The Williams incident
Posted by RyftAug 13
For those of us who have been following the unfolding saga about the arrest of the four Acts 17 Apologetics members at the 2010 Arab International Festival in Dearborn, MI, but who are not directly involved with the case, the whole issue should be practically resolved now. (Even in the courtroom, if justice retains any real meaning in the state of Michigan, the matter should be practically resolved.) Acts 17 Apologetics not only did nothing wrong, violating neither the rules of the festival not the laws of the City, but even the incident for which they were arrested and are facing trial, “the Williams incident” that they have released the video footage of, demonstrates no wrongdoing of any kind. As I had indicated to Yahya Snow, they have argued from one video release to the next that they never violated any rules or laws, from the moment they entered the Arab Festival until the moment they were arrested.
When Officer Brian Kapanowski took Negeen Mayel into custody for questioning vis-à-vis the criminal complaint, for no lawful reason the Officer In Charge Sgt. Jeff Mrowka ordered that all four should be arrested immediately for Breach of Peace. He claimed that it was “due to their behavior” and for preventing “a possible riot or some other type of violence from erupting.” For this and other reasons, 
Acts 17 Apologetics have released numerous videos proving that during their visit and up to their arrest they did nothing wrong and neither riot nor violence was impending (and to refute further accusations against them by others, e.g., Mayor John O’Reilly who alleged that they were blocking a key exit, that they refused to disperse on police orders, and so forth). Sgt. Mrowka took a gamble that the complaint from Williams and the eye-witness testimony of Amal Alslami were factually correct, ordering the arrest of Acts 17 Apologetics. He went ‘all in’, as they say, and his gamble lost. Alslami gave self-contradicting statements to the police and Williams’ version of the events were factually incorrect—as the video evidence shows. The Williams incident was the last card left for their critics to play and, just like every other accusation, it got trumped by the facts.
For a breakdown of the accusations contrasted against what actually happened, please watch the video for yourself. Any commentary from me would only be a repeat of what Nabeel Qureshi has already said.
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