Maryam Alwan figured the worst was over after New York City police in riot gear arrested her and other protesters on the Columbia University campus, loaded them onto buses and held them in custody for hours.
But the next evening, the college junior received an email from the university. Alwan and other students were being suspended after their arrests at the “ Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” a tactic colleges across the country have deployed to calm growing campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.
The students’ plight has become a central part of protests, with students and a growing number of faculty demanding their amnesty. At issue is whether universities and law enforcement will clear the charges and withhold other consequences, or whether the suspensions and legal records will follow students into their adult lives.
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That’s correct, you do not. Like ALL “rights” in the USA, there is another law waiting in the shadows that completely contradicts it or makes it so that it’s not possible without it being illegal.
You can protest. But only with permits on public and private land, without trespassing, obeying all police orders even if those are themselves illegal, blah blah blah.
The sooner Americans realize all their freedoms do not exist in reality the sooner something can be done to fix it.
A protest with a permit is just a parade
What happens if the permit request is denied? Does one sue them for infringement on their rights?
You protest anyway and embrace civil disobedience.
The first amendment has absolutely no references to permits. In fact it explicitly says you absolutely do not need anything, and that protests are legally protected free speech.
You may protest all you want on public or federal land. I know. I routinely tell cops to “fuck off,” because I know where I happen to be standing. I have yet to be arrested for a protest that I attended, and I have never even attempted to get a permit.
Privately owned property is the only place they can summarily arrest you, and that’s just a trespassing charge.
Yeah keep reading. You’re given one fake right and there are 100 other laws. Just because you’re the right shade, telling a cop to F off, is a crime in itself even if they’re completely wrong. Most people would be arrested just for that.
And that is the entire point. If “the law” is completely discretionary based on the encounter you have with the enforcers and the punishers (police, DA, judges, etc), then you have no rights. Step out of line and you’re in prison.
The US is a shithole.
Technically yes. In reality? Lmao. We’ve seen our first amendment right be abrogated time and again in the last 8 years.
Not in restricted areas like a military base or halls of congress.
Too many people worship the law as if it was the word of god. They don’t realize we are actually making this shit up as we go, and the laws can be changed at any moment.
Thomas “I fucked Sally Hemings” Jefferson
There are so many felonies in this country you basically commit a few every day by accident.
Not for doubt, but because I can’t think of any, can you give examples? Were you just hyperbolizing?
You can look it up, the federal code has over 5,200 crimes and that was over 2 years ago last I could find that someone counted. The average person unwittingly commits over 2 felonies a day.
What are some of the every day felonies? Where are you getting the two a day stat?
Small accounting errors, felony. Putting your pills into a reminder box and traveling accross straight line, felony. Accidentally drive an ATV or dirt bike onto unmarked federal land, felony. Delete CP of a used laptop, felony.
The fact of the matter is any felony that is common to commit, are kind of boring. The federal code is so long and complex that you can find thousands of cases of people being unexpectedly tried for odd felonies. The federal code has become so cumbersome that no one actually knows the law until you’re in a court room with a bunch of lawyers paid to research that specific law.
Thanks for the suggestion! I looked it up and I feel a little bit more skeptical about your claim however I can see a number of those that could easily be trumped up or falsified especially things like injury to an officer and stuff like that.
https://clarifacts.com/federal-crimes-list/
Being right.
Pointing out that we’re finding atrocities
It’s a tactic to break the protest, scare the protesters into compliance. Arrest them all, haul them off to jail. Ruin their futures. Then drop charges since they do have the right to protest, but now they won’t anymore
If you think the police need a reason you haven’t been paying attention.