I am in no way a supporter of the anti-war crowd. I believe they are destructive to our nation and they give our enemy resolve. I do, however, believe that they have the right to protest and I will die defending that right regardless of my distaste for their message. A group of nine protesters was arrested for protesting around courtyard pool inside the Rayburn House office building. They were throwing flowers and reciting the names of our war dead. They were arrested because there are laws preventing protests inside Federal buildings in the DC area. This is fine, there are rules that must be followed when exercising First Amendment rights.
What I have a real problem with is the way different groups of protesters are handled. These people, who by all accounts were not hurting anything or anyone, were arrested while the group on Saturday was allowed to vandalize the steps of the Capitol. The Capitol Police stood by and watched as people defaced the property and they arrested absolutely no one. It would seem that if they were going to excuse any behavior it would the behavior of the peaceful protester. The ones who were damaging property should have been arrested. What do we pay the Capitol Police to do? If we are only paying them to watch crime we can get cameras and film it and save the taxpayers a great deal of money.
I can not stand those who protest against the war but the First Amendment is the second most important one we have (without the Second there would be no First) so they should be allowed to peacefully assemble within the limits of the law. However, when they go out of their way to confront the police or to antagonize the opposition voice and when they damage property they should be arrested.
The police indicate that on Saturday they used “measured crowd control practices.” I hope if a crown of terrorists (other than the anti-war type) attacks the Capitol they do a little better job.
Source:
Fox News