“I have a right to clap… drag me out.” A physics teacher was arrested for clapping a speaker who criticised a planned data centre at a public meeting in the US last week. Lux Claridge was dragged away by police at the meeting in Emporia, Kansas, prompting a plea of “please don’t hurt them” from the resident who had been speaking. Attendees at the meeting had been warned to avoid “snapping, clapping” and “rude comments” by mayor Becky Smith, but Claridge insisted he had a right to applaud speakers. “Claridge did not comply with law enforcement’s efforts to remove him from the premises, requiring officers to physically carry him out of the meeting,” Emporia police said in a statement. He was charged with disorderly conduct and interference with law enforcement then released on bail. His trial is set for September and he plans to plead not guilty. Residents attended the 22 July meeting to oppose the planned Flint Hills Digital Campus data centre.

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