JENA, La. — A white-separatist group planning a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Jena is suing the town, claiming officials are violating the Constitution by asking participants not to bring firearms, changing the parade route by one block and requiring the posting of a bond.
The Nationalist Movement filed the federal lawsuit Friday and is seeking a temporary restraining order to keep the town from interfering with the Learned, Miss.-based group’s “Jena Justice Day” rally. Group officials claim the town’s rules violate their 14th Amendment rights to due process.
The planned Jan. 21 march is in response to the thousands who rallied Sept. 20 in Jena in support of six black teens who have become known as the “Jena Six” and against what they claimed was disproportionately harsh treatment of blacks by prosecutors.
