OTTAWA - An anti-abortion club at Carleton University is suing the school for $225,000 after five students were arrested last fall for attempting to set up a controversial display.

The Ottawa students were handcuffed, taken to a police van and charged with trespassing for trying to display images of aborted fetuses in an attempt to compare abortion to genocide.

The students say the purpose of the exhibit, called the Genocide Awareness Project, is to engage the community in a dialogue about abortion.

The statement of claim issued by the group's lawyer says the university discriminated against Carleton Lifeline and violated the students' freedom of expression.

In addition to money, the club is asking for the university to admit that it has breached its own discrimination policy.

In a written statement, the university says it will defend itself "vigorously" against the claim.

The university says it was trying to balance the club's right to free speech with the desire to let members of the community choose whether or not they wish to see the graphic images.

"Carleton remains a marketplace of ideas, a place where members of the community can debate and discuss a full range of issues and ideas," the statement reads.

Ruth Lobo, the club president, says the university's reaction to Lifeline's message has had a chilling effect.

"Every time we do a display in public now, we're always afraid that we will be censored in some way," Lobo said.

The students also worry that they will be treated differently by their teachers because their political views have become public.

Albertos Polizogopoulos, the group's lawyer, says the university has been treating the club differently because of their anti-abortion stance.

"We're suggesting that they were censored not because they used graphic images but because they're speaking in favour of a certain political belief," Polizogopoulos said.

The statement of claim says other clubs which displayed controversial images were not arrested for trespassing.

Last November, an animal rights group exhibited graphic images of seals that had been violently beaten to death, and images of Holocaust victims were shown during Holocaust Awareness Week, the statement of claim says.

The university has previously described the exhibit as disturbing to some viewers, and offered the students a chance to mount their display in a more secluded part of campus, which they refused.