MONROE, La.—A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday against officials with the town of Columbia, La., barring them from preventing a group of pro-life advocates from displaying signs that display aborted babies.
Columbia police, who had previously objected to the content of the signs, later arrested one pro-life protester and threatened the arrest of others, claiming they were “disrupting everybody.”
“You can’t arrest someone simply because you or other people are offended. It’s as simple as that, and the police should know better,” said ADF-allied attorney Randall Wenger of the Lancaster, Pa., law firm Clymer & Musser, P.C. Wenger represents the ministry organization of which the protesters are members.
In February, the Columbia assistant chief of police arrested Russell and threatened the arrest of four other pro-life protesters who were standing on public property and holding signs depicting images of aborted children. Columbia police had expressed their disapproval of the protesters’ signs and actions on previous occasions as well but had not arrested them.
Russell was cited for resisting an officer, stopping or standing or parking in specified areas, and demonstrating without a permit. He was then thrown in jail for two days.
“A video clearly shows that Mr. Russell did not resist arrest. In addition, the ordinance requiring a permit in order to hold signs is not applicable in the municipality where Mr. Russell was standing. Neither he nor the other protesters were engaged in starting a riot or even obstructing traffic,” Wenger explained. “My clients were harassed because the police didn’t like their signs and didn’t like dealing with phone calls from offended members of the public. That’s not legitimate grounds for arrest.”
On March 22, Wenger filed suit in federal court on behalf of members of the World Wide Street Preachers’ Fellowship for violation of their First Amendment right to free public expression.
Wednesday’s temporary restraining order, issued by Judge Robert James of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Monroe Division, states that town officials are prohibited “from interfering with Plaintiffs’ First Amendment activities of displaying anti-abortion signs” until a hearing is held in the case,
World Wide Street Preachers’ Fellowship, et al., v. Town of Columbia, Louisiana, on April 1.
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