Constitutional or Discourteous?

Last week Michael Oren gave a speech at University of California, Irvine in Orange County, California, describing the issues he faced as Israeli ambassador. His speech was interrupted multiple times from members of the audience that did not agree with him. A video posted online showed the interruptions occurring roughly every ten minutes. Professor Petracca of the Political Science department expresses his impatience with the outbursts and called out "Shame on you!" when he took the podium to control the ruckus caused by the interruptions. He told the audience that this behavior is not appropriate for University of California students. The spirit of the event as explained by Professor Petracca and Chancellor Drake was to provide a forum for an exchange of ideas and discussion on the Middle East situation. They said that a better way for the UCI Muslim Student Union (the group expressing their dissatisfaction with the speaker) to express their disagreement would be by presenting the ambassador with questions at the end of his talk. University officials were likely embarrassed by the students' conduct. The MSU has put on its share of displays on campus denouncing Israeli occupation and their tactics and the tolls it takes on the Palestinian community. Indubitably the University would have preferred picketing outside the speaking venue. Yet it's important to remember that a marginalized group may feel that working within the accepted modes of expression is not effective. The outbursts managed to successfully interrupt Oren from talking, but did not communicate any counter point. Some people present complained that UCI should have taken better measures to control the crowd and that the outbursts made UCI look bad. Notably, as soon as a person yelled out they were escorted out of the auditorium. The position that UCI takes on the incident is that expression is permitted within certain limits dictated by place and time. It is unclear if the students will be charged criminally. If they are they can be charged with disturbing the peace under Penal Code section 415 (2); this penal code section prohibits using "loud and unreasonable" noise. Despite the strong protection of Free Speech in the U.S. Constitution it does appear that the manner in which the students sought to protest the ambassador fell outside the protection of the constitution.

Criminal Law Updates by the Law Offices of William W. Bruzzo (714) 547-4636


Here is a video from OCRegister.com

University California Campuses Students Protesting

Across University of California campuses students have been protesting a 32% increase in tuition. According to the Orange County Register about 300 students protested at the University of California, Irvine in Orange County, California. Last week at UC Berkeley students had been arrested during protesting. Reportedly $800 million has been cut from state funding for the public university system. During a protest there are areas in which people cannot gather, for example blocking the entrance or exit of a building and blocking a public sidewalk. People arrested during this type of gatherings can be subject to violations of Penal Code Section 407 for unlawfully assembly which is a misdemeanor. They may also be arrested for a violation of Penal Code Section 602, Trespass. However, if the people occupy a space without blocking access or have a permit to gather then they are not in violation of the law. Similarly, if authorities ask protesters to disperse and they refuse then it's a violation of Penal Code Section 416 (assembly for purpose of disturbing the peace). If people refuse to leave officers may ask protesters to place there hands behind their backs and explain that they will place plastic ties on their wrists and be taken in. Some follow these instructions others simply remain motionless but do not resist either. They just lie there on their backs and the officer has to position the person to be cuffed and taken in. These individuals may be charged with the most serious of these sorts of offenses, Penal Code Section 148, which prohibits obstructing an officer or resisting arrest.

Here is a video taken at the UCI, where protesters were maced last month: (Warning Contains Some Graphic Language)



Criminal Law Updates by Law Offices of William W. Bruzzo (714) 547-4636