Create an Account
username: password:
 
  MemeStreams Logo

'I thought the whole country was a free speech zone.'

search

flynn23
Picture of flynn23
My Blog
My Profile
My Audience
My Sources
Send Me a Message

sponsored links

flynn23's topics
Arts
Business
Games
Health and Wellness
Home and Garden
Miscellaneous
Current Events
Recreation
Local Information
Science
Society
Sports
Technology

support us

Get MemeStreams Stuff!


 
'I thought the whole country was a free speech zone.'
Topic: Current Events 10:05 am EDT, Oct 17, 2003

] "He pointed out a relatively remote baseball diamond that
] was enclosed in a chain-link fence," Neel recalled in an
] interview with Salon. "I could see these people behind
] the fence, with their faces up against it, and their
] hands on the wire." (The ACLU posted photos of the
] demonstrators and supporters at that event on its Web
] site.) "It looked more like a concentration camp than a
] free speech area to me, so I said, 'I'm not going in
] there. I thought the whole country was a free speech
] area.'" The detective asked Neel, 66, to go to the area
] six or eight times, and when he politely refused, he
] handcuffed and arrested the retired steelworker on a
] charge of disorderly conduct. When Neel's sister argued
] against his arrest, she was cuffed and hauled off as
] well. The two spent the president's visit in a firehouse
] that was serving as Secret Service and police
] headquarters for the event.
]
] It appears that the Neels' experience is not unique. Late
] last month, on Sept. 23, the American Civil Liberties
] Union filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Philadelphia
] against the Secret Service, alleging that the agency, a
] unit of the new Homeland Security Department charged with
] protecting the president, vice president and other key
] government officials, instituted a policy in the months
] even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of instructing
] local police to cordon off protesters from the president
] and Vice President Dick Cheney. Plaintiffs include the
] National Organization for Women, ACORN, USA Action and
] United for Justice, and groups and individuals who have
] been penned up during presidential visits, or arrested
] for refusing to go into a "free speech area," in places
] ranging from California to New Mexico, Missouri,
] Connecticut, New Jersey, South Carolina and elsewhere in
] Pennsylvania.

'I thought the whole country was a free speech zone.'



 
 
Powered By Industrial Memetics
RSS2.0