Sgt. Loren Baker approached Norse and asked him to leave the council chambers. Norse insisted he had a right to stay and was placed in handcuffs although the meeting was still in recess. He was initially informed he was being charged with tresspass. Then he was held by Officer Brandt in a police car for several minutes repeatedly demanding to know what he was being arrested for. Brandt finally received word on his radio from Sgt. Baker that Norse was being charged for disrupting a meeting. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1000 fine. Norse commented on the reason for the arrest. "To think you can punish someone for a silent gesture of disapproval -- that is fascism. You are punishing people based on the content of their expression. I didn't disrupt the meeting. Krohn disrupted his own meeting."
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