Borough Police arrested and charged three University students with disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway Thursday when they sat in the middle of Nassau Street bound to each other with piping to protest the war with Iraq. The arrests coincided with antiwar protests that the Princeton Peace Network and Coalition for Peace Action held in Palmer Square the day after war started.
Aderemi Artis GS, Scott Gilmore '04 and Traci Schlesinger-Franks GS said they committed the act of "civil disobedience" around 5 p.m. They sat for five minutes, and police asked them to leave. When they remained silent, police brought them to the sidewalk near FitzRandolph Gate, undid their binds and drove them to the police station, where they were held in individual cells for about an hour, Gilmore said.
The arrests were the first of University students during recent antiwar rallies. Gilmore and Borough Police Chief Charles Davall said the students were not affiliated with University or local peace groups. They are slated to appear in court March 31 and have asked for community support. "We've exhausted all the other means of protest," Gilmore said in an interview yesterday. "We've tried writing to our representatives. We've tried conventional protests with signs in the street. When a crime like this is going on, business can't go on."
In an interview on Friday, Chief Davall said his department was paying attention to the civil liberties of Borough residents, and Gilmore said the students had a "very, very good experience with the police." He added that while they were in prison, several police officers offered their support for the antiwar stance.
"One of the things we keep in mind is the First Amendment rights of people," Davall said. There were officers at the protests, he said, "really to maintain the safety of everybody. We work closely with the organizations."
Gilmore declined to reveal any future protest plans he may have.
In a joint email to a Daily Princetonian reporter yesterday, Artis and Schlesinger said: "We chose civil disobedience as our tactic due to the exigency of the current situation and the historical evidence of its efficacy. Any other tactic seemed inadequate in the light of the horror inherent in the attacks on the Iraqi people."
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