All posts in the topic 6 Days Of Protesters, Police, Media, and Lawyers/Coldwater Spring: Honoring the Elders and The Past/MPLS Mirror (Short link)

From: Jessica Wicks Date: Sep 07 18:08 UTC Short link

I found the article interesting, but I did find some issues with the
conclusions.  For instance, yes, Keith did directly confront the
police in a non-violent way. But it was as he walked away from the
situation that he was attacked and brought down and stomped. How
about the woman standing holding the flower as the police marched
towards her?  In another case someone behaved similarly holding up
the peace sign. In both cases, they were met with repeated doses of
pepper spray. After decades where it was sufficient to simply arrest
individuals and cart them off, why now the excessive force?  I am
reminded frankly of the sixties when the weapon of choice was clubs
and cattle prods. Today it is pepper spray and concussion grenades.

Look, I have spoken clearly about the patience and good behavior of
some of the police I encountered during the protests. I also was
appalled to hear people shout obscenities at the counter protesters
outside the cage.  In fact, I made a point of telling them that this
indeed is what democracy looks like, when people of all different
views can express their disagreement in a public way.

I have no issue with the arrests of people who were violating the
law. The idiots who broke windows and dumped over news stands and
created havoc deserve to be incarcerated. I do however have issues
with the excesses by law enforcement, and THAT is what needs to be
addressed. Like entering the home of the I-Witness Collective before
a search warrant has been issued. Like holding the electronic
equipment of the other group until pressure was issued to release it.
It is not appropriate to seal off an area over a mile from the center
and then arbitrarily hold people within that area who were not doing
anything. Yet I saw that happen.

It has always been my understanding that apprehension of a suspected
law breaker required that police use ONLY necessary force to subdue
that person. Yet clearly there were excesses. I am not about
dismantling police forces, or suggesting that either the protesters
were all good or the police were all bad. I am saying that wrong
occurred on both sides, and there are plenty of eye witnesses to that.

It is much easier to gloss it all over. But then people like me will
no longer trust the police, nor believe that the constitution we live
under has any real meaning. I still strongly recommend that someone
besides the police themselves investigate the excesses that occurred
over this past week. You see, I also know Keith, and from what I know
of him, while he will confront you with what he believes, he is in
his heart of hearts a non-violent soul.  What he did may have made
the police angry, but it was not against the law. Unless someone can
show me evidence otherwise, I will strongly believe that he was the
victim of excessively brutal treatment.

Jessica Wicks
Sheridan, NE Mpls
    

On Sep 6, 2008, at 11:33 PM, Terry Yzaguirre wrote:

> 6 Days Of Protesters, Police, Media, and Lawyers:  On Saturday
> August 30th, I had no idea that the 6 days to follow would consume
> me and take me down a road I'd never been down before.  I'm talking
> about the activities that revolved around protesters two days
> before the RNC even began.  I believe in freedom of speech and
> standing up for that which one believes, but as in everything I do,
> I try and look at the bigger picture put and bring it all into focus.
>