Three Yale students arrested for burning U.S. flag (Reuters, via Yahoo)

[marmar]

Three Yale students arrested for burning U.S. flag

BOSTON (Reuters) - Three Yale University students, including a Briton and a Greek national, have been charged in a case involving the burning of a U.S. flag outside a Connecticut house, a court official said on Wednesday.

Said Hyder Akbar, 23, Nikolaos Angelopoulos, 19, and Farhad Anklesaria, 19, were arrested on Tuesday and charged in New Haven Superior Court with reckless endangerment, arson, breach of peace, criminal mischief and other offenses.

Police said the three torched a flag hanging from the porch of a house in New Haven near the Ivy League school.

Anklesaria is British and Angelopoulos is Greek. Both are freshmen. Akbar, a senior, was born in Pakistan but is a U.S. citizen, according to police and court documents. Anklesaria and Angelopoulos turned over their passports.

Police gave no indication why they set fire to the flag. The trio acknowledged it was a "dumb thing to do" when questioned by police, the New Haven Register reported. ....(more)

The complete story is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070404/us_nm/usa_flag_burning_dc

[rodeodance]

1. misleading headline-----in the sence that the flag can be burned--just that

you have to own it and be careful how you burn it.

[devilgrrl]

2. Say, were they spitting on Matt Sanchez at the same time?

eom

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. Good. They Deserve Every Charge They Got. Dumbasses.

What a bunch of morons.

[jilln]

5. Wow. Just wow.

People don't have a right to burn their own property?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

9. Maybe You Need To Get Facts Prior To Responding.

For example, a big one here would be the fact that it wasn't their property.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

16. I knew when I read this story today.....

....the knee jerk reaction over here would be like a tsunami. I'd like to think we're better than the Freepers.

[jilln]

24. You're right.

My bad. I shouldn't have assumed all the pertinent facts were in the excerpt up above.

[piedmont]

10. Did you not read the article or the OP? It wasn't their property...

and it was attached to someone's HOUSE.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. It's nice when they are stupid enough to do it in a truly illegal way, innit?

Gives one a safe outlet to what one really feels.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

21. My Apologies But Your Post Made No Sense To Me.

Nothing nice about this story at all and I have no idea what on Earth you were talking about.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

22. I think the implication is.....

....you hate flag burning, and think it should be against the law, and this allows you to make that statement while hiding behind the actual legality of the situation.

Of course, I could just as easily accuse this poster of loving the burning of flags, and thinks that one redneck's property is less important than mistreated foreigners getting a good education in this country being allowed to express themselves.

[shain from kane]

4. Yale student charged with stealing Christmas wreath.

[WinkyDink]

6. \Um....They burned some private citizen's flag that was on HIS PROPERTY.

Let them burn their own flag!

[meldroc]

7. You think they'd get all those charges stacked if it wasn't a U.S. flag burned

Reckless endangerment, arson, breach of peace, criminal mischief, etc. That's quite a stack of charges.

Let's say instead of burning a U.S. flag, they burned a t-shirt or a tablecloth. You think they'd get the same charges? I don't think so.

Last time I checked, we still have a First Amendment in this country. As tasteless as burning the flag may be, it's protected by the First Amendment.

And please, don't tell me this country's so weak that it can't survive a few asshats burning a flag.

These kids are getting seriously railroaded. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[kiahzero]

8. They set fire to a flammable object hanging from someone's house.

If I set fire to your shingles, I imagine I'd get an arson charge too.

[meldroc]

13. OK, take this scenario

Three kids hang a plastic bag of feces on the doorknob of a guy's house and set it on fire. You think they'd get the same charges?

No, they'd probably get the third degree about how they could be charged with arson, but they'll get slap-on-the-wrist charges of trespassing and vandalism.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

17. First off, bad comparison

These are YALE students who supposedly should have some intelligence (granted, we know that isn't the case with Yale), and they are ADULTS. Try again.

[piedmont]

18. And the flag belonged to the homeowner

And it was ATTACHED to the house, not hanging from the doorknob.

[LostinVA]

20. I do think adults would be charged -- and these were adults

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

12. Sounds to me you are going in the opposite direction

Because the American flag is what it is, you think someone is getting railroaded by facing these charges.

Now go try setting a mailbox in front of someone's home on fire and see what you get charged with.

[piedmont]

14. If someone sets fire to something attached to my house, I should hope they get this "railroading"

read the article next time before responding.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. It certainly wouldn't be a news story.

[Marie26]

23. Actually, it seems justified.

The flag was someone else's property, attached to someone else's house. You don't have a First Am. right to destroy someone else's stuff. Besides which, the fire could have spread to the roof and burned the house down. Arson - check. Criminal mischief - check. Reckless endangerment - check. The only one that seems weak is the "breach of the peace" charge.

[gollygee]

11. They could have burned down the house

The fact that it's a flag is beside the point.