(Dec. 6) Disperse them. Arrest them if they won’t immediately disperse. Use tear gas against them (after assuring that police have gas masks) and tasers if they resist arrest. Prosecute them to the fullest. If convicted, give them the maximum allowable penalties. Repeat if necessary.
That, above, is how authorities should handle “protesters” who significantly abuse the rights of innocents. There is no right to protest that extends to the right to deny rights to others. Period.
The issue of out-of-control protests arises because pro-Palestinian protesters repeatedly block bridges or other roadways as part of their performative terrorism. On Dec. 4, they blocked the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn. On Nov. 26, they blocked the Manhattan Bridge. On Nov. 16, they blocked San Francisco’s Bay Bridge. On the same day, they blocked the Boston University Bridge. Ditto for the Jacques Cartier Bridge that day in Montreal.
And it’s not only bridges. At college campuses across the country, college classes have been disrupted and Jewish students have been forced to seek shelter behind locked doors as rowdy protesters yelled in favor of intifada. In Philadelphia, threatening protesters surrounded and blocked the entrance to a falafel shop. And on and on and on.
This is unacceptable.
The Constitution rightly protects the God-given rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. It does not protect deliberate harassment, threats, or behavior (especially physical acts) that burden others, especially others not remotely connected to the intended target of the hooliganism.
If yahoos block a bridge, they could keep someone from reaching an interview for a job that then goes to another person. When hoodlums block bridges, they could make parents miss their children’s drama performances, championship games, or teacher conferences. When thugs block roadways, they might stall emergency vehicles, or they could stop a husband racing his pregnant wife in problematic labor to the hospital…. [The full column is at this link.]
