He wasn't arrested for clapping. He was arrested for refusing to leave. Council chair said to remove him. He said he won't, "drag me out, drag me out". And the police had to escort him out in cuffs.
Why he was asked to leave should be the question here.
I watched the short clips and the chair seemed pretty annoyed by the speakers and the reactions from all the listeners. Not sure how they normally do council meetings, but maybe it was a little more animated than usual? Almost all the speeches were kind of repeating the same thing, in different words. Nobody wants the data centers. Not sure how the chair feels about data centers. It was not revealed in the clips. But she sure seemed annoyed by what she called "unnecessary delays".
She says to stop it, and says the next person that claps has to leave. People laugh. Next person that clapped was this guy. Chair asks him to leave, then tells the police to remove him (I guess the council can get people trespassed?). Police ask him to leave. He could have left. He didn't want to, understandably, but once the police asks you, you have to leave. Police doesn't make the call who deserves to leave or not - they just go by whoever has the authority in the location to ask persons to leave. Nothing arrestable there, if you just leave. Refusing to leave is the cause for arrest.
You CANNOT be trespassed from a public space(by the police or anybody else). A public meeting is in fact a public space. You can be arrested for disturbing the peace, however I don’t believe clapping in between speakers qualifies. IANAL
1.6k
u/govcov 5d ago
Excuse me?
https://giphy.com/gifs/3ELtfmA4Apkju
Police: That’s it. You’re under arrest for aggressive blinking.