The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah will place several "observers" on Main Street Plaza during The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 173rd semiannual General Conference, which begins today.

The nine observers, trained in First Amendment law, will watch Salt Lake City police officers to make sure they don't wrongly detain or arrest the dozens of evangelical Christian and Baptist street preachers expected to converge on the church's Conference Center.

"They're looking for any police misconduct while trying to arrest or ask protesters to leave the area," ACLU attorney Janelle Eurick said.

During the 2002 Winter Games, the ACLU of Utah trained some 50 law students to observe police behavior in relation to protesters.

"This is nothing new," Eurick said.

Groups from Street Preachers Fellowship and elsewhere are expected to hit the LDS Church's downtown campus during conference. Some street preachers have applied for "protest permits" on the sidewalks near the Conference Center, and others are expected to gather on the church's Main Street Plaza to preach to plaza attendees. The preachers consider the LDS faith a perversion of biblical Christianity.

The LDS Church has applied for similar "protest permits" in some of the same areas. Church attorneys say their permits are for up to 30 people who will proselytize and greet conference attendees. Street preachers contend the church's permits are designed to take up prime protest spaces.

Lonnie Pursifull, state director of Street Preachers Fellowship, said the group has abandoned, for the time being, a federal lawsuit against the city for First Amendment violations. In February, Pursifull was arrested and taken to jail while preaching at an Olympic anniversary event. Later, city prosecutor Sim Gill said Pursifull had done nothing illegal.

The City Attorney's Office has met with police officers and instructed them about city ordinances and how they relate to free speech. Mayor Rocky Anderson said the preachers have the right to speak, however, he lambasted their sometimes in-your-face tactics.

"They should read that part of the Bible setting forth the Golden Rule and treat others as they want to be treated," Anderson said.

While street preachers regularly attend LDS conferences, this conference will likely be the final time preachers are allowed on Main Street Plaza. That fact has seemingly attracted more street preachers than normal and increased their attention.

Anderson is pushing a church-backed plan that would trade the public's rights on the plaza for a community center built on church land in Glendale. If that deal passes the City Council this summer, there would no longer be guaranteed free speech on the plaza. Instead the LDS Church would control conduct and speech there.

E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com