include stalking, communicating threats, disorderly conduct and misdemeanor simple assault.
The new law makes it a misdemeanor to follow a person in a public space with “the intent to threaten or intimidate another person” or in a manner that would cause a “reasonable person (to) fear for that person’s safety.”
“There’s a group that comes out to Moore Square and screams obscenities at people,” Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said in a previous interview. “We’ve gotten a lot of complaints. And so that’s part of it. And then the other part is the abortion protest.”
In recent years, abortion-rights supporters have asked the city for more protections against anti-abortion protesters outside clinics.
Council member Mary Black cast the sole vote against the ordinance for a second time. Council member Megan Patton was excused and absent from the meeting.
“I’m uncomfortable with this,” Black said. “As a person who has been doing direct action and protesting downtown, I worry that it’s going to be applied too broadly.”
The ordinance stems from specific groups of people “doing certain things downtown,” but Black said she is still worried and uncomfortable with the ordinance.
“I can appreciate that,” said Council member Stormie Forte, who made the motion to approve the ordinance. “But the reverse, I’ve seen at Pride events where folks have been really aggressive with performers and some other stuff.”
Council member Jonathan Melton also expressed concerns about the ordinance during the first vote, but said Tuesday they had been addressed by the second and final vote.
“To be, I guess, guilty of this offense, you do have to follow the person with the intent to threaten or intimidate and surround and corner (them),” Melton said. “And I think that that’s probably written narrowly enough to avoid an application, in my opinion, that is broad enough to cover legitimate protesting and those types of advocacy and civil disruptions and is intended to really focus on folks that are getting cornered, blocked, or in concern of their safety.
State law requires two votes on ordinances that include criminal penalties.
This story was originally published April 4, 2023 at 5:16 PM.
