Police officer shuts down protest by students campaigning for free speech and handing out copies of the constitution after threatening to lock them up
- Students were holding a free speech demonstration at College of Du Page
- A campus police officer then told them they had to stop with the protest
- Threatened to 'lock them up' if they didn't stop handing out leaflets
Students who were campaigning for free speech on campus had their protest shut down after a police officer threatened to 'lock them up.'
The two students along with an adviser from organisation Turning Point USA were handing out copies of the U.S. constitution at the College of Du Page in Illinois.
They had also been asking fellow students to sign a petition urging the college to adopt a less restrictive policy on free speech.
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The students from the College of Du Page in Illinois and a advisor from group Turning Point USA had been campaigning for free speech while on campus
It came after one of the students Joseph Enders, had been trying to set up a Turning Point USA club at the school, but to no avail.
But despite one of the students proudly holding up an American flag, a campus police officer appears telling them to immediately stop their protest saying they need a permit to hand out leaflets.
In footage of the exchange, one of the students challenges the officer saying, 'it's not free speech?'
But the officer replies: 'Nobody’s stopping you from free speech, but you can’t solicit out here, and basically you are — you’re soliciting your opinions. Okay? And you need to go get a permit.'
A campus police officer tried to break up the demonstration, saying if they didn't hold a permit, he would lock them up
And when the same student presses the officer to tell them what law they are in violation of, he replies: 'Why don’t you go talk to Student Life? But you can’t do it out here, otherwise I’m going to have to lock you up.
'I don’t want it to come to that. Like I said, I want you to go in to Student Life.'
Faced with being arrested, the students stop their protest and agree to go into the college in order to obtain a permit.
Fearing they were going to be arrested, the students stop their protest and are told to go and get a permit
Mr Enders told Campus Reform: 'They told us that we need three members and a full-time faculty adviser, but they wouldn’t let us clipboard.'
The College of DuPage has refused to comment on the incident so far.
However, according to the policy on their website, they state that access to the campus facilities is a 'privilege granted by the College.'
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