US protester files suit after being handcuffed for playing Darth Vader’s theme around troops in Washington, DC

ISTANBUL

A man has filed suit after being handcuffed and detained last month for protesting the presence of National Guard troops in Washington, DC by playing the Star Wars song associated with Darth Vader, the film series’ chief villain.

According to the suit, Sam O’Hara, 35, frequently followed National Guard patrols while playing the song --- the Imperial March, or Darth Vader’s theme -- at a reasonable volume using his phone or a small speaker.

His attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union said O’Hara recorded these encounters and shared them on TikTok, where the videos garnered US millions of views.

US President Donald Trump deployed National Guard units to Washington in August, purportedly to address crime in the city, with similar deployments ordered to Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago, though several have faced legal challenges.

JB Prizker, the governor of Illinois and critic of the planned deployment to Chicago, points out that the cities targeted by Trump actually have falling crime rates. He alleged the deployment is meant to “normalize” US troops on the streets of American cities ahead of next year’s critical midterm congressional elections.

O’Hara’s lawsuit says that on Sept. 11, a member of the Ohio National Guard confronted O’Hara and called the police. When officers arrived, they handcuffed O’Hara and halted his protest.

“The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” the lawsuit says, invoking Star Wars’ famed opening crawl. “But in the here and now, the First Amendment bars government officials from shutting down peaceful protests, and the Fourth Amendment (along with the district’s prohibition on false arrest) bars groundless seizures.”

Police told O’Hara he was not under arrest but was being detained for “harassing the National Guard,” according to the lawsuit. An incident report later stated he was “sent on his way without further incident.”

Both the DC police and the National Guard declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

The lawsuit comes amid heightened tensions following the federal deployment of law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington. In a separate August incident, a Justice Department employee faced a possible misdemeanor charge after allegedly throwing a sandwich at a federal agent, but a grand jury refused to indict him over the incident.