Devil505 said:
So, if it can be proven that the intent of a protest is not to make their views known, but specifically to prevent the words of the other side from being heard, should that be illegal?
Like I said before, no. It is not against the law in anyway. This "intent" issue you are talking about has absolutely no legal bearing. And by protesting, even if it prevents the other side from being heard, will always have the intent of making the views of the protesters heard.
What you are saying really makes little sense. The whole point of a protest is to display opposition against something. Whether they display this opposition by yelling and shouting or peacefully holding signs really doesn't matter; they have a right to do it.
You are trying to say it is illegal to speak above somebody else, which is ridiculous.
If I were to cut someone off during an interview, would I be going against free speech? If someone is in a debate and they shout over the other person, are they stopping free speech? If so, a certain CNN reporter is guiltly of stopping free speech.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOrPzVECSjo"]YouTube - Rude CNN Reporter Needs Fired Tea Party interview CNN TeaParty Tax[/ame]
According to your logic, what the CNN reporter did should be illegal. After all, she prevented the free speech of that man by interupting him, didn't she? She rudely yelled over what he was trying to say.
The fact is that yelling loudly so somebody else cannot get their point out is not illegal or against free speech. Rude, yes. But it is not in anyway illegal. PERIOD.
The reason protesters who blare loud horns and shout insults are removed is because they are using profanities and making excessively loud noise with a horn. Here is the definition of "Disturbing the peace".
Disturbing the peace is a crime generally defined as the unsettling of proper order in a public space through one's actions. This can include creating loud noise by fighting or challenging to fight, disturbing others by loud and unreasonable noise (including loud music or dog barking), or using offensive words or insults likely to incite violence.
The people at these protests may have often been rude, but very few of them fall under this category. Democrats have tried to label every person in attendance as angry mobs and radical conservatives (even though there were liberals complaining about the removal of single-payer healthcare).
I understand what you are trying to say, but the fact is your sentiments are just not correct, legally or logically.