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News :: Education |
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Police protest UMass amherst lavasseur speech |
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by Robert Gorman
Email: bcibob670 (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified!) |
15 Nov 2009
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A report on uncommon protest against the speech of a 70's radical domestic terrorist group/ freedom fighters/ political prisioner the United Freedom Front |
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Through out the week of the the 12th of November news stories had reported on the UMASS Amherst fifth annual colloquium on social change. Specifically, the invitation to Ray Luc Lavasseur to speak on the topic of “Ray Luc Levasseur: Defendant in the Landmark Sedition Trial of Western Mass Returns after 20 Years,”. Later, the speech was canceled then re instituted by the Umass students group “The Social Thought and Political Economy Program”. There was much controversy on this invitation to Mr. Lavasseur for several reasons ranging from freedom of speech, convicts profiting from their crimes, insensitivity to victims of his crimes, actual educational value to a student of Umass Amherst and social change among others. Lavasseur was denied permission to travel out of state (Maine) by the Federal Parole Board and his wife was to take his place at the panel of speakers.
This report will focus on the protest of this event by members of the state government, The Tea Party group and a large contingent of law enforcement personnel from around New England and New Jersey.
On the evening of the 12th of November 2009 approximately 200+ off duty law enforcement personnel gathered together on the common in front of the Isenberg School of Management which was the venue for the speech. The protesters were confined to a specific area assigned by university police and given instructions on the standards of conduct expected and an invitation to be in the audience for the speech. The protesters gathered together in front of an American flag and began their protest with a pledge of allegiance. Observing the protesters I noticed a distinct difference in clothing and manner of their behavior than previous protesters of the past I have observed. These protesters where dressed in business attire for the most part and except for the the pledge of allegiance they did not yell, scream or chant. They held signs and spoke amongst each other for approximately 4 hours vigilantly making sure that there presence and their objection to this event was made known. 3 television news agencies were in attendance and reported on the protest.
I had asked one of the protesters why they were there protesting. I was told that they objected to anyone that organized, advocated and carried out extremely violent and criminal actions to bring about change in society and had been convicted of the same should not be allowed to educate the children on any issues as if they are put up on a pedestal to worship. Another person (an unidentified law enforcement officer) had said, “simply that Ray Luc Levasseur in cooperation with his wife and others were leaders of the United Freedom Front. Levasseur and members of the that domestic terrorism group had attacked and killed a New Jersey State Trooper, the attempted assassination of two Massachusetts State Troopers and over 20 bombing and several bank robberies . To have members of the academic community give legitimacy to terrorist acts was disgusting and insensitive to the family members of Lavasseur's victims and served no legitimate educational purpose.” The protest group had dispersed when the speech was over and relocated to a local VFW on the invitation of the veterans of foreign wars club. During the protest no one was injured, arrested, violated the rules set down by the police, no trash cans were set on fire, no disruption in the audience, no assaults on the speakers, no damage to public property was committed and the protesters got their message across with the local news television stations. |
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Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
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