In a court filing, the city says it instructed the contractor that manages the pavilion to cancel the event “out of a legitimate fear that it would incite violence in the heart of downtown Baltimore.”
“And for a city like Baltimore, with a police department already stretched thin with a well-documented police officer shortage, the decision to cancel an event featuring a speaker who invites additional demonstrators, counter demonstrators, expenses, and potential violence is more than reasonable,” city attorneys wrote, referring to Yiannopolous.
Marc Randazza, an attorney for St. Michael’s, said Yiannopoulos was willing to withdraw from speaking if the city allowed the rally to proceed. The city rejected that offer, Randazza told the judge.
“I don’t crave the sound of my own voice more than the successful, peaceful execution of the rally,” Yiannopoulos said.
However, Yiannopoulos signed a written declaration that he intended to sue the city for allegedly suppressing his free speech rights if he did agree to withdraw from speaking.
“I didn’t know about the caveat,” the judge said.
In 2017, a confidant of Pope Francis specifically mentioned ChurchMilitant.com in an article condemning the way some American evangelicals and Roman Catholics mix religion and politics. The Rev. Antonio Spadaro’s article in a Vatican-approved magazine said the media outlet framed the 2016 presidential election as a “spiritual war” and Trump’s ascent to the presidency as “a divine election.”
The pavilion is across from a hotel where the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is scheduled to hold its national meeting Nov. 15 to Nov. 18.
St. Michael’s said it deliberately picked the date and location for its rally to coincide with the bishops’ meeting. The group also said it held a peaceful, city-permitted rally at the same site during the bishops’ national meeting in 2018.
