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maybe it was the fact that a table was set up. I'm sure Kristinn will clarify all this

They were not actually selling any baked goods so they did not need a vendor's permit but, he said that the issue was the tables. Apparently, if they were just standing there with signs it probably would have been OK, but having the tables there gives it a sense of permanence. Not quite a structure, but....

I am sure Kristinn will be able to provide more info when he gets to a keyboard.

How it goes in D.C. is a bit crazy because of all the different jurisdictional authorities. Each have their own rules and policies.

Today we were in a spot under the jurisdiction of the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department. They generally give wide latitude to First Amendment demonstrations.

In this case, they were getting pressure from the Kerry campaign (through the building security guards) to shut us down and had to do something.

The charges they could consider were: Demonstrating without a permit. But we were under the 25 person minimum for that to be enforceable.

Another was 'incommoding.' That means blocking a sidewalk. That didn't work because it was a very wide sidewalk, foot traffic was light and we were near the curb by newspaper boxes.

We weren't selling anything so 'vending without a license' and food safety violations weren't applicable.

So, after consulting via radio with their watch commander, they settled on "occupying public space without a permit," which involves a $50 ticket and the shutting down of the tables.

However, they declined to give us the ticket. Instead, they ordered us to shut it down in fifteen minutes. They said they'd come back if they got another call about us.

We lingered for 45 minutes, just to make the point we wouldn't be run off by the Kerry campaign. Because they called the cops, we ended up staying an hour longer than planned. We were scheduled to wrap it up at 2 p.m. and stayed until 3 p.m.

OTOH, maybe it was the fact that a table was set up.

My guess is that the table and the "sale" were the issue. If they weren't "for sale" I'm not sure that there would be an issue.

What's the law about handing out cookies?

We could have claimed that in both sales, MoveOn's and FR's, the muffins were free. MoveOn had to charge $3.00 in taxes that Kerry wants and we gave you one free because Bush cut the tax on it.