Missouri standoff continues

'Little Dixie Players' continue their occupation of university

COLUMBIA, Mo. (RWN) - More than 100 Christian students continued their occupation of the University of Missouri campus today, frustrating negotiators by cutting off communication after issuing an inflammatory statement.

The students have occupied the main administration building for two weeks, and what started as a "protest against the Islamic state" has now turned into a major law-enforcement operations with diplomatic repercussions.

"I do not know what to tell them," said Sgt. Kip Hanson, the chief negotiator for the Missouri State Police. "What they are demanding we cannot give. They want an autonomous Christian state here in Missouri, and we would never do that. This is the land of the Qur'an, even if we are only 60 miles north of the border."

A press release issued by the students' leader - 23-year-old Methodist Kevin Arne - demanded that the police back away to the other side of Jesse Quadrangle and that Imam bin Kada, the imam of Omaha, be brought in to talk.

"We believe deeply in the principles of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and in His principles that the country was built on," Arne's statement said. "We believe that the Islamic mullahs who rule this area are dedicated to only one thing: getting more power at the expense of the unrepresented minorities. Jesus fought against that kind of injustice and we will, too. We believe in the Imam of Omaha is a good and decent man, however, and if we are going to talk and not bring up arms, then we want to talk to him."

And then they cut off all communication with the police.

The request was met with the same dismissal that all the group's requests have received.

"Let me tell you what's not going to happen," said Mark Holo, a university spokesman. "The imam isn't going to come. This will not be resolved by talking. What we have is a fundamental difference in opinions, and the presence of the imam is not going to change that."

Arne's group named themselves "The Little Dixie Players" after the region of Missouri that Columbia is in - halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City. The region has always had more in common with the Bible Belt than the rest of Missouri, but the area is north of the Bible Belt border.

Two weeks ago, the group began picketing on the steps of the main administration building, Jesse Hall. It was supposed to be a peaceful protest, they said., but then members of the university's fundamentalist community came to observe the protest and words were exchanged. A fundamentalist student was pushed down the stairs and the Christian group fled to the building's second story while brandishing weapons.


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