I don’t see how qualified immunity allows cops to void a person’s first amendment right to free speech. I will have to read this in more detail to see what the heck is going on.
Qualified immunity means that police officers violating someone's first ammendment rights can not be sued for that violation. The police department may still be liable, but not the individual officers. A state or federal prosecutor may be able to pursue criminal actions against the officers, but they usually choose not to.