At a Billikens basketball game last Wednesday, March 19, Shadi Abdelaziz, a 20-year-old student at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, was evicted by Savvis Center security on what Abdelaziz has said are questionable grounds.

Cindy Underwood, director of publicity and special events for Savvis Center, spoke on behalf of Savvis’ guest services director, who handled the incident. According to Underwood, Abdelaziz was ultimately evicted for being overly vocal about his enthusiasm for the game. As is standard policy, she said, a security officer, noticing that Abdelaziz was disturbing those sitting around him, approached him twice about his behavior.

The second encounter carried the threat of eviction. When Abdelaziz continued to be disruptive, Underwood said, security officers forced him to leave.

Abdelaziz told a different story. He said he was approached by a security officer only once. The officer told him he had to turn his T-shirt inside-out, remove it or leave the arena. The front of the shirt read, “Whether you like it or not,” the back, “Palestine will be free.” He said, initially, there was no mention of his behavior. All the officer told him, Abdelaziz says, was that he was disturbing his fellow spectators.

Abdelaziz said he decided to leave but did vocally call attention to himself as he left, telling other fans he was being evicted because of his shirt. Only then, Abdelaziz says, did the officer mention he was being vocally disruptive as well.

Abbelaziz, who said he is a regular at Billikens’ basketball games, admits he was being boisterous in his cheering, but he said that his behavior was far less rowdy than others’ behavior had been at other games he has attended.

“There was nobody getting riled up. I didn’t put anyone in imminent danger,” Abbelaziz said. “There was no signal to make me think something would happen.”

Underwood said no one had mentioned Abdelaziz’s shirt when talking about the incident.

After security escorted him from the arena, Abdelaziz said he began telling a crowd of people what happened. He said that no one acted as if he was disturbing them and that a few even expressed their sympathy.

He said he was then approached by St. Louis City police officers who told him he was disturbing the peace and placed him under arrest.

“It’s possible I was disturbing the peace in their rulebook, but I feel people need to know–or else I’m the bad guy,” Abdelaziz said.

He was detained inside the Savvis Center by city police for about 45 minutes, then taken to police headquarters at Tucker and Clark. While detaining him at Savvis, Abdelaziz said, police officers told him they were going to have the FBI investigate him and spoke as if they were threatening to deport him. He also said the arresting officers never read him his Miranda rights.

“Never in my life have I experienced this kind of racism and racial profiling,” said Abdelaziz, whose parents immigrated from Ramallah in Palestine’s West Bank. “I’m an American citizen, born and raised. I’m outraged. I understand people may not feel the same way I feel but I thought we lived in America. I thought we had freedom of speech.”

He also said he was harassed by a police officer while at police headquarters. “She told me I was confused and I need to make up my mind whether or not I’m Palestinian or American,” Abdelaziz said.

Abdelaziz has since contacted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and is planning to file his case with it.

Denise Lieberman, legal director for the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, said because the ACLU had not investigated his case yet, she could not speak on his behalf, but she agreed to comment on his case, as he has presented it.

“Even if your viewpoints are abhorrent to everyone around you, the government can’t criminalize you for expressing them,” she said. “In general, if the facts bare out that he was not abusive or disruptive, then they were wrong to expel him and wrong to arrest him. You can be penalized for your conduct, but not for your viewpoint.”