Saturday, October 23, 1999 Published at 19:05 GMT 20:05 UK
KKK to march unmasked
Police said the white hoods violated a state statute
Members of the Ku Klux Klan are preparing to stage a "White Pride" march in New York despite a court ruling that they cannot rally if they insist on wearing their traditional white masks.
The NCLU filed an 11th-hour appeal on Saturday morning with the US Supreme Court, asking it to overturn the federal court ruling that the rally could only proceed if the protesters showed their faces.
However there was no immediate action from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is responsible for handling such appeals.
Klan members were seeking to start marching through Manhattan on Saturday evening, wearing traditional white robes, hoods and masks.
But lawyers for the Klan argued that its members had a right to demonstrate, and that their masks gave them protection.
A rival group - the Partisan Defence Committee - has been given permission to hold a counter-demonstration nearby and they say they will go ahead regardless.
Organiser Scott Stringer said: "The anti-KKK coalition is going forward with our peaceful demonstration ... whether the Klan shows up unmasked or not."
The police had been ordered to serve as a buffer so both groups could exercise their First Amendment right to free speech and expression.
The NCLU has been backing the KKK legal action this week after the city denied the KKK's application for a permit.