AUSTIN — Five people arrested in Crawford on charges of violating the city's protest ordinance during President Bush's May 3 visit sued the city and its police chief this week, claiming the ordinance violated their First Amendment assembly rights and the Texas Bill of Rights. Their lawyer says they weren't even protesting.

The city requires people who want to demonstrate to apply for a permit 15 days in advance, state the purpose of the march and report the number of people and kinds of material that will be involved, the lawsuit filed June 17 in U.S. District Court in Waco said. The police chief issues the permit.

"The effect of it is even if he was going to let people protest, he can wait 15 days, which by then of course, the president will be gone," said attorney Jim Harrington, representing the defendants, at a news conference in Austin. "The police chief can't have that discretion. He cannot pick and choose who he wants to protest. That's unconstitutional."

The five had not applied and did not have a permit to protest, said the Texas Civil Rights Project, which Harrington directs. He said the lawsuit was filed because the five weren't protesting and because the ordinance prohibits demonstrations.

"This is really a way of getting rid of people that the administration didn't want there protesting during the war," Harrington said.

Crawford Police Chief Donnie Tidmore said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it. He said the ordinance, in effect since 2001, has worked well.

Tidmore said the advance notice is required for scheduling purposes and said some permit requests have been denied because they were not submitted in a timely manner. He also said some permits have been granted for events scheduled the day of the request.

"I will work with any group," Tidmore said. "I am flexible."

The ordinance was based on policies of larger police departments and various parts of it have been upheld in court, said Tidmore.

Other defendants in the lawsuit include the city of Crawford, McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch and McLennan County Chief Deputy Randy Plemons.

Crawford Mayor Robert Campbell had no comment on the lawsuit, though he said the ordinance is in place to be "cautious."

Some of the plaintiffs were on their way to observe an anti-war demonstration near Bush's ranch May 3. They were driving through Crawford and planned to protest outside the city limits, but instead met a blockade of law enforcement officials from the city and the county inside the city limits, the lawsuit said.

Police gave the crowd several minutes to leave but some people remained outside their cars when the time expired, Harrington said.

Patricia Major of Dallas was one of those arrested, along with three "legal observers," or people who said they were along to protect the rights of people. A fifth person was arrested later when he arrived at the scene to see what was happening, Harrington said. The five were held overnight in jail.

"They were not even protesting," Harrington said.

Major said one of the reasons she went to Crawford was to show her 14-year-old daughter that "dissent is an important part of democracy and that people can dissent in a peaceful manner and have their voices heard and that bad things won't happen to them in this country."

"Unfortunately, my daughter, who was right beside me when I was handcuffed, learned a different lesson from this trip to Crawford," Major said.

Bush was meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

The plaintiffs also filed a motion in Crawford Municipal Court to have the misdemeanor charges against them dismissed, Harrington said.