[VE][65] Error Message Feedback: Where do line-breaks go?

Validating Error [65]: "document type does not allow element X here; missing one of Y start-tag"

    This error, 'specified' as "document type does not allow element "li" here; missing one of "ul", "ol", "menu", "dir" start-tag", was applied to 18 list items, each of them originally coded like this:

<li class="ml2"><span class="group">"The Family Afterward" Group &mdash; (Fri., 8 PM)</span><br />
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<span class="changed nowrap">SIUH South conference/board rooms, 375 Seguine Ave.</span><!-- [2/9, /16]  --></li><br />]  (Emphasis added)

    The problem actually is not that the <li> (actually the closing thereof) doesn't belong where it is, but that a <br /> within a list apparently has to appear within rather than between the line items. I don't recall having seen that particular grammatical rule elsewhere, simple as it is, and it doesn't seem intuitive enough to figure out without a clearer explanation.

        Thank you,

                --- Paul Nelson.