However, in New York City the police appear to be increasingly permitting less vareity and spontaneity in demonstrations. If the demonstration is on a city sidewalk the police will usually contruct a pen with barricades within which they will confine stationary demonstrators. Often these pens are a block or more from the actual site being protested. Demonstrators that march will be required to stay on the sidewalk and not completely block the sidewalk. The courts will uphold most partial restrictions on the right to demonstrate in the name of serving the public's right to such things such as the free flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and safety.
Most demonstrations are stationary, within the police barricades.
Demonstrators may hold signs, but in New York City the police prohibit signs on wooden sticks, requiring that the signs be held up by cardboard tubes. Sound devices are generally allowed only with a sound permit. Chanting is permitted but if the demonstration is close to a hospital, counsellate or government building the police will probably move it away so the occupants are not disturbed. The usual civil disobedience features members of the demonstration blocking building entrances or traffic and being arrested. Typically, shortly after the cd begins, the police officer in charge will stand in front of the demonstrators and give a warning to cease the action while the other officers, brandishing handcuffs, encircle the demonstrators.