Over the years in Philadelphia, protesters often found it difficult to get city permission to demonstrate or march.

To the protesters, the explanation was simple: if the city fathers didn't like their "cause," they simply refused to issue a permit and hoped the demonstrators would throw in the towel.

The times may finally be changing.

On the eve of a trial that raised constitutional challenges to the city's practice of denying permits, the Street administration has agreed to abandon the old way while trying to come up with a new approach.

"We think it's an enormous victory for political activists in Philadelphia," said attorney Mara Verheyden-Hillard, referring to the settlement of a two-year lawsuit.

Working in Washington, D.C. for the National Lawyers Guild and Partnership for Civil Justice, she sued Mayor Street and other officials two years ago.

The suit was filed after the city tried to stop a two-day, anti-death penalty, pro-Mumia Abu-Jamal demonstration on Dilworth Plaza, adjacent to City Hall.

Abu-Jamal is on death row for the murder of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

Hauled into federal court, the city reluctantly agreed to permit the demonstration but the demonstrators' lawyers pressed for a permanent injunction, alleging their clients would be denied permits in the future.

The trial was to have begun yesterday before U.S. District Judge John P. Fullam, but the city gave in on all points.

Under the settlement, the city agreed it would no longer enforce an executive order that gave officials discretion to approve or deny permits for marches, protests, demonstrations, and rallies.

The city also agreed that it wouldn't cite minors for violating nighttime curfew while participating in protests and other "free speech" activities.

In the meantime, the city is putting together new permit procedures that hopefully will pass constitutional muster, although Stefan Presser, legal director of the Philadelphia ACLU, still has some concerns about the new approach.

"The city has reserved to itself a plethora of reasons why these permits can be denied," said Presser. "It seems to be inviting future litigation."

Still, the new approach, with applications going to the managing director's office, instead of to the Police Department or the Department of Licenses & Inspections, will be much better than the old way, Presser predicted.