] "He pointed out a relatively remote baseball diamond that ] was enclosed in a chain-link fence," Neel recalled in an ] interview with Salon. "I could see these people behind ] the fence, with their faces up against it, and their ] hands on the wire." (The ACLU posted photos of the ] demonstrators and supporters at that event on its Web ] site.) "It looked more like a concentration camp than a ] free speech area to me, so I said, 'I'm not going in ] there. I thought the whole country was a free speech ] area.'" The detective asked Neel, 66, to go to the area ] six or eight times, and when he politely refused, he ] handcuffed and arrested the retired steelworker on a ] charge of disorderly conduct. When Neel's sister argued ] against his arrest, she was cuffed and hauled off as ] well. The two spent the president's visit in a firehouse ] that was serving as Secret Service and police ] headquarters for the event. ] ] It appears that the Neels' experience is not unique. Late ] last month, on Sept. 23, the American Civil Liberties ] Union filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Philadelphia ] against the Secret Service, alleging that the agency, a ] unit of the new Homeland Security Department charged with ] protecting the president, vice president and other key ] government officials, instituted a policy in the months ] even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of instructing ] local police to cordon off protesters from the president ] and Vice President Dick Cheney. Plaintiffs include the ] National Organization for Women, ACORN, USA Action and ] United for Justice, and groups and individuals who have ] been penned up during presidential visits, or arrested ] for refusing to go into a "free speech area," in places ] ranging from California to New Mexico, Missouri, ] Connecticut, New Jersey, South Carolina and elsewhere in ] Pennsylvania. 'I thought the whole country was a free speech zone.' |