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A Washington DC resident who was detained last month for following a national guard patrol while playing Darth Vader\u2019s theme from the Star Wars films has filed a lawsuit alleging that his constitutional rights were violated.<\/p>\n
Sam O\u2019Hara, represented by an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, filed the complaint against four local police officers, a member of the Ohio national guard and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara was protesting against the Trump administration\u2019s deployment of national guard troops by walking behind them and playing The Imperial March, the song used in Star Wars as a theme for Darth Vader and other figures of the hated Galactic Empire.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara shared his efforts over TikTok.<\/p>\n
Before he was detained, one of the national guard members, Devon Beck, said: \u201cHey, man, If you\u2019re going to keep following us, we can contact Metro PD and they can come handle you if that\u2019s what you want to do. Is that what you want to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Beck then called the police, who handcuffed O\u2019Hara, \u201cpreventing him from continuing his peaceful protest\u201d, the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,\u201d the suit states, quoting Star Wars. \u201cBut in the here and now, the First Amendment bars government officials from shutting down peaceful protests, and the Fourth Amendment (along with the District\u2019s prohibition on false arrest) bars groundless seizures.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara\u2019s actions chime with other recent humorous protests against Trump\u2019s deployment of the military on US streets and the arrests of people over alleged immigration offenses. Many of the protesters in the recent No Kings marches wore inflatable costumes of frogs, unicorns and other whimsical creatures.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month in Portland, the comedian Rob Potylo stood outside an ICE office in a giraffe suit playing a Rod Stewart song and singing, \u201cIf you hate brown people, and you are a Nazi, come on ICE, leave Portland.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Sign up to This Week in Trumpland<\/span><\/p>\n A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Potylo, too, was detained by ICE and has said he plans to sue the agency and the Department of Homeland Security, according to the Daily Beast.<\/p>\n O\u2019Hara, who filed the suit in the US district court for the District of Columbia, has requested that the court rule that the actions taken by the military and law enforcement officers violated his first and fourth amendment rights and that the actions constituted false arrest, false imprisonment and battery under DC law. He also requested that the defendants provide compensatory damages.<\/p>\n The national guard and Washington DC police department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n