(A) A person shall be guilty of disorderly conduct if, with the purpose of causing public danger, alarm, disorder, nuisance, or if the person's conduct is likely to cause public danger, alarm, disorder or nuisance, the person wilfully does any of the following acts in a public place:
(1) Commits an act in a violent and tumultuous manner toward another, whereby that other is placed in danger of loss of, or injury to, life, limb or health;
(2) Commits an act in a violent and tumultuous manner toward another, whereby the property of any person is placed in danger of being destroyed or damaged;
(3) Causes, provokes or engages in any fight, brawl or riotous conduct so as to endanger the life, limb, health or property of another;
(4) Interferes with another's pursuit of a lawful occupation by acts of violence;
(5) Obstructs, either singly or together with other persons, the flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic and refuses to clear the public way when ordered to do so by the city police or other lawful authority known to be such;
(6) Incites, attempts to incite or is involved in attempting to incite a riot;
(7) Threatens violence to any member of the city Police Department, any other authorized official of the city who is engaged in the lawful performance of duties, or any other person when the words have a direct tendency to cause acts of violence; or
(8) Makes or causes to be made any loud, boisterous or unreasonable noise or disturbance when a person of ordinary sensibilities would be annoyed or disturbed.
(B) This section shall not be construed to suppress the right to lawful assembly, picketing, public speaking or other lawful means of expressing public opinion not in contravention of other laws.
(C) As used in this section:
(1) RIOT shall mean a public disturbance involving:
(a) Any act of violence by one or more persons, part of an assemblage of three or more persons, which act shall constitute a clear and present danger of, or shall result in, damage to the property of any other persons or injury to the persons of any other individual; or
(b) A threat of the commission of any act of violence by one or more persons, part of an assemblage of three or more persons having individually or collectively the ability of immediate execution of the threat, where the performance of the threatened act of violence would constitute a clear and present danger of, or would result in damage to the property of any other person, or injury to the person of any other individual.
(2) INCITE A RIOT shall mean, but is not limited to, urging or instigating other persons to riot, but shall not be deemed to mean the mere oral or written:
(a) Advocacy of ideas; or
(b) Expression of belief, not involving advocacy of any act of violence or assertion of the rightness, of, or the right to commit, any such act.
(1985 Code, § 14-51) Penalty, see § 10.99
Statutory reference:
Public disorderly conduct, see S.C. Code § 16-17-530