Nine college-age pro-lifers, displaying graphics and handing out literature at a Birmingham high school, were arrested under murky circumstances -- accounts vary.
-- From "Pro-life activists arrested at Birmingham school" by Carol Robinson, Birmingham News 2/13/09
Birmingham police officials said today the group arrived at Parker High School about 2 p.m. in the area where buses load and unload and started to set up posters and billboards of aborted fetuses.
Because they were on school property, they were asked to leave, said North Precinct Capt. Lucette McMillan.
When they refused, nine people were arrested on trespassing charges, the captain said, and booked into the Birmingham City Jail. All were released by 9 a.m. today.
The Birmingham City Jail . . . the same jail from which Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his famous letter condemning apathy and injustice.
-- From "Nine Pro-life Youth Jailed in Birmingham Following Arrests on Public" by Allison Aranda, Staff Counsel for Life Legal Defense Foundation, posted by Danielle 2/12/09
. . . the group of pro-life youth activists quietly held signs, distributed literature and peacefully dialogued with students on the public sidewalk. After being threatened with arrest if they did not leave the area, the group contacted their attorney, who then assured them that their location on the public sidewalk and their free speech activity was legal according to local and state laws. After the Campus Life Tour team members finished handing out literature to passing students and were in the process of loading their van to leave the school area, the police then handcuffed and arrested all nine Survivors without warning.
Kortney Blythe, Director of Survivors Campus Life Tours, repeatedly asked Officer Cooley, one of the arresting officers, the reason for the arrests. He kept assuring the team that they were not arrested, they were only being detained, and he did not know what the charges were. The entire group was never informed of the reason for their arrest as they were being handcuffed, and one of the officers was heard to question his superiors, “What are we arresting them for again?” The police confiscated the team’s video cameras and personal belongings, and impounded and searched the Campus Life Tour van. The police also asked the team members where they were staying so they could conduct a search in their hotel as well.
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