Fascist assholes. Fuck those pesky amendments, huh?
Story here.
And fuck you to all of the assholes who couldn’t keep your protests peaceful. You’re not helping.
So, she runs up to a line of riot cops. They tell her to get back. She shoves through the line and gets arrested.
Where do the fascists get involved in this?
From the article:
I’m pretty sure Nicole Salazar is okay, but poor Sharif Abdel Kouddous is probably on his way to Gitmo at this point.
I’m probably going to hell for that.
In Denver, they didn’t even cover their tracks with a protest.
What are you upset about? Who in their right mind goes up to a line of riot police to “ask about their friends?” She was so looking to get arrested or else she is seriously stupid.
They didn’t manhandle her or do anything wrong, they just didn’t put up with any bullshit. Don’t get me wrong, if I was anywhere near that convention site I would be protesting as loud as I could be, but no way in hell would I even dream of approaching that police line, I like my room without bars, and my wrists without cuffs.
Now now, Sarah, I’m sure Abbie Hoffman would be equally upset over this. In fact, he’s probably rolling one in his grave right now.
ETA: Ethilrist sighting! Awesome.
I don’t know which is sadder: your post which once again deflects from the issue presented in the OP to state “hey! tu quoque this bitches!” or the implied statement in your post that we’re being hypocritical in railing against one and not the other.
Well guess what? It’s the first I’ve heard of your linked incident, but if the facts are as presented in your article, then I don’t support the arrest.
FWIW, I think that someone in the Denver police should lose their job for arresting a reporter on a public sidewalk.
Someone trying to get past police in riot gear? I have significantly less sympathy.
This event seems much more troubling than the one cited in the OP, especially given the time-gap between the “offense” and the arrest as well as the unprofessional behavior of the Boulder Police officer in doing it; I’m supprised, I was usually fairly impressed by the quality of the Boulder Police and Sherrif’s office in my foru years there, although you could expect that sort of nonsense from the CU-Boulder cops.
I suspect that the police in a small or medium city like Denver or St. Paul get a little antsy when hosting a large event like a political convention, and arrest people more readily than normal. They must be terrified that what normally would be ignored might turn into a riot because of the sheer numbers of people wandering around.
I mean, I’m sure there are a few cops who get off on swinging their weight around. But I imagine the majority are just desperately hoping to get through the conventions without having any major disruption or damage to their city, and that makes 'em a little handcuff-happy.
Greg Palast’s take on this:
http://www.gregpalast.com/amy-goodman-arrested-at-rnc/#more-2068
Ethilrest writes:
This is a weird way to report it. She’s a member of the same news organization trying to find out why her producers got arrested. Where’s it say she “shoved through the line”?
The Youtube video of her arrest is no longer available, which may be for legal purposes, but based on the original article it didn’t sound like she was trying to force herself through the line. If she did, then the arrest was understandable, if possibly unnecessarily forceful. If she didn’t, the arrest was undeserved.
The youtube video is working for me, as it was this afternoon. For those of you who can’t view it, she approaches a line of police in riot gear. There’s some discussion between her and one cop, animated but not heated, but I can’t make out details other than the policeman told her to back up. The cop then begins to push her (not shoving, just pushing) away from the police line, between a couple of cars, with her giving some resistance to being pushed. She kind of turns away from the police officer, who still has his hands on her arm, and a second later she is moving inside the police line. The whole thing was over in like 15 seconds.
It is not too clear to me after her trying to turn away from being pushed whether the cop was pulling her back inside the police line, or if she was moving that way on her own steam while the cop was holding her. In either case, it didn’t appear that the police officer was using undue force during the arrest, the focus of the questions appears to be: (a) whether she was complying with an order to move away, (b) whether the reporter tried to get past the police line on her own, and © whether the police officer acted precipitously in arresting her.
The answer to that one appears to be Yes, based on the fact that his superior officers and the City Attorney decided to release her without ever filing any charges against her.
That’s hardly proof of that. Arrest is one process, prosecution is another, and an entirely proper arrest only requires suspicion, while prosecution requires an entirely higher degree of proof altogether.
Here’s DN!'s own account of the story.
And a version in brief:
And from The Nation – vid clips included.
WOLF! WOLF!
Regards,
Shodan
In case you hadn’t noticed, more posters than not here are downplaying this incident. And that includes what you would consider the usual suspects (and my 'umble self).
The legitimate protesters should hence forth disassociate themselves from the violent knuckleheads, even going as far as to turn them in. I really agree with the anti-Iraq protesters. But the fact that they are allowing people in their ranks to smash out windows and cause general mayhem, proves that they have McCain style VP judgment.
ETA: I second the awesomeness of the Ethilrist sighting.
BrainGlutton, it isn’t just blocking buses:
Delegates report sandbags hurled from overpass at convention buses.
That’s attempted murder. I’m also hearing about a bus full of Cub Scouts that were to troop the colors - it was stopped and shaken violently, and the kids were pretty scared.
I don’t think anyone is terribly surprised by this - and I don’t think anyone here will defend it. I don’t think you knew about it. I just don’t think you should take the word of DN and the Nation that things are hunky-dory. You’ve been screwed in the past by relying solely on biased sources.
The story above is from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.