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Why Are Police Attacking Peaceful Protesters? How OWS Has Exposed the Militarization of US Law Enfor
wondering
Veteran
This is from a blog located at.....http://qwstnevrythg.com/2011/10/militarization-of-us-law-enforcement/
As the number of Occupy Wall Street arrests nears 1,000, instances of police brutality continue to pile up. Felix Rivera-Pitre was punched in the face in New York during a march through the city’s financial district; Ryan Hadar was dragged out of the street by his thumbs at Occupy San Francisco; and at Occupy Boston, members of Veterans for Peace were shoved to the ground and dragged away for chanting and peacefully occupying a local park.
These efforts to intimidate the protesters are symptoms of three decades of policies that have militarized civilian law enforcement. Sgt. Shamar Thomas, a U.S. marine at the Occupy Wall Street protests, was so appalled by the behavior of the NYPD that he loudly confronted a group of 30 officers, shouting at them:
“This is not a war zone. These are unarmed people. It does not make you tough to hurt these people. If you want to go fight, go to Iraq or Afghanistan. Stop hurting these people, man, why y’all doing this to our people? Why are y’all gearing up like this is war? There are no bullets flying out here.”
Police repression in America is hardly new. Low-income neighborhoods, communities of color and political activists have always had to deal with unneccassary shows of force by some police officers. Thanks to a populist uprising threatening a status quo that benefits the top tier of American society to the detriment of the bottom 99 percent, many Americans for the first time are witnessing the U.S. police state in action.
As Occupation Spreads, So Does the Police State
A clear pattern has emerged in the response to occupations throughout the country, from San Francisco to Denver, involving midnight raids by heavily armed paramilitary units of riot police deployed to enforce park curfews.
Protesters at Occupy San Francisco are familiar with the routine. They have endured multiple late-night police raids on their encampment in Justin Herman Plaza, the most brutal of which took place Sunday, Oct. 16. Minutes before midnight and with the approval of Mayor Ed Lee (who is currently running for reelection and claims to be supportive of the movement’s overall message), 70 police officers decked out in full riot gear marched into the encampment to enforce a 10pm curfew. They dismantled tents, tarps, the medical station and the kitchen, along with some personal belongings, all of which were loaded onto Department of Public Works trucks.
Some 200 protesters resisted peacefully, locking arms to prevent the police invasion, which was met with a frighteningly violent response. According to the San Francisco Bay Guardian, one protester received a lengthy beat-down for duct-taping his body to a pole inside the camp. The police allegedly “ripped him off the pole, threw him to the ground and struck him in the head and ribs. When he left by ambulance a few hours later, he appeared to be convulsing or seizing,” reported the Bay Guardian.
Protesters using their bodies to block the DPW trucks from leaving were dragged out of the street, some by their fingers and thumbs. Those who locked arms to form a human chain were pulled apart and thrown onto the sidewalk.
Ryan Hadar, 19, described his experience to the Guardian: “They bent back my thumbs, trying to pry me away from the people I was locking arms with. When I asked if they were trying to break my thumbs [one officer] replied, ‘Only if I have to.’ Then they dragged me to the sidewalk by my index finger. I asked if they were trying to break my finger, and this time they replied, ‘Yes.’”
After destroying the campsite, sending one activist to the hospital and arresting at least five protesters, the police departed from the scene around 1:40am.
Days earlier, an eerily similar situation unfolded at Occupy Denver. Just as Zuccotti Park was celebrating victory over Mayor Bloomberg’s failed eviction attempt last Friday, Denver’s occupation of Lincoln Park was being dismantled at the request of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. With the combined efforts of the Colorado State Patrol and Denver Police, two dozen protesters were arrested and charged with unlawful conduct on public land.
Two weeks ago, protesters at Occupy Boston in Dewey Park faced police suppression in a late-night raid that led to 129 arrests and multiple injuries involving several members of Veterans for Peace. According to the Associated Press, nine protesters occupying Sacramento’s Cesar Chavez Park were arrested late Wednesday night for failing to leave the park after closing, bringing the total of Occupy Sacramento arrests to 67.
go to the web page to read the rest of the article.
As the number of Occupy Wall Street arrests nears 1,000, instances of police brutality continue to pile up. Felix Rivera-Pitre was punched in the face in New York during a march through the city’s financial district; Ryan Hadar was dragged out of the street by his thumbs at Occupy San Francisco; and at Occupy Boston, members of Veterans for Peace were shoved to the ground and dragged away for chanting and peacefully occupying a local park.
These efforts to intimidate the protesters are symptoms of three decades of policies that have militarized civilian law enforcement. Sgt. Shamar Thomas, a U.S. marine at the Occupy Wall Street protests, was so appalled by the behavior of the NYPD that he loudly confronted a group of 30 officers, shouting at them:
“This is not a war zone. These are unarmed people. It does not make you tough to hurt these people. If you want to go fight, go to Iraq or Afghanistan. Stop hurting these people, man, why y’all doing this to our people? Why are y’all gearing up like this is war? There are no bullets flying out here.”
Police repression in America is hardly new. Low-income neighborhoods, communities of color and political activists have always had to deal with unneccassary shows of force by some police officers. Thanks to a populist uprising threatening a status quo that benefits the top tier of American society to the detriment of the bottom 99 percent, many Americans for the first time are witnessing the U.S. police state in action.
As Occupation Spreads, So Does the Police State
A clear pattern has emerged in the response to occupations throughout the country, from San Francisco to Denver, involving midnight raids by heavily armed paramilitary units of riot police deployed to enforce park curfews.
Protesters at Occupy San Francisco are familiar with the routine. They have endured multiple late-night police raids on their encampment in Justin Herman Plaza, the most brutal of which took place Sunday, Oct. 16. Minutes before midnight and with the approval of Mayor Ed Lee (who is currently running for reelection and claims to be supportive of the movement’s overall message), 70 police officers decked out in full riot gear marched into the encampment to enforce a 10pm curfew. They dismantled tents, tarps, the medical station and the kitchen, along with some personal belongings, all of which were loaded onto Department of Public Works trucks.
Some 200 protesters resisted peacefully, locking arms to prevent the police invasion, which was met with a frighteningly violent response. According to the San Francisco Bay Guardian, one protester received a lengthy beat-down for duct-taping his body to a pole inside the camp. The police allegedly “ripped him off the pole, threw him to the ground and struck him in the head and ribs. When he left by ambulance a few hours later, he appeared to be convulsing or seizing,” reported the Bay Guardian.
Protesters using their bodies to block the DPW trucks from leaving were dragged out of the street, some by their fingers and thumbs. Those who locked arms to form a human chain were pulled apart and thrown onto the sidewalk.
Ryan Hadar, 19, described his experience to the Guardian: “They bent back my thumbs, trying to pry me away from the people I was locking arms with. When I asked if they were trying to break my thumbs [one officer] replied, ‘Only if I have to.’ Then they dragged me to the sidewalk by my index finger. I asked if they were trying to break my finger, and this time they replied, ‘Yes.’”
After destroying the campsite, sending one activist to the hospital and arresting at least five protesters, the police departed from the scene around 1:40am.
Days earlier, an eerily similar situation unfolded at Occupy Denver. Just as Zuccotti Park was celebrating victory over Mayor Bloomberg’s failed eviction attempt last Friday, Denver’s occupation of Lincoln Park was being dismantled at the request of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. With the combined efforts of the Colorado State Patrol and Denver Police, two dozen protesters were arrested and charged with unlawful conduct on public land.
Two weeks ago, protesters at Occupy Boston in Dewey Park faced police suppression in a late-night raid that led to 129 arrests and multiple injuries involving several members of Veterans for Peace. According to the Associated Press, nine protesters occupying Sacramento’s Cesar Chavez Park were arrested late Wednesday night for failing to leave the park after closing, bringing the total of Occupy Sacramento arrests to 67.
go to the web page to read the rest of the article.
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Comments
http://theweek.com/article/index/220263/occupy-wall-street-turning-violent
I only wish people were similarly motivated to protest the rampant over consumption by the West en masse by disrupting places where people shop to raise awareness. This would also constitute a populist movement since, while most people in the West over consume, it is likely the top 1% who are grossly excessive. Contrary to popular belief, excessive shopping does not create wealth. It impoverishes people in every way, and any being on the path to awakening who over-consumes is willfully creating negative karma because they should be aware of the ramifications of their consumption on the rest of the world. It creates a slave class in many countries, contributes to the destruction of the environment, etc.
http://exposethemedia.com/2011/10/30/video-oakland-occupier-admits-protesters-were-throwing-rocks-bottles-at-police/
Don't forget about agent provocateurs.
I'm just looking for some honesty and responsibility, not some "say and do whatever it takes for the cause"
as long as it serves his ends,
but when others are plundered (animadverted),
he who has plundered (animadverted)
gets plundered (animadverted) in turn.
A fool thinks, 'Now's my chance,'
as long as his evil has yet to ripen.
But when it ripens,
the fool falls into pain.
Killing, you gain your killer.
Conquering, you gain one who will conquer you;
insulting, insult;
harassing, harassment.
And so, through the cycle of action,
he who has plundered (animadverted)
gets plundered (animadverted)in turn.
— SN 3.15
Occupy protests go from peace to "chaos"
OAKLAND, Calif. - A protest that shut down the Port of Oakland to show the broadening reach of the Occupy Wall Street movement ended in violence when police in riot gear arrested dozens of protesters overnight who broke into a vacant building, shattered downtown windows, sprayed graffiti and set blazes along the way.
At least four protesters were hospitalized Thursday with various injuries, including one needing stitches after fighting with an officer, police said. Several officers were also injured but didn't need hospitalization.
"We go from having a peaceful movement to now just chaos," protester Monique Agnew, 40, said early Thursday.
Protesters also threw concrete chunks, metal pipes, lit roman candles and molotov cocktails, police said.
The far-flung movement of protesters challenging the world's economic systems and distribution of wealth has gained momentum in recent weeks, capturing the world's attention by shutting down one of the nation's busiest shipping ports toward the end of a daylong "general strike" that prompted solidarity rallies across the U.S.
Complete Coverage: Occupy Wall Street protests
Several thousands of people converged on the Port of Oakland, the nation's fifth-busiest harbor, in a nearly five-hour protest Wednesday, swarming the area and blocking exits and streets with illegally parked vehicles and hastily erected, chain-link fences afterward.
Port spokesman Isaac Kos-Read said evening operations had been "effectively shut down."
Port officials resumed maritime operations Thursday after about a dozen protesters manning a chain link fence blocked the port entrance earlier in the morning, backing up big trucks and prompting arguments between drivers and demonstrators. The protesters said they planned to stay until at least 9 a.m. and finally dispersed around that time.
Supporters in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and elsewhere staged smaller-scale demonstrations. Each group said its protest was a show of support for the Oakland movement, which became a rallying point when an Iraq War veteran was seriously injured in a clash with police last week.
The larger Occupy movement has yet to coalesce into an organized association and until the port shut down had largely been limited scattershot marches, rallies and tent encampments since it began in September.
Organizers in Oakland viewed the strike and port shutdown as a significant victory. Police said that about 7,000 people participated in demonstrations throughout the day that were peaceful except for a few incidents of vandalism at local banks and businesses.
Boots Riley, a protest organizer, touted the day as a success, saying "we put together an ideological principle that the mainstream media wouldn't talk about two months ago."
His comments came before a group of protesters broke into the former Travelers Aid building in order to, as some shouting protesters put it, "reclaim the building for the people."
Riley, whose anti-capitalist views are well documented, considered the port shutdown particularly significant for organizers who targeted it in an effort to stop the "flow of capital."
The port sends goods primarily to Asia, including wine as well as rice, fruits and nuts, and handles imported electronics, apparel and manufacturing equipment, mostly from Asia, as well as cars and parts from Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai.
An accounting of the financial toll from the shutdown was not immediately available.
The potential for the chaos that ultimately erupted was not something Riley wanted to even consider.
"If they do that after all this ..." said Riley pausing cautiously, then adding, "They're smarter than that."
But the peace that abided throughout a sunny warm autumn Wednesday, as protesters hung a large black banner downtown that read: "DEATH TO CAPITALISM," did not last as a cool midnight approached.
Occupy protesters voicing anger over a budget trim that forced the closure of a homeless aid program converged on the empty building where it had been housed just outside of downtown.
They blocked off a street with wood, metal Dumpsters and other large trash bins, sparking bonfires that leapt as high as 15 feet in the air.
City officials later released a statement describing the spasm of unrest.
"Oakland Police responded to a late night call that protesters had broken into and occupied a downtown building and set several simultaneous fires," the statement read. "The protesters began hurling rocks, explosives, bottles, and flaming objects at responding officers."
Several businesses were heavily vandalized. Dozens of protesters wielding shields were surrounded and arrested.
Protesters ran from several rounds of tear gas and bright flashes and deafening pops that some thought were caused by "flash bang" grenades. Fire crews arrived and suppressed the protesters' flames.
Protesters and police faced off in an uneasy standoff until the wee hours of the morning.
In Philadelphia, protesters were arrested earlier Wednesday as they held a sit-in at the headquarters of cable giant Comcast.
In New York, about 100 military veterans marched in uniform and stopped in front of the New York Stock Exchange, standing in loose formation as police officers on scooters separated them from the entrance. On the other side was a lineup of NYPD horses carrying officers with nightsticks.
"We are marching to express support for our brother, (Iraq war veteran) Scott Olsen, who was injured in Oakland," said Jerry Bordeleau, a former Army specialist who served in Iraq through 2009.
The veterans were also angry that returned from war to find few job prospects.
"Wall Street corporations have played a big role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Bordeleau, now a college student. He said private contractors have reaped big profits in those countries.
A New York Post editorial on Thursday called on protesters camped out in Manhattan to leave or have police evict them. "What began as a credible protest against bank bailouts, crony capitalism and the like has, in large measure, been hijacked by crazies and criminals," it said.
In Boston, college students and union workers marched on Bank of America offices, the Harvard Club and the Statehouse to protest the nation's burgeoning student debt crisis. They said total outstanding student loans exceed credit card debt, increase by $1 million every six minutes and will reach $1 trillion this year, potentially undermining the economy.
"There are so many students that are trying to get jobs and go on with their lives," said Sarvenaz Asasy, of Boston, who joined the march after recently graduating with a master's degree and $60,000 in loan debt. "They've educated themselves and there are no jobs and we're paying tons of student loans. For what?"
And among the other protests in Oakland, parents and their kids, some in strollers, joined in by forming a "children's brigade."
"There's absolutely something wrong with the system," said Jessica Medina, a single mother who attends school part time and works at an Oakland cafe. "We need to change that."
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57317465/occupy-protests-go-from-peace-to-chaos/#ixzz1cf2coHBJ
2).. road needs to be opened, protesters are breaking the law.... still peaceful..
3).. police ask protesters to move so the road can be opened.... still peaceful.
4).. protesters refuse.... still peaceful.... what happens now?
5).. police can't say 'ok then, you stay there, we will ignore the law breaking today'.. the police have to act... they move in, last chance protestoers, please move..
6).. protesters say ' no, not moving'.
?? still peaceful??
7).. police start to try to lift protesters to move them as they refuse to move themselves... still peaceful?? protesters refuse, police start to use techniques to break the links between the protesters.. finger twists, pressure points.. still peaceful??
8)... protesters complain, why are you doing that, get off me, I won't move... protesters escalate, police escalate... still peaceful???
......
These things seldom start off with open confrontation and violence, but when two opposing wills are set against each other and one won't back down and one can't back down confrontation is often inevitable....
sad but true.
An interesting development has occurred in London, where protesters succeeded in occupying an abandoned office building. No evictions yet. I'd like to see the movement develop into something that had the potential to bring about the change it is advocating. A massive letter campaign to parliaments and Congress, or something, before it degenerates into violence.
I agree though that there are mixed goals and intentions represented in the occupation.. Nobody broke away from the effort, they are welcoming anyone... The numbers attending seems more important than the message. The majority have been peaceful, perhaps not lawful, but most importantly peaceful, I'll give you that
The violence I believe you are referring to was indeed a week later when they blocked the port and vandalized the buildings.
I have yet to see a video of a protester throwing a bottle at a cop. Ever. During this movement. Police have fully outfitted camera men with professional equipment who follow them around. Especially to something like this. Where's the footage?
Again, I believe what I see. I've seen Oakland police attack enough PEACEFUL protesters on video, that it puts a lump in my throat. Where is the counter footage?
If there was any footage whatsoever of the things described in this particular video, then I would readily believe it. For the same reasons that I believe that the majority of the attacks by Oakland police were scary, excessive to say the least, and completely malicious. Not an attempt to keep the peace or restore order.
After I chimed in this thread I seriously searched for footage that would back up what these folks are relaying. There is nothing. I don't care about ideals on either side. Just show me the facts.
Maybe I've missed a whole bunch of footage of violent acts from protesters. Point me in the right direction.
I'm also not so quick to label cops as liars
They were in the news regularly for brutality and dishonesty long before occupy was thought up. They are a police force riddled with criminals. Show me the video evidence that proved they aren't merely continuing a violent pattern.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/the-oakland-police-departments-troubled-history/
http://www.tnr.com/slideshow/politics/97016/oakland-police-department-history-in-violence
But seriously, the protesters probably weren't expecting pepper spray. That's never been used for crowd control before, AFAIK. Tear gas? Yes. More typically, the police start to drag resisters off and put them in wagons, to take them to jail. That is probably what the protesters were expecting. It's a standard tactic. So they resisted, expecting to be forcibly dragged away, and expecting that scenario to be filmed and on the TV news. Being in jail for a just cause, and having the media report on how long you're in jail, how many of you are in jail, etc. is good PR for the cause, a kind of martyrdom. But the police surprised everyone by pulling out pepper spray.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/pepper-spray-psychology/?intcid=story_ribbon
This over reaction and unnecessary use of physical violence is appalling by most any measure of decent human behavior. While cops handing out street corner justice is not new, this was a collage campas not South Central LA. The kids were just sitting down. One of the students that was attacked said in an interview the next day that the cop acted like his ego was threatened when they did not obey his commands to move.
Goon squad tactics just point to the real problem. Which is the system is broken.
Tuition in public universities use to be almost free, subsidized by the government and regulated to keep down costs. Then about 30 years ago we began to abandon a progressive tax system and shift the cost to the students that have no say in anything. Now the kids graduate with huge loads of debt. and are lucky to get a job.
My recollection is that it was Reagan who began the trend towards higher tuition. The University of California system used to be free, but because of demonstrations there during the Vietnam war, Reagan, who was CA governor at the time, instituted tuition. He claimed the university was being infiltrated by disruptive elements from outside, and provoking protests. He instituted tuition to prevent non-students from registering for classes. That was his his justification, anyway.
Who called the police in the incident shown above? And why? The police, in my experience, never get involved in demonstrations on campus, unless they turn violent, which they very rarely do. Kids just sitting there chanting a slogan? What's the big deal?