Park Rangers Brutally Arrest Iraq War Veteran at Anti-Syria Bombing Demo

[struggle4progress]

55. PhillyNORML runs a regular "Smoke Down Prohibition" marijuana legalization smoke-in,

which seems often to be held at Independence Mall. Arrests seem to be common. There were 150 there Saturday. National Park rules require a permit for First Amendment gatherings of size 25 or more. According to the DOJ statement, the "Smoke Down Prohibition" rally was unpermitted. Emily Yates was scheduled to perform her hit "I'd rather be high (than be an asshole)" at the rally. Some video shows her "No Victim No Crime" placard, further indicating her relation to the "Smoke Down Prohibition" rally; see this post. According to the DOJ statement, an area of the park was set aside by "bicycle rack" fencing to process evidence associated with any arrests at the rally. You can see the rack in parts of the video posted upthread in #16: her audience is outside the fencing; she's inside.

I had thought earlier, based on mishearing of some video material and some inaccurate blog reporting -- her defense fund page, for example, originally said she was arrested in the evening, and some reports indicated she was arrested after the "Smoke Down Prohibition" rally -- that the arrest occurred when she refused to leave the park after closing time, but it actually seems that she had entered a temporarily restricted area in the afternoon just before the rally and that she was arrested for refusing to leave that area after being told repeatedly that she could not be at that particular place just then.