Source: Omaha World Herald, North Platte Telegraph, KMTV
Omaha, Neb. -- Hundreds of students at Omaha Central High School responded to a picket line set up near their campus by members of Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church with chants and a bit of a food fight.
Members of the church that is notorious for demonstrating throughout the country at funerals of military service-members are facing charges at a nearby courthouse stemming from a 2007 arrest of Westboro protesters in neighboring Sarpy County, part of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area.
The Westboro protesters fled a right-of-way near Central High on Friday because police said they could not protect them from hundreds of student counter-protesters, Omaha World-Herald reports.
Second-hand reports of the counter-demonstration on a web message board indicates that it's gaining a certain urban mythology.
A poster at City-Data.com who says he was on a bus that passed by the protest writes, "Another student told me a group of kids chased the protesters to a nearby church where the cops had to stand guard to prevent the students from going into the church for the Westboro freaks."
Student counter-protesters at Omaha HS chant 'Gay is OK'; Chase off anti-gay Westboro picketers [contd.]
A video of the protest -- recorded by 16-year-old student Mason Hartwell -- showed one counter-protester on the ground, seated with his hands behind his back and flanked by two law enforcement officers, according to the World Herald.
Students chanted "Diversity," "Obama" and "Gay is OK." At one point, they broke into a chant of the Pledge of Allegiance, yelling, "Liberty and justice for all," according to Hartwell's footage of the incident which was viewed by Omaha World-Herald.
Ari Brodkey, 16, held a sign reading "This Jew is not afraid of you." He called the demonstrators from the church "disgusting."
Students threw hamburgers and bottles of lemonade and milk at several members of the Westboro, students told World-Herald reporters after the protest.
A street near the school was shut down about 3 pm as police calmed the disturbance. Students told the World-Herald that they were expecting the demonstration: They found out online and through word of mouth.
After students dispersed, a flier remained on the ground reading "Zona libre de odio" -- Spanish for "Hate-free zone", the World-Herald reports.
Police told the paper's reporter that no one was injured at the protest and they made no arrests. However, a school resource officer at one point sprayed a chemical deterrent into the air.
Westboro protesters had demonstrated at two other locations in Omaha before heading to Central High. Six or seven were standing outside the school, near the corner of 20th and Dodge Streets, when school was dismissed at 2:50 p.m. and students began leaving.
Witnesses said the protesters held up signs that criticized homosexuality and characterized President-elect Barack Obama as the antichrist.
"Unfortunately, it got out of hand, with students throwing objects at the protesters and at police," Police Sgt. Cathy Martinec said as students walked off.
Luanne Nelson, spokeswoman for the Omaha Public Schools, said no students were disciplined but that the school will review the situation on Monday.
"This hate group came to Central High at dismissal to provoke students," Nelson said. "The school's focus today was everyone's safety. . . . To some extent, we need to understand that these are young people, and we have to take into consideration this kind of extreme provocation."
Sarpy County prosecutors on Friday tried to justify flag-desecration charges against Shirley Phelps-Roper, a member the Kansas church whose members believe that US troop deaths are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Phelps-Roper, the daughter of Westboro founder Fred Phelps, was arrested in June after her 10-year-old son stood on an American flag at a military funeral. She is now facing charges of flag mutilation, disturbing the peace, contributing to the deliquency of a minor, and child abuse, KMTV reports.
Authorities arrested her at the funeral of a National Guardsman in June 2007 in the Sarpy County city of Bellevue, North Platte Telegraph reports via Associated Press. Prosecutors also say she wore a flag as a skirt that dragged on the ground.
Phelps-Roper has 11 children. Five were at the protest in Bellevue where she was arrested.
Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov told KMTV earlier this month, "I'm more and more convinced these kids are put in peril every time when they're out being forced to do adult type activities."
Source: Westboro protest draws student counter protest | Omaha World Herald
Prosecutors defend flag desecration law | North Platte Telegraph
Westboro Church Member Faces Charges in Sarpy County Court | KMTV