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Major Incident at Critical Mass bike rally From: Anthony Thompson Date: 2007 Sep 02 01:27 UTC Short link
A council member out there blocking traffic with these folks? (including those,
apparently,?trying to obstruct police officers)
I think that itself is very discouraging and unfortunate.
I'm sure there are more details to follow, but what is done to make sure these
people are obeying the rules of the road and not: (a)?harassing the police
officers trying to do their job; and (b)?completely disrupting/disrespecting
traffic and motorists trying to get where they are going?
Anthony Thompson
Standish
-----Original Message----- From: Cam Gordon <<email obscured>> To: Peter Vevang <<email obscured>>; Minneapolis Issues Forum <<email obscured>> Sent: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 12:50 pm Subject: Re: [Mpls] Major Incident at Critical Mass bike rally This is very discouraging and unfortunate. I am looking into what went wrong and will continue to do so and welcome any accounts or observations on or off list. I will also plan on joining the ride again next month and will encourage other policy makers and peace activists to do so as well as Peter wisely suggests. Cam Gordon 612 296-0579 > To: <email obscured>> From: <email obscured>> Subject: [Mpls] Major Incident at Critical Mass bike rally> Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 13:51:03 +1200> > I just spoke with my brother via cell phone, apparently there has been a major incident at the Critical Mass bike rally, where a large group of bike riders, 100 to 200 strong, rides the city streets. This incident seems to have been sparked when a biker strayed across the yellow line and the police arrested him. I don't know the details yet, but there were dozens of police involved, people were maced, cuffed, and force was used to subdue individuals, and there were apparently several arrests. It seems there were some anarchists in the crowd, and the police may have been provoked, and there was a large overreaction in both the crowd and by the police. This is extremely unfortunate.> > I think the city government needs to react to this immediately. Up until now Critical Mass has largely been free of incidents and has gone on for many years peacefully. I have only been a bystander to these events and always found them amusing, and good natured as the bikers take an equal footing to automobiles on our city streets. These types of events happen frequently in the biking community, and there is the potential for long term escalation if steps are not taken to diffuse the situation due to the nature of the incident.> > If there are policy makers reading this, or members of the Peace Community, now would be a good time to step in and try to defuse the situation. At the next critical mass event, it would be good to see members of the peace community there, as well as people who can negotiate with the police in order to deal with disturbances, and to avoid misunderstandings. The last thing Minneapolis needs at this point is a Seattle style riot in the lead up to the GOP convention, and this has all the earmarks for creating an environment that is going to bring out a severe backlash. Also our police are overworked, working 60 hour weeks in some cases. We don't need to waste our resources on this.> > Peter Vevang> NE, Minneapolis> Info about Peter Vevang: http://forums.e-democracy.org/contacts/petervevang> > This topic's messages may be viewed at: http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/4toa7s8VdeZKCkvRsQ5Vgp> -----------------------------------------> To post, send your message to: <email obscured>> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on,"> in subject line and send to: <email obscured>> > More info about Minneapolis Issues Forum: > http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mpls> > E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules> -----------------------------------------> Technical assistance thanks to our friends at http://OnlineGroups.Net> > 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://e-democracy.org/rules.> If you think a member is in violation, contact the forum manager at> <email obscured> before continui ng it on the list.> > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. _________________________________________________________________ Explore the seven wonders of the world http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE Cam Gordon Info about Cam Gordon: http://forums.e-democracy.org/contacts/camgordon This topic's messages may be viewed at: http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/2atRC65HXIkIRH80tbkDY9 ----------------------------------------- To post, send your message to: <email obscured> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on," in subject line and send to: <email obscured> More info about Minneapolis Issues Forum: http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mpls E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules ----------------------------------------- Technical assistance thanks to our friends at http://OnlineGroups.Net 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the forum manager at <email obscured> before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________________________________________________ Check Out the new free AIM(R) Mail -- Unlimited storage and industry-leading spam and email virus protection.