MESA, Ariz. -- A school policy banning student hugging prompted dozens of east Valley students to protest with a giant group hug across the street from campus.
"I think it's ridiculous," said Chelsea Branham, a 14-year-old student at Shepherd Junior High School in east Mesa.
Branham said she got detention this week for hugging her friend after school.
The "no-hugging" rule had previously been in the student handbook. After many students began expressing concern about public hugging and kissing in the hallways,
the school began reinforcing the guideline by punishing huggers, which led to Friday's protest.
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