DEARBORN—The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio is expected to hear arguments today about whether a lawsuit by the Bible Believers can proceed against Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon and two deputies.

The Christian
evangelist group from California claims the Wayne County sheriff’s deputies
failed to protect them when they protested against Muslims and Islam at the
Arab International Festival that was held in June 2012.

During festival, county deputies escorted
demonstrators who were holding anti-Muslim signs out of the area— under the
threat of ticketing them— after a confrontation ensued between the demonstrators
and young festival attendees. 

The Bible Believers, the Christian
extremist group that was protesting at the festival, held a severed pig’s head
on a spike and displayed signs deemed offensive to Muslims, such as,
“Islam Is A Religion of Blood and Murder.” In one instance, one
activist told Muslims at the festival to stop following their “pedophile
prophet.”

A crowd of
youths offended by the fundamentalist group started throwing plastic bottles
and rocks at the protesters. That’s when Wayne County Sheriff’s deputies
demanded the protesters leave or get ticketed.

The American
Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU-MI) filed an amicus brief in December urging
a federal court of appeals to reverse the decision to dismiss a lawsuit brought
against Wayne County by a group of anti-Muslim protesters.