Hurd takes protest to ‘Bama campus

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Asheville’s Jason Hurd is still on the move. Here’s the latest:

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Four people involved in an anti-war demonstration at the University of Alabama were arrested by campus police and charged with disorderly conduct, school officials said.

The demonstration was arranged by the Tuscaloosa chapter of Students for a Democratic Society and was meant to advertise a planned talk by Jason Hurd of the Asheville, N.C. chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Jenae Stainer, a member of the Tuscaloosa student group, said Monday that two students and two non-students were arrested soon after the Friday demonstration in the student center.

Campus police detained the four from about 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. before taking them to jail and they were released after posting bond around midnight, Stainer said.
The demonstration began when the four, dressed as soldiers, entered the Ferguson Center Friday afternoon and began yelling and cursing, The Crimson White reported Monday.

The “soldiers” ran toward three people whose heads were covered with red and white checkered scarves and pushed them around, restrained them and eventually took them from the building.

After the three “detainees” were taken away, Hurd told those in the center that events like the dramatized incident were common occurrences overseas and invited them to a meeting scheduled that night.

“At first people were like ‘Oh my gosh’ and they were understandably startled,” said Stainer, who was present at the demonstration but did not participate.

“Some people clapped afterward. Some people were angry afterward because of their stance on the war, but that’s what it was supposed to do — get people talking about their views,” she said.

The student group released a statement following the arrests saying Hurd had been invited to speak about his experiences in Iraq and the reenactment of a U.S. raid of Iraqi civilians was intended to demonstrate to students the human cost of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

The group, calling for the charges to be dropped, said Hurd led a similar action at the University of North Carolina at Asheville on Feb. 5 without incident.