"You're In Alabama Now"

Nine young prolifers were arrested in Birmingham Thursday, and spent the night in jail, finally being released this morning.

Christian News Wire:

...All nine members of the Campus Life Tour were taken to the Birmingham City Jail, where they were forced to change into orange jumpsuits and placed in holding cells for 6 hours without water or access to a phone, as the officers ignored their requests for help. They were booked and placed in cells around 1:00 a.m., but were not released until hours later, the young women at 7:00 a.m. and the men at 9:00 a.m. The group was released without any paper citations, only bond forms stating a generic "Charge of Trespassing" with no penal code listed on the form.

As the officers questioned Blythe at the jail, she stated that the Constitution protected her right to stand on a public sidewalk. The police officers' response was clear: "You're in Alabama now."...

...At the Birmingham City Jail, in an eerie throwback to the past, Rev. Shaver was handcuffed and shackled at his feet. Despite repeated requests from his attorney to remove the shackles, guards kept the painful and restrictive shackles on Rev. Shaver for hours. Rev. Shaver and the other young men were informed during their jail stay that several of the guards at the jail also serve as security guards at a local abortion clinic.

"We were arrested yesterday because of the content of our message. It's clear from the attitudes and actions of the police officers that our message of life is not welcome in Birmingham, and prejudice is alive and well in this city. It is a shame that this historic city which saw the Civil Rights movement firsthand continues to refuse basic civil rights to peaceful activists simply on the basis of their message," states Kortney Blythe, Director of the Survivors Campus Life Tours. "We are shocked by the Birmingham Police Department's response to our peaceful actions, and we call upon the Chief of Police to initiate a thorough investigation of yesterday's horrifying civil rights abuses. The Survivors will continue to peacefully promote a culture of life and expose the truth of abortion in Birmingham and throughout the state of Alabama, regardless of the actions of prejudiced police officers."...

I'd like to know who put the police up to it. Somebody missed the turn of the century...last century!