Organizers also cite ongoing political pressure from City Hall and the Austin Downtown Business Alliance to deny marchers a permit for an Oct. 13th rally. Police claimed that a permit could not be issued because of traffic issues, but organizers counter that their freedom of speech issues outweigh these concerns. They also point out that other events such as concerts and University of Texas football games often cause traffic problems, but no one is trying to stop those events. The station was in the backyard of a programmer who prefers to simply go by the name Reckless. They destroyed our equipment.
Necessity knows no laws.
We will not be silenced. We are ALL speechless today, she said, adding emphasis that free speech itself was the target of the FCC raid. She was adamant that she was not in charge of the station. The station was run by a collective of community programmers who each had an equal say in how the station was run. Programmers at Free Radio Austin also pointed out that their battle for freedom of speech issues would not stop.