| slumz.boxden |
| The University of Colorado at Boulder will be on lockdown this Friday, complete with campus police conducting checkpoints and demanding proper ID from everyone in sight. The reason? Authorities want to finally snuff out the school’s annual pro-pot rally. |
Attorney Robert J. Corry, Jr., filed an emergency temporary restraining order in Boulder District Court on Thursday, asking the court to prohibit the University of Colorado at Boulder from closing its campus to the public on 4/20.
The UC-Boulder administration has said they will shut down the entire campus to non-students for the entire day on Friday in order to stop a legal protest that is protected by the First Amendment. Students will be allowed to enter campus only if they show their student ID card.
“What the university is trying to do is kill a fly with a nuclear ICBM,” Corry told The Raw Story‘s Stephen C. Webster on Thursday. “It’s completely overreaching to shut down an entire campus to all members of the public.”
The annual 4/20 Protest Against Marijuana Prohibition has occurred every year on campus at 4:20 on April 20 for at least the past 20 years, according to Corry. Last year, it drew more than 10,000 people at the height of the protest at 4:20 p.m.
UC-Boulder has said that this poses a “distraction,” which they claim gives them the authority to close the entire campus to non-students.
| Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post |
| Robert Corry: “The university has provided no evidence of anything that would constitute a ‘distraction’ to the entire campus and provided no evidence of any crimes or problems caused by the 4/20 protesters” |
“The university has provided no evidence of anything that would constitute a ‘distraction’ to the entire campus and provided no evidence of any crimes or problems caused by the 4/20 protesters,” Corry said.
This year, the CU administration will be bringing in law enforcement officers from the Boulder Police Department, Lafayette PD, Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Revenue’s Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division, and other agencies to help shut down the legal protest.
Tickets for trespassing will be issued to any non-student who tries to enter any part of the UC-Boulder campus, according to university officials.
Corry’s restraining order was filed on behalf of several non-student community members who wish to attend the 4/20 protest or use other facilities normally open to the public on campus.
“CU is a public university, and its grounds are public property,” Corry said. “The lawsuit seeks to enjoin CU from preventing this legal protest from occurring by shutting down the campus.”
According to Corry, a hearing will be scheduled as soon as possible.
Boulder 4/20 Gonzo Weed Legal Protest
Norlin Quad, CU Campus, 13th and Broadway, Boulder, CO
4:20 pm on 4/20
Gonzo will be handing out Gonzo First Amendment Weed, legal herbal
cigarettes with no THC or tobacco, so protesters can fire up a legal weed.
http://gonzo2.posterous.com/
Norlin Quad, CU Campus, 13th and Broadway, Boulder, CO
4:20 pm on 4/20
Gonzo will be handing out Gonzo First Amendment Weed, legal herbal
cigarettes with no THC or tobacco, so protesters can fire up a legal weed.
http://gonzo2.posterous.com/