SLIPPERY ROCK — Mayor Jondavid Longo responded to the confrontation he was involved in at the borough’s Independence Day parade Saturday where Slippery Rock University students were protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

SRU students Layla Joseph and Cassie Dietrich said they experienced a confrontation with Longo over messages they wrote in chalk protesting the decision, which gives rights regarding abortion to individual states.

Joseph said at Tuesday’s borough council meeting that Longo approached her and Dietrich with a police officer in the Gateway Park parking lot, where profane gestures were exchanged, according to both Joseph and Longo.

“It felt like Mayor Longo was trying to pressure the police officer (into) criminally charging us,” Joseph said Tuesday. “Later on, Mayor Longo posted misinformation about the protest online and mocked my peers and I for standing up for what we believe.”

Longo said during the meeting that he was offended by the placing of upside-down American flags on a veterans memorial site in the borough, and that the event had been planned to be inviting to families and children.

“That in and of itself on our nation's Independence Day and as a veteran is vulgar to me," he said. "You cannot fault me for wanting to put on an event that most people in this room participated in and for there to be vulgarities of differing things.”

After the meeting, Longo said the claims made by Joseph and Dietrich were “totally baseless,” and that he did nothing illegal.

On Saturday, Dietrich took to Twitter, posting a picture of one message that had been written in sidewalk chalk.

“Stars, Stripes and Women’s Rights,” the message on the sidewalk read.

“Hey @JondavidRLongo RESPECT WOMEN,” Dietrich said.

Longo retweeted her message, adding his own words.

“Hey. Respect the business owners whose storefronts you sullied with vulgar graffiti and respect the Veterans’ Memorial in town you defiled,” he said.

On Sunday Dietrich posted pictures of her and others holding signs in downtown Slippery Rock. The signs included messages such as, “We will not be silenced” and “God sent me as karma.”

In her Twitter post Dietrich wrote, “WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.”

Longo retweeted this message too, saying, “Silenced? Nobody is listening.”

Joseph took to a different social media platform the following day. In a lengthy Facebook post, she shared her experience.

According to Joseph, she and a group had written chalk messages on the sidewalks along Main Street and Elm Street on Saturday morning, prior to the planned Independence Day festivities. The messages were intended as a “silent and peaceful protest for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”

“Before we took to the streets with our sidewalk chalk, it was immensely stressed that there will be children who see these messages and we need to be respectful. We wanted to do this the right way,” Joseph said in her post.

Some of the messages written included “My Body My Choice,” “Pray for Women,” “Liberty and Justice for All,” “Protect Trans-Men,” “Pro Roe,” “Vote,” “We Won’t Go Back,” “What About My Heartbeat” and “Stars, Stripes, and Women’s Rights.”

Around 10 a.m. she said they were about to head home and were approached by a police officer and Longo.

“Mayor Longo, growing red in the face, informed us that we were breaking the law by drawing (on) the sidewalk in town because it is not public property. He also insisted that using chalk in the parking lot where the farmers market takes place was against the law (even though he said nothing to the children drawing with chalk in the same lot),” Joseph wrote.

The borough meeting space was filled with people Tuesday — the most present at a meeting in some time, according to council members — and several attendees shared their experiences with Longo.

Dietrich said the one aspect of the confrontation she was most concerned about was Longo’s apparent disregard of the protesters’ message, citing the “crying laughing Emoji” he used in his online posts.

“You need to listen to your constituents,” she said at the meeting.

Longo also said after the meeting that he tries to make himself as accessible as possible and is willing to meet with constituents who ask to speak.

“I pride myself on being the most accessible mayor in Butler County,” he said.

Some members of the crowd said they would like to participate further in council business that impacts the borough.

Council President Jeff Campbell said he was happy that so many people sat through the council’s lengthy borough business discussions to get to the citizen input portion of the meeting, and said he hopes the participation continues.

Campbell also said the arguments that take place online can be more civil or avoided entirely through more cautious thought.

“I think that part of it is it's so easy to just type something up and hit a button," Campbell said. "Before you click send on an email or text or Tweet, pause for one second and think about what you're about to say.”