{"id":649091,"date":"2026-03-11T23:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/649091\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T23:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:48:20","slug":"n-y-eyes-protest-buffer-zone-around-houses-of-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/649091\/","title":{"rendered":"N.Y. eyes protest buffer zone around houses of worship"},"content":{"rendered":"

A diverse coalition of faith leaders, advocates and state lawmakers rallied at the state Capitol on Wednesday around a provision in the state budget that would ensure safe access to houses of worship.<\/p>\n

State Assemblyman Micah Lasher, a Democrat from Manhattan, introduced the bill in response to skyrocketing rates of antisemitic hate in New York City. It provides for a 25-foot buffer zone around all houses of worship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was most immediately in response to a pretty horrible incident outside of Park East Synagogue where people entering the synagogue were subjected to really violent vitriol,\u201d Lasher told Capital Tonight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitism has increased by 400% since Oct. 7, 2023<\/a>, the date when Hamas attacked Israel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The buffer zone legislation has been panned by some civil rights groups, including the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), which argues that the bill is \u201can assault on public expression.”<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThese proposals strike at the heart of our right to express our views \u2013 no matter how controversial \u2013 in public. Demonstrators have a right to engage in political protest\u00a0on public\u00a0sidewalks.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0fundamental to our democracy\u00a0and\u00a0well-protected\u00a0by our Constitution,” the NYCLU said.<\/p>\n

Lasher disagrees, calling the proposal \u201ca reasonable, modest means to protect houses of worship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because it involves two competing constitutional rights, the right to free speech and the right to worship, Lasher claims he looked closely at Supreme Court precedent prior to introducing the bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is long-standing jurisprudence that says government can pass reasonable restrictions as long as they are narrowly tailored on the time, place and matter of protest,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

In the New York state Senate\u2019s one-house budget proposal, the buffer zone legislation was replaced with a proposal to make it a misdemeanor to obstruct the entrance to a house of worship.<\/p>\n

Lasher said that\u2019s not enough considering what transpired at Park East.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur bill merely builds on an existing law that aims to protect people who are entering houses of worship and reproductive healthcare facilities; that is an existing law. We add no new penalties, no new crimes,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The Assembly\u2019s one-house budget did not address the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lasher is running in a crowded field for the Democratic nomination for the 12th Congressional District seat in Manhattan to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A diverse coalition of faith leaders, advocates and state lawmakers rallied at the state Capitol on Wednesday around…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":649092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[40737,5229,29875,13565,17547,29874,29873,405,403,17050,50,5226,5225,5228,17545,5227,80,56285,29872,52,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5284],"class_list":["post-649091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-albany-capital-region","tag-america","tag-app-capital-tonight","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-ny-state-of-politics","tag-capital-tonight","tag-capital-tonight-interviews","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-state","tag-news","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-state-assembly","tag-susan-arbetter","tag-top-stories","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-vod"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116213219775515647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}