RALEIGH, N.C. — New rules enacted last week aim to limit protests inside the legislative building, but Moral Monday supporters vow to continue the weekly peaceful demonstrations that resulted in nearly 1,000 arrests last year and spawned similar gatherings across the state.

The first Moral Monday protest of the legislative session will be this week, aimed at voicing dissatisfaction with policies and procedures supported by the Republican-led General Assembly. Demonstrators, often numbering in the hundreds and sometimes the thousands, gathered last year on the grassy mall behind the legislative building and on the building’s second floor, where the entrances to the House and Senate chambers are located. The protests mostly centered on voting rights, Medicaid and public education.

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The new rules also allow police or staff to order people out of the building if they think protesters pose an "imminent threat" of a disturbance, even if nothing has been done. If the visitors don't leave, they can be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor. The term "imminent threat" isn't defined in the rules.

“Constitutional lawyers are skeptical that the rules will pass constitutional muster, since Article I, Sec. 14 of the N.C. Constitution guarantees the rights of the people to ‘instruct their representatives in the General Assembly’ about how the people feel about the policies being discussed there,” said Al McSurely, a civil rights lawyer working with the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, which has led the Moral Monday movement.