Not one of these people uttered a word of protest when Notre Dame University tried to bring radical Islamist Tariq Ramadan to the school, to make him chairman of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

But Tariq Ramadan is in favor of the death penalty for homosexuals, so maybe they have that much in common.

Keyes, priest arrested at Notre Dame protest.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Former Republican presidential hopeful Alan Keyes, a Roman Catholic priest and 19 others were arrested Friday after marching onto the University of Notre Dame campus to protest President Barack Obama’s planned commencement speech.

The arrests marked the third straight Friday that protesters have been detained. They are angry about the school’s decision to give Obama, who supports abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research, an honorary degree and have him speak at Sunday’s commencement.

“Notre Dame is arresting a priest,” the Rev. Norman Weslin, founder of the Lambs of Christ abortion protest group, said as Notre Dame security personnel put plastic restraints on his wrists Friday. “Why are you arresting a priest for trying to stop the killing of a baby? You’ve got it all backward.”

On May 1, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry and another man were arrested on campus while pushing strollers containing dolls covered in fake blood. On May 8, Keyes and 21 others, many of them pushing strollers containing dolls covered in fake blood, were arrested.

On Friday, there were no strollers or bloody dolls, but some of the protesters carried signs that read: “Defend her honor, rise and strike for the unborn.”

Members of the Lambs of Christ organization, formerly known as “Victim Souls of the Unborn Christ-Child,” have been linked to several incidents of violence — most notably James Kopp, who murdered physician Barnett Slepian in 1998.

UPDATE at 5/16/09 9:52:47 am:

More on the Lambs of Christ and their connection to militant anti-abortionists:

Kopp was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List for over two years before his capture in France in March 2001. He has pleaded not guilty to the New York state charge of second-degree murder. He also has pleaded not guilty to the related charges of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which prohibits violence and threats of violence to impede receiving or providing abortion services.

Kopp was present at pivotal episodes in the history of militant anti-abortion activism. He has been arrested in connection with numerous clinic blockades, including a major blockade of the Ladies Center in Pensacola. Fla., in 1986. The center was later the site of the first known murder of an abortion provider, Gunn, by local clinic protestor Michael Griffin. Kopp is also credited with authoring sections of the Army of God manual, a how-to for violence against abortion providers. Kopp also served as the advance man for the Catholic direct-action group Lambs of Christ, headed by the Rev. Norman Weslin. In 1992 Weslin told a reporter: “Unless you understand that this is a colossal war between Jesus Christ and Satan, you don’t understand what we are doing.”