Independent Twin Cities journalist Georgia Fort walked into the federal courthouse in St. Paul on Tuesday to people shouting outside, “Drop the charges, support free speech!”
She and St. Paul activist Trahern Crews each pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal charges filed against them in connection to a protest at a St. Paul church.
The other seven people indicted in the case have also entered pleas of not guilty, including Don Lemon, a former CNN host who is now an independent journalist, civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong and St. Paul School Board Member Chauntyll Allen.
Protesters disrupted services inside Cities Church on Summit Avenue near Snelling Avenue on Jan. 18. They said the acting field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota serves as a pastor at the church.
The nine people are charged under the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The FACE Act prohibits interference or intimidation of “any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”
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