Though the bill does not explicitly bar protests by unions or any group, organized labor and the NYCLU remain concerned that it gives police greater control to determine who can protest on schools and campuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Professional Staff Congress-CUNY president James Davis noted that the police department already has the power to determine if a protest is unsafe and to set up barricades, dole out permits for large gatherings and amplified sound and protect access to sidewalks, entrances and exits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NYPD already has broad discretion to determine if there\u2019s a threat to public safety,\u201d he said in an interview Wednesday morning. \u201cIn fact, the NYPD has exceeded their authority,\u201d as evidenced by recent lawsuits<\/a> and settlements<\/a> in which the NYPD has been found to have violated the First Amendment rights of demonstrators, added Davis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe feel that [the Council] should just go back to the drawing board entirely,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dinowitz\u2019s bill was the subject of a packed hearing on Wednesday of the Council\u2019s Committee to Combat Hate, which considered a number of bills including one that would establish similar \u201cbuffer zones\u201d at houses of worship<\/a>.<\/p>\n The hearing began at around 10:30 a.m. and was still going at 7 p.m., with dozens of members of the public waiting to testify both for and against the bills. The Council had to repeatedly remind attendees not to heckle, clap, boo or make any sounds during the hearing, as per the chamber\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n The NYPD expressed skepticism over both \u201cbuffer zone\u201d bills. The agency\u2019s head of legal matters, Michael Gerber, testified that while the NYPD condemns antisemitism, it is \u201cobligated to ensure the rights of protesters without regard to the content of protected speech.\u201d He also voiced concern that some language in Dinowitz\u2019s bill, which would order the agency to come up with a \u201cbuffer zone\u201d plan even for private schools and universities, may be legally dubious.<\/p>\n Gerber later clarified that the NYPD has no objections to the amended bills.<\/p>\n Dinowitz and Menin defended their efforts to ensure police transparency at educational facilities and elsewhere \u2014 and denied that any of the bills up for a hearing on Wednesday threatened free speech.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are instructing the NYPD to come up with a plan, and to make transparent that plan, so that everyone no matter where you are on this issue, whether you\u2019re outside or inside of school, can have transparency and can know what you\u2019re getting from the city government \u2013 this is what people deserve,\u201d said Dinowitz.<\/p>\n \u201cIn creating these buffer zones and making that plan public, we are preserving everyone\u2019s civil liberties and enforcing and protecting people\u2019s right to feel safe,\u201d added Dinowitz, invoking the image of children being afraid to wear hijabs or yarmulkes in their schools.<\/p>\n An amended version of his bill posted late Monday eliminated language determining that the \u201cbuffer zone\u201d would measure 100 feet from every entrance and exit of any educational facility, which UAW Region 9A president Brandon Mancilla said was too extreme and would essentially bar protests anywhere in a city as densely populated as New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n It also more explicitly asserts unions\u2019 federal right to picket their employers. Those changes are a result of feedback from several unions at a meeting convened by the NYC Central Labor Council last week, including PSC-CUNY and the UAW, with representatives from Menin and Dinowitz\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n But PSC-CUNY and NYCLU still strongly oppose the bill and were expected to testify against it at the hearing on Wednesday. United Auto Workers Region 9A, which represents teaching staff at several private universities including Columbia, also opposes the bill.<\/p>\n![\"Councilmember](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/022526_house_worship_buffer_zone_presser-2.jpg\")
Councilmember Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx) speaks at a City Hall press conference about a bill to create a buffer zone for protests around houses of worship, Feb. 25, 2026. Credit: Ben Fractenberg\/THE CITY<\/p>\n