NEW YORK, Aug 31 (AFP) - A Yale student was released Tuesday on 50,000 dollars' bond on charges he scuffled with Secret Service agents just three meters (10 feet) from Vice President Dick Cheney at the Republican convention here.
Federal charges said Thomas Frampton, 21, was arrested about 9:30 pm Monday after trying to enter a restricted area where Cheney was seated in a private box at the convention in Madison Square Garden and shouted anti-administration slogans.
Prosecutors said Frampton had posed as a Republican National Convention volunteer to obtain an accreditation, carried a "Bush-Cheney '04" placard and wore a red Republican National Convention T-shirt when he shouted at Cheney.
Frampton was one of about 562 people arrested since protests began Thursday, most on misdemeanor charges.
He was charged with two misdemeanors for interfering with the Secret Service, which protects the president and vice president, and for scuffling with them as they attempted to arrest him.
Each charge carries a possible term of a year in prison, if Frampton is convicted.
Assistant Manhattan US Attorney John Hillebrecht told US Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck at Frampton's arraignment late Tuesday that Frampton had managed to get into Madison Square Garden wearing the shirt and RNC accreditation given to convention volunteers.
"This defendant went through quite elaborate steps to get access to Madison Square Garden," said Hillebrecht.
"It is, at this moment, probably one of the most protected sites in the country ... he's obviously an individual with certain ideals and commitments ... masquerading as a Republican supporter of the president."
Hillebrech noted that Frampton had two prior protest arrests and asked Peck to order Frampton surrender his RNC pass and the red shirt, which he was still wearing in court at his arraignment.
After Frampton's lawyer argued that his client had only wanted to express his political views to Cheney and said that his client had to return to classes at Yale which begin Wednesday, Peck agreed to release him on 50,000 dollars' bond.
Peck also ordered Frampton to stay 100 feet away from Cheney and President George W. Bush. The magistrate scheduled his next court appearance for September 30.
Outside court, defense lawyer Henry Mazurek said his client wanted to "express his views on Iraq and the vice president's position with respect to his connections to the oil industry." Mazurek insisted his client did not intend to harm anyone.