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Genesee County prosecutor won't charge Flint town hall protesters

sign that says flint
Steve Carmody
/
Michigan Radio
Flint, Michigan

Six people who were arrested at a recent Flint town hall meeting will not face state charges.

The Genesee County prosecutor has declined to file charges, but the protesters could still be prosecuted by the city for misdemeanors.

Attorney Greg Gibbs of the ACLU represents five of the six people involved.  

The meeting was held in a church, and the arrests happened after one of them complained that town hall meetings should not be held in churches.

Gibbs says the arrests were wrong.  

"What I saw was one individual expressed her displeasure with the venue, the church venue, and asked that in the future, meetings not be held in a church," he says. 

"There was some applause, and at that point police started ordering people out and arresting them.  It's almost like the police were enforcing the church's rules of etiquette, and forgot that they were in a public forum."

Gibbs says he hopes the city will drop the matter as well.

 

Tracy Samilton covers energy and transportation, including the auto industry and the business response to climate change for Michigan Public. She began her career at Michigan Public as an intern, where she was promptly “bitten by the radio bug,” and never recovered.
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