http://www.progressive.org/mcwatch04/mc072604.html

Land of the free eh !

Protester Arrested for Carrying Sign at Bush Event

Daniel Finsel of Lehighton, Pennsylvania, went to protest a visit by
President Bush to nearby Kutztown on July 9.

Finsel was carrying a huge sign, three feet by four feet, that said,
"U.S. Aggression Breeds Terrorism."

Finsel says he obeyed the instructions of the Pennsylvania State
Troopers, who told all the activists, including Bush supporters, to go
into a zoned-off area.

"One guy had a 'I Love Halliburton' T-shirt on, and said, 'You're
unpatriotic. You don't deserve to be in this country,' " Finsel recalls.

Such a reaction was not unexpected, he says. But he wasn't prepared for
a trooper who told him that he couldn't stand still with his sign, even
in the protest zone.

"I see this cop," says Finsel, and he says, 'You can't stand there. You
need to keep walking.' So I started walking in a six-foot circle within
the protest zone. And I looked back, and he said, 'Not in circles.' And
I said, "'What, you want me to walk in squares?' "

At that, says Finsel, the officer radioed for help.

"The cop puts me in cuffs and grabs my sign, and two other cops grab my
arms and take me across the street," he says. "My sign is getting
crumpled up by the sergeant. They take me to the cop car, and one says,
'You don't deserve to watch Bush come up the street.' "

The troopers took Finsel down to the station and locked him in a cell
for three hours.

"I wasn't read my rights the whole time, and not one cop told me what I
was doing wrong," he says.

"He didn't stay in his designated area," says Trooper Ray Albert, public
information officer for the Pennsylvania State Police. "He was arrested
for not obeying the rules."

After Finsel was taken out of the cell, he was given a citation for
disorderly conduct.

"On the citation where it says victim's name, they put 'society.' "
Finsel says.

"I was in utter shock. I thought we could walk around with signs in this
country."

He pleaded not guilty to the charge and awaits a court date.

--Matthew Rothschild