"Two tone-deaf security guards at the 9/11 Memorial got tough with some wide-eyed middle-school kids visiting the city for the first time from their small town in North Carolina — because they sang The Star Spangled Banner," The New York Post reports.
“You have to stop. This is considered a public demonstration!” one guard barked at the patriotic teens, their Waynesville MS music teacher, Martha Brown, told The Post.
The guards insisted the group needed a permit to sing, according to Brown.
“Some of the students were very upset and confused. I told the children, ‘This is a place where you need to respect authority even if you don’t understand it,’ ” she said.