Protester Who Was Charged With Assault After Trying To Stop Betsy DeVos From Entering A Public School Is An NPR Commentary Contributor

Last week, a protester–Bilal Ahmed Askaryar– tried preventing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from entering a public school (Jefferson Middle School Academy). He faces “charges of misdemeanor assault and failing to obey an officer during the demonstration.” It’s still unclear who he allegedly assaulted.

— A police report obtained by POLITICO says that Askaryar, who entered his plea on Saturday in Superior Court in Washington, was given “several lawful orders” to move out of the way of a vehicle, and then pushed an individual identified as “V-1.” Listed as a factor under one of the charges is “impeding/assaulting US government cabinet member.” Kimberly Hefling has more.

You should also know that Askaryar is an NPR commentary contributor. Oh! And he came to the United States as an Afghan refugee and became a citizen in 2000. I only mention that, because Askaryar is adamantly opposed to the Trump administration’s executive order, which temporarily restricted travel from seven terror-laden countries and halted refugee intake.

“On Friday, an executive order was released that indicated the United States is banning the entry of Syrian refugees and temporarily suspending immigration for anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. To me, this policy looks to be based on nothing but prejudice against Muslims,” Askaryar wrote.

Please ignore the fact that the ban affected less than 15% of the world’s Muslims.

By the way, according to this, Askaryar is gay. So it kind of makes me wonder why he’s against the United States keeping religious ideologues who seek to murder homosexuals out of the country. But that’s neither here nor there, I suppose.

Anywho, Askaryar pleaded not guilty. I guess we’ll see what happens next.

h/t Washington Examiner