On Monday afternoon, hundreds of people from the Hmong community and their supporters rallied in front of the Robert W. Kastenmeier Federal Courthouse in downtown Madison to voice support for Vang Pao.
The military leader and national icon to the Hmong was arrested last month in California along with nine other men for conspiring a military coup against the government of Laos. While Pao and the other indictees were pleading not guilty in Sacremento, supporters were holding rallies at federal courts around the country, including Madison.
While this rally was not directly focused upon the controversy surrounding the naming of a new elementary school in Madison for Pao, some attending the afternoon event later attended that night's meeting of the school board where the issue of the name would be reopened.
Several video clips from Monday's rally in front of the federal courthouse follow below, including a speech by retired Madison school board member Shwaw Vang.