Druids Vow To Defend Sword Ban To The Hilt
A pagan carrying her sacred knife has been arrested for possessing an offensive weapon.
Debbie King, Arch Druidess of the Insular Order of Druids in Portsmouth was arrested at Fareham Magistrates Court for carrying a five-inch blade.
Miss King was dressed in her regular clothes but handed security officers a bag containing all her Druid accessories, including the sheathed knife known as an athame.
When she went to collect the bag later she was kept waiting for an hour before two police officers arrived and arrested her. Full Story
Related: religion, wicca, pagan, spells
Debbie King, Arch Druidess of the Insular Order of Druids in Portsmouth was arrested at Fareham Magistrates Court for carrying a five-inch blade.
Miss King was dressed in her regular clothes but handed security officers a bag containing all her Druid accessories, including the sheathed knife known as an athame.
When she went to collect the bag later she was kept waiting for an hour before two police officers arrived and arrested her. Full Story
Related: religion, wicca, pagan, spells
posted at 1:46 PM
2 Comments:
You know, this comes close to a tatic that law enforcement has used in the past called "entrapment". Honestly - why would you take a knife, ceremonial or otherwise into a courtroom where weapons are banned? How convenient for them to find it and arrest her for it and then she cries foul because she's Pagan. Honestly, that is an insult to other Pagans who don't go out of our way to call undue attention to ourselves...those of us who have enough sense to leave our athames at home. She said she was doing an interview later, not a ritual. So why bring an athame to an interview? Oh yes...so you can tell the interviewer it isn't really a knife, it's a ritual tool. Nope sorry Sweety, to the rest of the world it's a knife. And even if you would never use it on anyone.
The issue that I see here is that I do not think the knife ever made it to the courtroom. My guess is they were checking bags (perhaps via metal detector) and she handed over her bag to them. Why else would they search her. She handed the bag over willingly, no doubt gave an explanation at the time of why she had her athame with her and was still hassled and arrested. This is ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I am not a big fan of people flaunting their faith on TV, no matter who they are or what they practice but the fact that she disagrees with the norm on that aspect does not mean that she deserves to have her religious rights violated. Those police should be ashamed of themselves and I look forward to it going to court where they will hopefully be proven wrong.
Post a Comment
<< Home