Woman arrested while protesting Bush speech released

[AlabamaYankee]

There's hope in Alabama!
" A woman arrested for holding an anti-war poster at Auburn University Montgomery during President Bush's Social Security speech last week was released by a Montgomery magistrate, who said the protester was expressing her right to free speech."

Another crack in the wall.

http://www.whnt19.com/Global/story.asp?S=3075238

[Stevious]

1. Free Speech Zone?

What the heck kind of crap is that?

:wtf:

[sniffa]

4. par for the course

where have you been?

[Fleshdancer]

10. At some point, the nearest free speech zone will be Canada

seriously, if we Americans as a whole keep putting up with this crap, we're going to lose everything. Thankfully the prosecuter in this case had the good sense to see this as complete bs.

[Occulus]

16. That's been going on for quite some time.

Isn't it a couple years now? And the zones are always well out of sight and hearing of Dictator President Bush*.

[joeybee12]

2. I think it's pretty scary that she was arrested to begin with...

...no basis for that, and the magistarte was right, but intimidation tactics are probably keeping others from protesting. Can she sue?

[Bluzmann57]

7. Exactaly. Why was she arrested in the first place?

You are correct, it is scary. To think that a person can be run in just for expressing free speech is not moral, religious, or American. This is the first I have heard about this, how do we get the mainstream media on this? This needs to get out to the public. Think I'll contact a few people and see if they will bring it to light. May not work though, because it's not a local story for this area.

[Demit]

3. Hopefully this business of "free speech zones" will be totally discredited

[acmejack]

5. Wow, civil rights live in Alabama

I thought the Supremes decided you DID have to show ID when requested by Law Enforcement personnel. They made the ruling about a Nevada case not too long ago. Not that I am complaining, it is just unusual to see any of our rights upheld anymore...

[AlabamaYankee]

11. FWIW The State's Motto:

"We dare defend our rights". There's a strong Libertarian/Contrarian streak, and general resistance to authority. It's often been a negative thing, as in, "How dare you take away my right to discriminate" and widespread resistance to land use planning. At this point I'll celebrate any victory, no matter how small.

[shoelace414]

6. She wasnt' able to protest when he was there

so it was sucessful.

[NVMojo]

8. The republican neocons seem to have one goal in mind ...ruin

all who are in their way. This woman should have never been arrested in the first place, this wasn't hard to figure out. She isn't a "terrorist".

[Bluzmann57]

9. I can't get the link

It says that the page has been removed. Maybe its this pos computer, I don't know.

[sui generis]

12. Jane Doe - good for her!

and btw, getting arrested for political protest does not qualify you for ruination, so long as you weren't committing a crime.

It's a badge of honor anyway, especially when you were not breaking a law to begin with.

[AnnInLa]

13. Knowing, in advance, that a protester won't be charged,

they arrest them anyway....if they hassle protesters enough, maybe protesters will think, "This is not worth it!" Yay, Alabama!

[burn the bush]

14. didn't this kind of thing happen a lot during the campaigns?

People getting arrested for wearing anti shrubbery t-shirts, the woman who accused * of killing her son killed in the war, probably many others who protested were arrested too.

I think they were all or mostly all later released. (after about 3 days) charges were dropped. The people were probably so happy to get out of trouble that they let it go. But the police effectively stopped the protest and demonstrated to others that they could be arrested.

We need to know what we can do if this happens. Legally do they still get to say we were disturbing the peace, therefore they still had a right to arrest us? It's total intimidation and it's only going to get worse.

[Betsy Ross]

15. Arrested last week. How many days did she have to

spend in jail for a non-crime? Just another example of using the police for political purposes. Count the number of demonstrators across the nation arrested and similarly release a number of days later with no charges filed. Hundreds in SF before the Iraq war. So the detention camps for dissidents aren't quite a reality yet, but they sure can annoy them.

[moof]

17. what about the real criminals ?

The people that grabbed and restrained her, (assault),
and then took her against her will to a jail cell, ( kidnapping )
filed the police arrest paperwork on her, (filing a false police report)

are these terrorists still free to break the law again ?

As the Doc was told, paraphrasing here,

" so it was the wrong village, some village helped the enemy and a village was burned, the point was made "

[paineinthearse]

18. Now that the case has been dismissed, I hope she pursues a

...wrongful arrest civil case. She deserves a cash award for the embarassment and false imprisonment.

[jody]

19. Editorial "Protester denied free speech right" in Montgomery Advertiser

Protester denied free speech right
QUOTE
The detention and attempted arrest of a protester by an Auburn University Montgomery campus police officer during President Bush's visit last week was unfortunate. You would hope that a public university would seek ways to encourage the exercise of free speech, rather than to limit it.

According to an AUM spokesman, the campus police officer attempted to arrest the protester, who was holding a sign saying "Stop the War," after she refused to move to a spot on campus that had been designated as a "free speech area."

Good for her. The free speech area near the university library would have been out of the possible view of President Bush, which would have essentially negated the whole purpose of her protest.
UNQUOTE

[gatlingforme]

20. That damn constitution always gets in the way.