Chicago, USA - Chicago has stopped enforcing an ordinance that banned protests during religious services after the city's Law Department declared it unconstitutional.
The ordinance prohibited protests within 150 feet of a place of worship while services were being conducted and 30 minutes before and afterward.
After a protest last year outside their headquarters, the Church of Scientology of Illinois posted a sign announcing that services were being held every day from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Police asked the protesters to leave, but attorney Alex Hageli refused. He fought the citation he received, and the Law Department agreed to drop it after declaring the ordinance unconstitutional.
Department spokeswoman Jenny Hoyle tells the Chicago Sun-Times that the ordinance made an exception for labor picketers, which isn't allowed.
"What was unconstitutional was that one type of picketing was being treated differently than another," Hoyle said. "If unions can do it, why can't anyone else? Police officers will no longer be ticketing under that section of the code of the disorderly conduct ordinance."
A message left with the Church of Scientology early Tuesday wasn't immediately returned.