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Deputies from the Alamance County Sheriff's Office arrested four protestors, two of which were organizers and speakers, at a demonstration Monday morning.
Magdalene Tucker Blunk, of Chapel Hill, and Dionne Liles, of Graham, who offered remarks at Monday's demonstration, were among those arrested Monday, along with demonstrators Katherine Cassette and her husband Nicholas Lloyd Cassette, of Graham.
The arrests came at what would have been the end of Monday's demonstration. Starting at the Alamance County Office Building, both Blunk and Liles led demonstrators on a march to the jail after criticizing Sheriff Terry Johnson's handling of the COVID-19 epidemic within the Alamance County Jail.
Once the march reached the jail, however, deputies quickly arrested and detained Nicholas Cassette for not complying with orders to vacate the parking lot in a fast enough manner. Though officers sequestered protestors to the sidewalk along West Pine Street, protestors didn't know they weren't allowed in the parking lot.
"This is a wall of shame right here," one protester said. "They are telling us to get on the sidewalk when this is a public place."
Liles was taken into custody after trying to help Nicholas Cassette, and Blunk was arrested for doing the same with Liles. Half an hour after the initial arrests, officers arrested Katherine Cassette for having used what they believed to be foul language.
Protestors balked at both the insinuation they could be arrested for foul language and the officer's apparent arbitrary enforcement of it. A number of other protestors used foul language throughout the protests, March and post-arrest stand-off between police and demonstrators.
"Look at what the Constitution says and what the Supreme Court says," said Protestor David Freeman.
Monday's arrests echo another set of protest-related arrests that occurred earlier in the summer. In July, officers arrested Alamance NAACP President Barrett Brown and three others on the steps of the Alamance County Courthouse. Like Monday's arrests, July's arrests were over where protestors are allowed to hold demonstrations.
Those arrested in July have since won the legal right to protest on the courthouse steps. A number of protestors at Monday's demonstration have said they, too, plan on moving forward with legal action.
As of press time, information on charges stemming from Monday's arrests have not been made public.
For the latest updates on this story, visit www.thetimesnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Times-News: 4 arrested at demonstration outside Alamance jail
