While he otherwise exhibits many of the traits of a stand-up comedian, laying into his rivals like an insult comic at a roast, Donald Trump’s inability to tolerate heckling, or even silent protest, has made the spectacle of critics being forcibly removed from his rallies a routine feature of his campaign. On Monday, though, the preemptive removal of about two dozen black college students from a crowd waiting for the candidate at Valdosta State University in Georgia raised an obvious question: Why, exactly, did a local police force apparently obey orders from the Trump campaign to help screen his audience by removing dissenters?

My question is for the University. Are we not granted the 1st amendment, to exercise Freedom of Speech, on campus grounds? — Taylor R. Morrell™ (@myaleluya) March 1, 2016



The ejection of the students, The ejection of the students, who had tickets to the event , and their subsequent argument with officers from the city of Valdosta’s police department, who led them outside and directed them to a “designated protest zone” about a five-minute walk from the college gym, was extensively documented on video by participants and reporters.

Quietly, entering & going up the stairs after we first got in pic.twitter.com/Ds8Pb2i0lg — Maya Rose (@hawaiian_loke) March 1, 2016





This is the video before we were kicked out of the Complex, as you can see we were just standing, no signs/chanting. pic.twitter.com/kv2hWMZPVa — High OCT8NE. (@UGWavy__) March 1, 2016





"Protestors" escorted out of Trump Valdosta event before it begins pic.twitter.com/x9aoA0l5wb — Noah Gray CNN (@NoahGrayCNN) March 1, 2016





If you're black and you wear black to a Trump Campaign he can "pay" for your removal. Even if it's your own school pic.twitter.com/xbH08vOegP — Taylor R. Morrell™ (@myaleluya) March 1, 2016



While there was some confusion about who ordered the ejection — the Trump campaign While there was some confusion about who ordered the ejection — the Trump campaign initially denied responsibility , and several of the participants were under the impression the Secret Service was in charge — video recorded by one witness, Darian Harris , clearly shows a police officer telling the students the request came from the candidate’s staff. “All I know is, the Trump staff has asked — they’re the ones that rented the building today … and they’ve asked that you be removed from the property,” he said. When a young woman then asked the same officer why she and the others had been picked out, he replied, “I don’t know, the staff called us.”

Asked on Tuesday why his officers agreed to help the Trump campaign staff remove a selected group of audience members, Brian Childress, the city’s police chief, told the Valdosta Daily Times that the students “were causing a disturbance.” “They were removed because they were loud and disruptive and dropping the f-bomb,” he said. “You can’t be in there using profanity,” the chief added, in an interview with Jennifer Jacobs of USA Today. “That violates Georgia law.”

The Trump staff made right call to ask the students to go — and it wasn’t a racial issue, Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress tells me. — Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) March 1, 2016



There is, however, no trace, in any of the video clips of the incident reviewed by The Intercept, of provocative “fighting words,” which There is, however, no trace, in any of the video clips of the incident reviewed by The Intercept, of provocative “fighting words,” which Georgia’s criminal code defines as “abusive words which by their very utterance tend to incite to an immediate breach of the peace,” and which are not protected by the First Amendment The students, for their part, insist that they were quiet and well-behaved before being singled out as potential troublemakers by campaign staffers — perhaps because many of them wore all-black clothing. It was only after they had been forced from the bleachers, a student named Maya Rose wrote on Twitter, that several of them raised their fists in a black power salute.

Yes before we left we threw our fists up. ????? if that's being disruptive then what would you label trump supporters? pic.twitter.com/ZVD87p072Y — Maya Rose (@hawaiian_loke) March 1, 2016





VSU TRUMP RALLY #BlackLivesMatter And this is the school we attend... pic.twitter.com/sWfX4RksFd — Mikey (@Mikey_Spiffy) February 29, 2016





#valdostastate students are told to leave at the trump rally bc they're "protesting" smh pic.twitter.com/x4U2BXWi4E — Darius (@KyngDarius) March 1, 2016





VSU students being kicked out for absolutely NO reason before Donald Trump makes his presence. pic.twitter.com/bOwnwvCkuN — High OCT8NE. (@UGWavy__) February 29, 2016



In

In a video interview with USA Today, one of the students argued that they had been ejected because of their race, and another reiterated that the group had only intended to “make a statement with our attire,” and had no intention of disrupting the rally.