[casi] (no subject)

[Edean Amador <edean@DELETETHIShomemadela.com>]

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http://www.msnbc.com/local/wnyt/m276307.asp?vts=3520031535&cp1=1


By Lindsay Cohen , MSNBC Albany/Schenectady, NY

DOWNS AND HIS SON, 31-year-old Roger Downs, each had a pro-peace shirt
made Monday night at a store in the mall.  One shirt simply said "Let
Inspections Work" on one side and "No War With Iraq" on the other.  The
other shirt said "Give Peace A Chance" on the front and "Peace On Earth"
on the back.
     The men say they were not disturbing any shoppers, but their
presence apparently caused enough of a disruption for one Macy's
employee to report them to mall security.  When security approached them
in the food court, Downs and his son were asked to remove their shirts.
Roger Downs complied, but when Stephen Downs wouldn't, he was told to
leave the mall.  When he refused, he was arrested for trespassing.
     Demonstrators upset about the trespassing charge arrived at
Crossgates shortly before noon Wednesday wearing similar peace
messages.  At 12 p.m., they entered the mall together and sat down for
lunch at the food court.  They said they were doing what Stephen and
Roger Downs should have been allowed to do.
     When a few protestors decided to get a little more vocal, a
55-year-old veteran carrying a sign reading "Remember 9-11" confronted
them.   The veteran yelled at the protestors and then went so far as to
push some of the men.
     Organizers say they still consider the day a success, and that they
got their message across: that everyone should be able to exercise their
first amendment rights, even on mall grounds.
     "There are a lot of people who are perfectly okay with coming here
and shopping here but are totally opposed to the idea that this mall can
censor people's opinions," Craig Willis of Troy said.
     Both mall security and mall management were pretty much absent
during the most of the two-hour protest.  Management did issue a
statement saying Downs' behavior and his T-shirt were disrupting customers.
     Downs and his son said on Tuesday that's not true.
     "We were just shopping. We were wearing these T-shirts. We weren't
handing out leaflets, we weren't saying anything," Roger Downs recalled.
     Signs posted at entrances to the mall say that "wearing of
apparel... likely to provoke disturbances... is prohibited" at the mall.
     Stephen Downs was due in Guilderland Town Court on March 17.  Many
of the protesters said they would be there, too, to again show their
support.
     However, Tim Kelley, a spokesman for the mall,  said late Wednesday
afternoon that the mall has asked the town of Guilderland not to pursue
legal action.






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