Protesters contend Miami police abused them, stepped on their civil rights

[Judi Lynn]

Protesters contend Miami police abused them, stepped on their civil rights

By Diana Marrero
Miami Bureau
Posted November 28 2003

MIAMI -- A longtime Miami lawyer says police shot her in the back with rubber bullets as she walked away from officers in riot gear.

A 63-year-old man says police arrested him as he was trying to leave a demonstration.

A reporter says she was ordered to the ground, handcuffed and arrested for walking down the street.

While activists continue to document what they say was a disturbing pattern of police abuse during last week's anti-globalization demonstrations, more stories are emerging from protesters and others who say their civil rights were violated.

Activists say police stopped, detained and threatened hundreds of protesters; placed dozens of people and a few of their gathering spots under surveillance; and arrested many more demonstrators who were simply exercising their right to free speech. They say police used the need to deal with a small group of disruptive protesters to stifle dissent by thousands of others who came to Miami to speak out against the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting. (snip/...)


Seeking cover
Lawyer Elizabeth Ritter, right, crouches after being hit by rubber bullets fired by police during demonstrations in Miami last week. “Never in a million years did it occur to me that my police department would hurt me or much less shoot me in the back,” Ritter said.
(Staff file photo/Michael Laughlin)

Nov. 28, 2003

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Protesters contend Miami police abused them, stepped on their civil rights


Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-dabuse28nov28,0,3779484.story?coll=sfla-news-miami

[Judi Lynn]

1. Comment from St. Petersburg: you may find this interesting!

Miami crowd control would do tyrant proud


Archive
By ROBYN E. BLUMNER, Times Perspective Columnist
Published November 30, 2003

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Miami police Chief John Timoney must be mighty proud of the social order he maintained during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit a couple of weeks ago in Miami - sort of the way Saddam Hussein was proud of quieting dissension in his country.

Timoney has a well-deserved reputation for using paramilitary tactics to turn any city where large protests are planned into a place where the Constitution has taken a holiday. During the FTAA meeting on Nov. 20, Timoney dispatched 2,500 police officers in full riot gear against a crowd estimated at 8,000 people, mostly union members and retirees.

The result was a show of force that would have made a Latin American dictator blush.

Slavish public officials such as Miami Mayor Manny Diaz touted Timoney's handiwork as "a model for homeland defense," and the Miami Police Department has responded to complaints by saying that officers demonstrated "a tremendous amount of restraint."
But this is hardly the way eyewitnesses described it. The scene was a "massive police state," according to the president of the United Steelworkers of America, who has demanded a congressional investigation. Congress gave Miami $8.5-million for security during the FTAA meetings - funds slipped inside the $87-billion measure for Iraq. The steelworkers called it money for "homeland repression." (snip)

(snip) When men like Timoney and Ashcroft are on the A-list of the nation's law enforcers, free speech doesn't stand a chance. It is open season on dissent. A vignette reported by the Miami Herald says it all: During the FTAA action, Timoney came upon a protester who was pinned against a car being arrested; without knowing anything about the circumstances, he pointed a finger at the demonstrator's face and said, "You're bad. F-- you!" People exercising their First Amendment rights are now considered the enemy. (snip/...)

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/30/Columns/Miami_crowd_control_w.shtml

[Terwilliger]

2. Saddam Hussein == John Timoney

that's pretty strong!

Still, considering what he said...I'm just so glad to know that there are Americans out there who are the enemy.

[anarchy1999]

3. Amnesty International calls for investigation

Amnesty International is advocating for regulations requiring all weapons that launch kinetic impact devices (objects which hit people) to be treated for practical purposes as firearms, and therefore to be used only by trained firearms officers and then strictly in accordance with the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officers, which state, inter alia, that "Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defence or defence of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury".

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR511422003

[Judi Lynn]

4. The Miami Herald actually published this article today!

Maybe they're trying to cover their @$$e$, considering their full participation in inflamatory anti-protest writing in the days approaching the FTAA meetings:

Posted on Sun, Nov. 30, 2003

ACLU: 'In the name of maintaining order, Chief Timoney suspended the constitutional rights of law-abiding people.'

Innocent, law-abiding, red-blooded Americans had their rights violated during the FTAA summit: schoolteachers, steelworkers, union members, retirees, war veterans, students and journalists.

These are not the people Chief John Timoney promised to hunt down and arrest. Quite the contrary, over and over again, the chief promised that he would target the ''potentially violent 2 percent'' while protecting the rights of the law abiding and peaceful 98 percent. He promised that his officers would help protect the vigorous exercise of free speech while protecting private property and ensuring the personal safety of police officers and participants alike.

However, as the dust settles and sensationalized media reports are replaced by eye-witness accounts of the citizens of this community, the inescapable truth that emerges is that in the name of maintaining order, Chief Timoney suspended the constitutional rights of law-abiding people.

At least four downtown business owners have confirmed that they were prohibited by police from having anti-FTAA literature in their stores and were ordered to give full descriptions of the persons who gave them the literature. The business owners were not the only ones who had their legal activities monitored. The police's own documents show that police officers tracked the educational and religious activities of local churches and even made written notes of clergy who took a position against the FTAA. These tactics are not the hallmark of our democracy. Rather, they are dark examples of a ``police state.''

Reports from police officers themselves make clear that officers were trained to stop, search and arrest first and ask questions later. Downtown business owners have reported that in case after case, they saw police stop people who were simply walking down the street, push them against the wall, search them and upon finding nothing, let them go. This is not only unconstitutional, it is also un-American. (snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/special_packages/focus/7370083.htm

[imax2268]

5. What get's me is that...

I haven't heard a thing about the 8.5 million dollars that was supposed to go to Iraq was set aside for all this "extra" security in Miami and the surrounding departments that provided this "extra" security...

Next I heard a story about some undercover officers that were dressed like protestors that started to aggitate the crowds and incited alot of the actions taken by police officers there...from what I understand a camera crew caught two police officers dressed like protestors start some crap and then run off into a police vehicle and then took off...rumor???...I don't know...but if it's true...then how come we haven't heard about this either...?

I think there should be a complete and full investigation from the Gov's office on down...something doesn't smell right...

[teach1st]

6. Complete and full investigation from the Governor's office?

It would take tremendous pressure to bring about a state investigation. Remember who the Govenor of Florida is.

http://www.waste.org/~roadrunner/writing/camilo/timterror.html

[imax2268]

7. Yea...I know...

wishfull thinking huh...?

[prolesunited]

8. Yeah, I'm sure Jeb will launch an investigation right away

Perhaps we can call in Ashcroft. :eyes:

Has this gotten much coverage outside of Florida or in the mainstream media? Do you think the general population would even care?

BTW, that photo is quite chilling as were many of the others I saw. How did we turn into the enemy? I'm thinking what they did was all legal under the Patriot Act.

[diamond14]

9. brave Patriots who protest shrub KNOW that this goes on...it is not

a surprise...perhaps these new photos will wake a few more Americans up....but nobody should ever forget how the DC protesters (10/25/03) were treated on this board...and myself, when I reported similar tactics during the DC March 22, 2003....some may remember the treatment on this board....it's important to bushies to continuously verbally degrade protestors....that is what creates these conditions....why are you surprised?

my notes from March 22, 2003...and if more had spoken out then, Miami could not have happened....but are you still waiting to take action? if not NOW, when?, if not YOU, who?

"And now we are Germany in 1939. What will YOU do? Your silence encourages the next step."


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Incident numbers for this report:

United States Park Police (Department of Interior), Incident #7389, 14:30 hrs., 03/22/2003, injured person, 16th and E St.

District of Columbia - Emergency Medical Services, Incident #F030031265, 14:21 hrs., 03/22/2003, vehicle-pedestrian, 1600 E. St., responded to by Engine 23 and Medic 1, transport to George Washington Hospital Emergency.

______________________________________________________________

Attempted Murder in full view of the White House
March 22, 2003

CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF; OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, OR OF THE PRESS; OR THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE, AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES.

(The Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791)


It was a beautiful day in the District of Columbia, Saturday March 22, 2003. I arrived late for the 12 noon event at the White House. It was about 1 PM, and I rose up the escalator at the Navy-Memorial Metro (subway train) stop on Pennsylvania Avenue, Southeast of the White House. The journey on the Metro had been uplifting. There were cheers and support from passengers who noticed my sign, thumbs up from the Metro train drivers and support people, several people decided to also go to the White House, people on the platform chatting about their pro-peace stance and giving encouragement. My simple two-sided sign read: "God said: Thou Shalt Not Kill" and on the other side" "Bush is a War Criminal". As I walked up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House event, people asked me to pose for photos, cheered from their passing cars, gave me the "thumbs up" and encouraging words from an outdoor restaurant. Little children really liked the "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill". They asked their parents questions like "is that the war?" "are we killing people?". There were only two irate guys during the walk up Pennsylvania Avenue. They shouted at me "It's murder, not killing, don't you know the difference..murder, that's what it's all about, stupid." I did not speak, simple held my sign. "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill" seemed to boggle the minds of the pro-war agitators. The pro-war, anti-first amendment people seem troubled by the commandment. Their moral confusion was fascinating to hear. Four times during my Pro-Peace walk, I heard this idea "it's murder, not killing, stupid". Such lame statements must come from some ditto-head limbaugh-type hate-radio host.

As I got closer to the White House, there were bigger crowds. The entire White House area was an amazing fortress, looking more like a war-torn, military-protected third-world type embassy, buttressed by lots and lots of those ugly concrete highway crash barricades (some two or three deep), high chain line fences, metal barricades, and heavy metal police officers (with clubs and serious guns) lining all the streets, snipers on the roof. The People's House has really gone to the dogs.



This photo was taken on the North side of the White House. There were lots of people taking pictures of me and my sign, some requesting the "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill" sign, while others wanted the other side "Bush is a War Criminal". There were many "thumbs up" and cheers. Lots of supportive people were random tourists, visiting OUR Nation's Capital to show their children the front line of our democracy. A Philadelphia Catholic priest stopped to tell me that he was proud of my sign "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill". He noted that some pro-peace people wrongly took God's name in vain (violating another commandment). The priest had blessings and prayers for me.

In the photo, there is a veteran hugging me. He told me that he was Pro-PEACE and he held a sign "Vote to Impeach". I just met him and we stood together for photographers. He was standing next to a pro-WAR Veteran who held some kind of military flag (which was difficult to see, because the flag was hanging down along a pole). Part of the flag can be seen. As I joined these two Veterans, the pro-WAR Veteran told me that he objected to my sign. I said nothing. Then he said that he respected my right to speak, and it was OK for me to stand there. So the three of us stood there for a long time for photographers. The pro-PEACE Veteran with a "Vote to Impeach" sign, the pro-WAR Veteran with some kind of flag, and me with a "Bush is a War Criminal". We were all respecting each others right to freedom of speech, with the White House behind us.

As I read the papers the next day, I realize that I missed the main marching event. As many other pro-peace people, I had simply gone to the White House and walked around the entire complex. There were plenty of pro-PEACE people walking around the White House fortifications. With such large crowds, it was easy to mistake it for the main event. For the most part, my peace walk was extremely uplifting. People cheered, gave thumbs-up, passing pedestrians whispered "thank-you", cars honked.

There was one small, but sad encounter along the east side of the sprawling White House fortifications. A family group saw my sign: Dad, Mom, and three young girls. The girls were real happy to see the commandment so prominently displayed and were asking their parents about the war killing, and telling them how they learned this famous commandment in school. So I paused for a moment and stood humbly to the side of the very-wide sidewalk, quietly standing with my sign "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill". Both the dad and mom suddenly got very angry: "Get your sign out of here, we've seen it already. These are children, how dare you show them that sign". Then, young girls displayed fear and confusion on their faces. As their dad became increasingly vocal, they hid from him near their mom. This was followed by cursing, using God's name in vain, and then the dad spit on the commandment right in front of his children and called me a *--** -* coward. I said a prayer for them. Blessed are the children.

As I came to the South side of the White House, there were more tourists trying to photograph the White House. It was a beautiful day, but sadly, the tourists' view was very impeded by concrete and metal barricades, snipers, and heavy police presence. On the South side of the White House, the street was totally closed to vehicle traffic with a series of blockades on both ends. There is a large tall black metal fence along the entire South side of the White House grounds. Adjacent to the black metal fence, the entire pedestrian sidewalk was also closed. Several major concrete/metal barricades were run along the street, parallel to the black fence. The police were allowing and directing pedestrians into only two of their barricaded corridors, the furthest from the White House. One of these barricaded corridors included part of the street, the curb, and a dirt area, the other included a dirt area and a sidewalk with a final barricade running along the entire South side.

First in the outer barricaded corridor, I held my sign for photographs, and several people asked me to go around into the closer pedestrian corridor. People wanted better photo views of my sign with the White House. I exited the outer pedestrian corridor to the West side, where police controlled entry and exit to both pedestrian corridors. As some people left each corridor, police signaled that others could enter. With other pedestrians, I waited on the West end, while two police cars came through the closer pedestrian corridor. The police officer said those were "emergency vehicles" and we could enter after they passed through. As the cars had moved through the corridor, they occasionally stopped and sounded to encourage people's movement toward the sides of the corridor.

After the cars cleared the corridor, the officer directed me and others to enter that corridor, where we joined about 30 people already there.

As I got into the main White House view, there were lots of people taking pictures. About 25 white-uniformed Navy officers entered the outer pedestrian corridor, standing along the outer barricade, smiling, giving me the "thumbs-up", especially as I raised the "bush is a war criminal" side of my sign. There were at least 100 people in the outer pedestrian corridor, looking toward my sign with the White House behind me. As I turned the sign around to the "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill" and cameras were in action. There were people cheering. An IndyMedia reporter came in front of me with a microphone and asked about my sign. I was standing very close to the curb. The reporter was on the dirt area while I spoke into his microphone. Just as I noted that my sign came from the ten commandments, suddenly I was hit by a police car on my right side.

The police officer, who hit me with the car, had made no attempt to warn me. As I rolled backwards onto the passenger corner of the car hood, I saw the driver's menacing face. Suddenly standing precariously next to the vehicle, I took one step and fell onto the pavement right next the curb. It was just sheer luck that I hadn't rolled into a fatal position under the wheel. Another police officer was yelling at me: "get up….get up before we run you down again….you're in the way of our car, get out of here or we'll hit you again." I was in horrible pain. I told the officer that I was injured and could not walk. He continued to yell about hitting me again if I did not get out of the way. The car engine began to rev, and the car moved forward. As the car began to back up, with a major effort, I saved myself by desperately crawling and pulling myself up over the curb. Then, the car was right next to the curb and inches from my head. The officer continued to yell "you're still in our way, get out of here, stand up and get out of here." I went into a major medical shock. The effort had taken it all out of me.

So there I was. A middle-aged, tax-paying, law-abiding American woman on the dirt in front of the White House. My friends told me that the police delayed even calling an ambulance for a very unacceptable amount of time. The police focused only on telling me to get up and leave, and filling out their version on incident forms. Police ordered witnesses to say that I deliberately walked into their car. I was left in the dirt, in a slumped position, in medical shock, with my sign "God says: Thou Shalt Not Kill" prominently displaced next to me. There were at least 100 people watching. No one was allowed assist me. The main officer continued to interrogate the IndyMedia reporter and my brave young friend, who demanded that they call an ambulance. The police harassed them and were very threatening. The officer refused to allow the IndyMedia reporter and my friend to be witnesses (both refused to say that I ran into the car, as the officer demanded).

Although one officer claimed to be a paramedic, he did nothing to stabilize me, just yelled about how I was being uncooperative. When the ambulance finally arrived, the police did not allow the emergency vehicle to use the barricaded corridor where I was located. The police insisted that the ambulance enter a farther away barricaded corridor. To get me into the ambulance, paramedics had to strap me to a very narrow board, and slowly lift me over TWO major barricades. This was a lengthy, time-consuming, cumbersome, and dangerous effort for both me and the paramedics. My friends told me that another pro-peace person took my sign, promising that it would be seen again. When I got to GW Hospital, I was treated for life-threatening medical shock. There were several medical personnel there when I finally regained consciousness following intravenous injections. The doctor whispered in my ear "They tried to kill you."

After many hours, my condition was stabilized through a series of medical interventions. It seemed like forever, but I was stabilized, and I was conscious, and wonderful people had saved my life! The doctors treated me for possible tetanus, due to my abrasions, and cuts, and being forced to crawl onto the dirt with open wounds. They attended to the risk of infection. The assault has badly injured me. My injuries are listed as "Car vs. Body" and the follow up is Orthopedic Surgeon and Internal Medicine Doctor, with Tylenol/ Codeine for pain control. As I lay injured in the Emergency room (and a lot of dirt was brought in on me), I prayed for the people of Iraq that we are killing with our tax dollars. The Iraqis do not have any medical facilities or trained personnel like the people who saved my life. Unlike so many Americans today, I am fortunate to have medical insurance. Our country is spending so much money on killing, and so little on Americans' necessary medical care. I will forever be grateful to the DC Fire Department/Paramedics, and the caring people at the GW Hospital Emergency Department.

These White House thugs are defended by John Ashcroft's Justice Department. Our rights to free speech are being dissolved. On March 22, 2003, the White House police attempted to murder a 52 year-old law-abiding woman, in front of over 100 people. And now we are Germany in 1939. What will YOU do? Your silence encourages the next step.

[Bonobo]

10. Does anyone know of any successful civil or crimal cases against cops

in protests such as Miami or Anti-War?

BTW

:kick: