“The police arrested me for holding a T-shirt that said ‘Muslims for Life,’ which I got from a group that was giving blood at the Red Cross booth. I just kind of laughed. I’d promised my husband I wouldn’t get arrested.”
Source/Credit: The Progressive |
By Matthew Rothschild | September 6, 2012
Free Speech Advocates Defiant in Madison, WI
The faceoff continues. Despite the crackdown yesterday, with the arrest of eight demonstrators in the Madison capitol for holding signs or T-shirts, free speech advocates continue to express their rights. They are challenging Scott Walker’s administrative rule limiting protest, and they are challenging the new capitol police chief’s policy of enforcing that rule.
One of the protesters arrested yesterday, Jason Huberty, returned to the capitol Thursday morning carrying a sign with the words of Article 1, Section 4, of the Wisconsin state constitution on it. Those words are: “The right of the people peaceably to assemble, to consult for the common good, and to petition the government, or any department thereof, shall never be abridged.”
He was also wearing a T-shirt that said “Freedom of Speech.”
The police arrested him, handcuffed him, and took him off to the county jail.
Other free speech defenders were in the capitol, wondering whether they would be arrested, too.
One was Steve Gotcher, who was also holding a sign containing the words of Article 1, Section 4. (Disclaimer: Gotcher, who is co-owner of Audio for the Arts, is a friend of mine, and I record my commentaries at his business.)
“I’m here because the capitol police are trying to enforce rules that are unconstitutional,” Gotcher said. “It’s important for me to put myself in their path and to let people know they need to come back to the People’s House or we’re going to lose it.”
Gotcher has never been arrested before.
Nor, before yesterday, had Jeri Troia, 57. She had made a couple of 4x6 index cards. One said: “Violence Is the Last Refuge of the Incompetent,” a quote from Isaac Asimov. And the other said: “Chief Erwin Thinks It’s the Fist Amendment.” She was referring to Madison capitol police chief David Erwin, who had advised legislative staffers that if one of the protesters was bothering them, they should punch the protesters in the nose.
“The police arrested me for holding a T-shirt that said ‘Muslims for Life,’ which I got from a group that was giving blood at the Red Cross booth,” says Troia, a substitute teacher. “I just kind of laughed. I’d promised my husband I wouldn’t get arrested.”
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Read full original post here: Wisconsin, USA: Blood donor arrested for holding ‘Muslims for Life’ t-shirt
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