Evidently, you can now be arrested for sitting on the sidewalk:
Cindy Sheehan, the grieving California mother of a soldier slain in Iraq, was arrested today while protesting the Iraq war outside the White House.
Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son Casey was killed last year, and several dozen other protesters staged a sit-in on the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Avenue after marching along the pedestrian walkway, the Associated Press reported. Police warned them three times that they had to move along before making arrests, the news agency said.
What I don’t understand is why someone has to move along or be arrested. How is sitting in one place for a length of time a crime?
They had a permit to march. So they needed to keep moving.
What they started was a ‘sit in’ but they lacked the proper permits for that, so they were arrested.
Pssst…… which is what they wanted.
The whole idea that one must have a PERMIT to march is disgusting… and a separate permit to sit down?
Welcome to bureaucratic fascism.
The constitution gives us the right to assemble. Why in the hell should we also require government permission?
Several people each year are arrested for sitting in front of abortion clinics as well. I wonder, is that ‘bureaucratic fascism?’ (No, I’m NOT supporting right to lifers, just making a point).
Simple reason is there are rules to things, its right to assemble’s version of speech’s “fire in a crowded theater.”
I like Cindy and what she’s doing. And, as stated before, it’s what they were going for.
This is the point where it becomes hard to support one’s convictions — but yes, the mere act of sitting in front of an abortion clinic and protesting should be protected speech.
Where it gets sticky is if those protestors are violent or are impeding access to the clinic — I really doubt that Sheehan’s group was either violent or impeding access to the White House.
My opinion as always is that you should be able to do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t infringe upon the rights of others. Sheehan’s protest fell within those rules, most anti-abortion protestors don’t.