David Spring, 61, has been sentenced to a year-and-a-half in jail for comments he made during a protest against mass migration made near the Prime Minister's residence on Downing Street. Spring pleaded guilty to "violent disorder" after the court was shown footage of him making "threatening gestures" towards police and chanting an expletive related to the Islamic god Allah. He did not commit any violent acts.
Michael Donnelly, an attorney and law professor, says things are different in America when it comes to permitted speech.
"People need to understand that the European view on free speech is very different from our view here in the United States – and I would say our view is way better," he stated recently on American Family Radio. "We actually believe that people should have the right to express themselves.
"And even if we disagree with what they have to say, [we believe] they have a right to say it as long as they're not inciting violence, right? That's kind of the line that we have here in the United States."
But Donnelly says unfortunately the Left is working hard to take away Americans' free speech. He cited as an example Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the current Democratic candidate for vice president.
"It is very troubling to me when you have a person who wants to be the vice president of the United States and has said the things that Tim Walz has said. That's just unacceptable," states the attorney.
"But that is what the Left wants to do – and they've been trying to do it for a long time. They're trying to take over the speech, take over language; they want to control your speech by making you fearful that if you say something, you could be arrested and thrown in jail."
