Two anti-choice activists were arrested Friday in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington, DC for defacing property after they tried scrawling “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” on the sidewalk in front of the clinic, the Washington Post reports.
Erica Caporaletti, a 22-year-old student at Towson University, and Warner DePriest, a 29-year-old D.C. resident, were arrested by DC police just before 6 a.m. after police told them they could not write or paint on the sidewalk or street.
Caporaletti and DePriest continued to write on the sidewalk in chalk after the warnings, prompting their arrest. The pair, who are white, were held for one hour by police, who charged them with defacing property, and then released.
After their release, the two returned to the protest, which attracted about two dozen people, with Caporaletti yelling through a bullhorn, “This is government censorship.” The group Students for Life, which sponsored the gathering, said it would sue the Mayor of Washington, DC for violating their First Amendment Rights.
The protesters claimed they were told by an officer they could write on the sidewalk, but were reportedly asked to use a water-soluble paint that could be washed off, said Tina Whittington, executive vice president of Students for Life of America.
The pair ignored the request and used chalk, ignoring calls from police on the scene to stop.