Citizens no longer will be barred from addressing Petersburg City Council solely because they owe money to the city.

City Attorney Brian Telfair notified the ACLU of Virginia that the prohibition would be lifted, the constitutional watchdog group announced Tuesday.

Mr. Telfair issued the response after the Richmond-based group demanded an end to the practice that he previously had deemed legal.

“This prohibition violates the First Amendment and must be rescinded immediately,” Rebecca K. Glenburg, legal director of the Virginia ACLU, wrote to Mr. Telfair in a letter issued Feb. 5.

The issue involved the decision of Mayor W. Howard Myers — with Mr. Telfair’s legal support — to bar an activist and former candidate for city office, Linwood Christian, from speaking.

Mr. Christian was banned from addressing the council during its Jan. 20 meeting’s public comment period because he owed the city $800 in campaign fines, Mr. Telfair has confirmed.

Mr. Christian had signed up to speak, but his name was removed from the list of speakers. The council’s clerk removed his name at the direction of Mayor Myers, Mr. Telfair told other members of council.

When council members inquired about the incident, Mr. Telfair advised them that, in his opinion, the mayor has the authority to bar people from speaking because of debts owed to the city.

He also admonished Councilwoman Treska Wilson-Smith to cease sending him emails objecting to his interpretation of the law and the rules of council.

Ms. Glenburg stated in her letter that neither the mayor nor anyone else in city government has the authority to limit the free speech of debtors and hinted that the ACLU would go to court if the mayor and Mr. Telfair did not back down.

“Barring a speaker because he owes money to the city ... is not reasonably related to any purpose” of the public comment period at a Petersburg council meeting, she wrote.