SOUTHAMPTON - Taking your protest to the streets could cost you. Officials in this swanky village on eastern Long Island, apparently fed up with anti-day laborer protesters gathering in front of the mayor's house, have passed a local law making it illegal to demonstrate at a private home or on any residential street.

The move follows nearly two months of protests in front of Mayor Mark Epley's home after he suggested allowing day laborers to gather in a village-owned park near a convenience store. The day laborers, many of whom are suspected of being in the country illegally, stand near the site every morning waiting for contractors, landscapers and construction workers to hire them at hourly wages for the day.

Epley said his family had been harassed and intimidated by the protesters who oppose accommodating the workers.

“I'm open game, my family is not,” Epley said.

The law, which passed 4-1, calls for fines of up to $1,000 and up to 15 days in jail.

An attorney for the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, Donna Lieberman, said she was concerned about the blanket nature of the ban. She said the First Amendment protects all speech, whatever the message.

“It's very dangerous,” she said, “when government tries to promulgate rules to silence an entity whose message is unpopular or for the convenience ... of any individual.”