Free Speech on Trial

Freedom of Assembly is too

LINK – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-guB121R6Y

More on the case – https://notogenocide.proboards.com/post/582

 

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More drama on Gaza issue from Urbana, Illinois as campus protest arrest becomes Constitution test

The University of Illinois students opposed to genocide  in Gaza had protested like many students across the country. One student, Yafa Issa, was singled out for aggressive prosecution.

Here is a report from the courthouse –

Friday’s hearing will continue next Wednesday.
Jan. 10, 2025 hearing at Champaign County Courthouse, Urbana, IL

NOTES:

Over 60 people filled the visitors’ gallery in courtroom A at the Champaign County Courthouse to show support for Yafa Issa, an 18-year old junior and a member of Students for Justice in Palestine who has been charged with “mob action” for her role in last April’s protest and encampment at the University of Illinois Urbana campus.

At issue was a motion for dismissal filed on her behalf asserting that the state’s application of the mob action statute is unconstitutional. Attorney Evan Bruno argued the state’s charge criminalized Issa’s First Amendment right to assemble and associate. Bruno said the April 26 encampment did not breach written University policies at the time and remained nonviolent until confronted by police.
(Daily Illini: https://dailyillini.com/news-stories/champaign-urbana/crime/2025/01/06/student-mob-action- motion-to-dismiss/ ).

Witnesses on day one included two police officers along with Yafa herself.

The police testimony included comments to the effect that people were warned they were trespassing and could be arrested; “we’re going to move in and remove the tents”; “it’s all university policy; you can’t have tents”. No one could say for sure if the police knew any definite policy statement that would justify taking down such structures (mostly small tents). However it was generally accepted that state law and university policy were two different things. Two top-level university officials were present during the events, one in the morning and one in the afternoon: an assistant dean and later Associate Dean Dr. James Hintz. Their position was that the university has a policy: no structures!

Several documents were submitted as evidence. One was a university guideline that outlined the erection of structures on university grounds. Another document was cited that outlined response scenarios for demonstrations on school grounds. The police said they were merely responding to university administrators’ request to clear a path to the structures so facilities workers could remove them. They were not aware of what specific policy violation was involved. They did so, after hours of monitoring, by forming a “wedge” and attempting to break through a circle of protesters who had linked arms, some of whom held a large plywood barrier. At one point, the barrier was pushed on top of fallen protestors and Yafa was involved in trying to alleviate their distress by pushing the barrier back up into an upright position so those trapped could get up.

The police said that they repeatedly told protesters they could continue their demonstration, but the structures had to go. Failure to comply would risk arrest for “criminal trespass”.

When asked, the cops said it was up to administrators to know the policy and anything therein that covers these types of structures. They were not aware of any specific rule. They did note that there was no violence and no sign of any weapons in the crowd. It was only after the wedge attack that chaos erupted and people started falling to the ground. The only “violence” they could point to was a general resistance to the demand to remove the structures.

“We went in to make room for building and grounds to remove structures.”
“Any other purpose?”
“No, just make a lane.”

At one point, the police are informed: “The chancellor wants it done.” (Chancellor Robert Jones at the time).

Yafa testified that the tents were the whole point of the demonstration, erected to symbolize solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza who had been driven from their destroyed homes and forced to live in tents. She also never heard anyone cite any specific policy regarding structures, just the demand that they must go.

Following the failed attempt to dismantle the “structures” the students met inside the Union with administrators to negotiate a solution to the standoff. They were led to believe that Chancellor Jones and President Kileen would be present but they never appeared. Finally, late that night, they returned to the scene and advised everyone to go home. It was late and raining. They had been encouraged to relocate to the site of the Spurlock Museum, however that area was in a remote area with little visibility. By April 28 they had relocated the encampment to the south end of the quad, where it was permitted to exist for 12 days until the end of the school year.

 

UPDATES WILL GO IN COMMENTS

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SEE ALSO –
Gaza issue smothers the US – watch drama unfold AGAIN as Urbana, Illinois mayor cannot denounce genocide

 

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FBI Gets Smack Down Over Illegal Spying

Judge rules secret FBI national security letters unconstitutional

SAN FRANCISCO –  A federal judge has struck down a set of laws allowing the FBI to issue so-called national security letters to banks, phone companies and other businesses demanding customer information.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said the laws violate the First Amendment and the separation of powers principles and ordered the government to stop issuing the secretive letters or enforcing their gag orders, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The FBI almost always bars recipients of the letters from disclosing to anyone — including customers — that they have even received the demands, Illston said in the ruling released Friday. . . . (more)

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/16/judge-rules-secret-fbi-letters-unconstitutional/