A court on Tuesday struck down laws banning anyone from causing "annoyance" to people taking part in the Roman Catholic church's youth festival in Australia.
The ruling handed down on the opening day of the six-day World Youth Day festival paves the way for activists to hand out condoms and coathangers _ symbolizing backyard abortions _ to pilgrims at a demonstration planned for Saturday.
Three federal court judges upheld a challenge to special regulations that made behavior that caused annoyance or inconvenience to participants in the festival punishable by fines up to 5,500 Australian dollars (US$5,300).
The judges ruled that the regulations limited freedom of speech and were invalid under Australia's constitution, upholding a legal challenge brought by two activists from the NoPope Coalition, a group of gay rights and secular activists.
The coalition is planning a rally on Saturday at which activists said they would wear T-shirts condemning the pope and hand out condoms and coathangers to pilgrims taking part in a procession through Sydney. The coathangers are meant to symbolize illegal abortions the activists say some Catholics are forced into because the church disapproves of terminating pregnancies.
"We now have a lot more confidence to take to the streets to condemn Pope Benedict's policies against condom use, against contraception, against homosexuality," said Rachel Evans, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "We are glad that the court has ruled that we do have the freedom of expression to communicate our political views on Saturday.
"I see it as an important part of discussion in Australian society," she said.
The New South Wales state government introduced the regulations for July only, saying they were the same sort of powers authorities normally have to quell potential trouble at big sporting events. Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell said the church had not asked for the special rules, and had no problem with the right to protest legally.
Pope Benedict XVI is in Sydney for World Youth Day, which officials say has attracted more than 200,000 pilgrims from around the world. The pontiff does not have any public events until Thursday, when he tours Sydney Harbor and delivers a major address. The festival culminates with a papal Mass on Sunday.
