Posted on 08/20/2013 8:28:43 AM PDT by don-o
The Tea Party News Network reported yesterday that two protesters in St. Charles, Missouri, were arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol for refusing to vacate a public overpass when ordered to do so without any reason or demonstrable cause.
One of the two men arrested, Duane Weed, spoke with The Tea Party News Network about his protest and his arrest.
The group had assembled on the morning of Saturday, August 17th, to create awareness of the discontent felt by many Americans for the Obama Administration and the continuous string of scandals perpetrated by the executive branch.
“We felt that there were plenty of impeachable offenses and if any other president in the history of our country had committed even one of these [offenses], they would have been impeached,” Weed stated.
“We had done this before. We had done the same thing a few weeks back. I had seen videos on YouTube from various other places around the country where law enforcement has shown up to a protest and a lot of times run them off… In our particular case, we made an issue of it and said, ‘no, this is our First Amendment right.’ I questioned the highway patrolman, ‘What are the charges,’ you know, ‘What is your reasoning?’ And he couldn’t come up with any reason other than he kept saying ‘we’re requesting that you vacate the bridge.”
The highway patrol refused to cite any specific authority or statute that allowed them the right to break up the protest. Finally, after issuing several demands for the protesters to disperse, the highway patrol officers took Weed and another man, Mark M., into custody, claiming they were disobeying orders fro a police officer and resisting arrest.
The officers claimed that the protesters were causing accidents, however, Weed explained that St. Charles was having a big festival that weekend with the standard increase in traffic that is normal for such an event.
“The traffic was horrendous,” Weed noted. “But I’ve seen situations like that where they station one police officer down the road with their lights on to warn people to slow down, and they could have done that with one officer. Instead, they brought eight [cars] to come up on the bridge. As far as accidents were concerned, I was the first person to arrive there as far as protesters were concerned as when I arrived there, there was already an accident that had just occurred and we certainly couldn’t have been responsible for that accident because we weren’t there!”
After being confronted by the officers, Weed and others offered to move the protest to a different side of the street where there had been no accidents. “He wouldn’t accept that. They had come up there with eight cars and a huge show of force with the clear intention that they were going to clear this overpass.”
Weed and his fellow protester were booked and housed in the county jail overnight. Weed claimed they were treated professionally, but that the whole experience was uncomfortable. After 24 hours, the police let the protesters go without any charges having been officially filed.
The right to peaceably assemble is one of the most important rights for Americans. Protests alert the government and the citizens that something is wrong and the silence of peaceful protests by police or government agencies is a serious threat to our republic.
/johnny
Nothing to do with freedom; it’s about selling your case.
/johnny
* File a lawsuit, a large one.
Then be on the overpass this coming Saturday. *
The idiots on the Left don’t know anything about martyrs.
Even though no one died, this will fuel the righteous to become much stronger against the tyranny.
This is the only logical outcome of
The Tao of Republican Orthodoxy
[Direct Link]
When we protest at the abortion clinic with our Tea Party in our local area, we are clean cut and so is everyone else. Looking like homeless persons that get paid to protest does not help the cause.
It exposes the stuffed shirts on the right for what they are.
BTW, I'm glad to know that I wouldn't be welcome at your protests, because of my beard, pony-tail, and blue jeans. You are doing WONDERS for your cause.
/johnny
I’d love to hear that the citizens took some action against the illegal arrest.
And I’ve watched them get pushed off of overpasses by LAPD and CHP, and some get arrested.
As I said earlier, a lot of Ron Paul fans can give tips on how to deal with CHP; the most common method I observed them use was to use pedestrian bridges to hold their support rallies on, as soon as a cop pulls up on one side, they continue walking across the bridge the other way.
So I’m guessing the classic image shown of Jesus - that guy - he’d be all out of place in line outside a Rally? That hair, Birkenstocks and a scraggly beard...
Never mind - I’m sure that each person has a choice:
Freedom for All or Freedom for this who espouse our ideal of “selling point”.
Curiously this divides us more than any opposition could.
I don’t care how people dress. I’m saying that when Mrs. Soccer Mom drives by the overpass, she’s not impressed with scraggly beards. And in a three second ad, impressions count.
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