§ 11-21. Picketing.

(a)

Permitted; conditions. Peaceful picketing, including demonstrating, in the furtherance of a lawful purpose shall be permitted in the town, provided the picketing is done under the following conditions:

(1)

Picketing shall be conducted only on the sidewalks or other town-owned area normally used or reserved for pedestrian movement, including easements and rights-of-way, and shall not be conducted on the portion of a street used primarily for vehicular traffic.

(2)

Not more than ten (10) pickets promoting the same objective shall be permitted to use the sidewalks within one (1) block in the town at any one (1) time.

(3)

Such pickets may carry written or printed placards or signs not exceeding two (2) feet in width and two (2) feet in height promoting the objective for which the picketing is done, provided the words used are not defamatory in nature or would not tend to produce violence. The staff on which such placard is carried shall not exceed forty (40) inches in length, must be made of wood, shall not exceed three-fourths inch in diameter at any point and must be blunt at each end.

(4)

Pickets must march in single file and not abreast and may not march closer together than fifteen (15) feet, except in passing one another.

(5)

If pickets promoting different objectives desire to use the same sidewalk for picketing and such use would result in the presence of more than ten (10) pickets thereon, the chief of police shall allot time to each group of pickets for the use of such sidewalk on an equitable basis, but each group shall be permitted to picket subject to the provisions of this section at least once every two (2) hours.

(6)

It shall be unlawful for any picket to address profane, indecent, abusive or threatening language to or at any person which would tend to provoke such person or others to a breach of the peace.

(b)

Interference with pickets. It shall be unlawful for any person to physically interfere with such pickets in the use of the sidewalk or to address profane, indecent, abusive or threatening language to or at such pickets which would tend to provoke such pickets or others to a breach of the peace.

(c)

Authority of police. The police officers of the town may, for the assemblage of persons in such numbers as to tend to intimidate pickets pursuing their lawful objective through numbers alone or through use of inflammatory words, direct the dispersal of persons so assembled and may arrest any person who fails to absent himself from the place of such assemblage when so directed by the police.

(d)

Maintenance of free passage. Whenever the free passage of any street or sidewalk in the town shall be obstructed by a crowd, the persons composing such crowd shall disperse or move on when so directed by a police officer as provided in this section.

(Code 1967, § 16-22)

State law reference

Picketing with intent to obstruct justice, G.S. § 14-225.1.