The Michigan House passed legislation Tuesday that would make protesting in the street without a permit a criminal offense punishable by jail time.

The bill was approved Tuesday, Sept. 16, in a 61-42 vote largely along party lines, with all Republicans and four Democrats in favor. . It is unlikely to pass the Democratic-majority Senate.

The Democrats who voted in favor of the bill are state Reps. Tullio Liberati, D-Allen Park, Denise Mentzer, D-Mount Clemens, Angela Witwer, D-Delta Township, and Mai Xiong, D-Warren.

Blocking or impeding traffic is currently a civil infraction with a $100 fine, but the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Alicia St. Germaine, R-Harrison Township, has said that’s not enough to deter people from halting traffic, whether it’s for a protest or a party.

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Hope said the First Amendment wasn’t designed for convenience, comfort or maintaining the status quo and that it was born out of revolt against King George III.

“These rights were designed for times of dissent and dissatisfaction, and our nation’s history is filled with momentous examples,” Hope said. “Suffragists filling the streets, labor activists picketing outside factories, young people demonstrating against war, civil rights marchers crossing the bridge in Selma, Alabama.

“House Bill 4664 would criminalize all of these forms of assembly. None of those demonstrations was polite or perfectly timed to appease the powerful or appeal to the apathetic, but all were essential.”