Police brutality in dealing with protestors is on the rise .... say hello 1960s!

[Blackhatjack]

As the public becomes more informed and engaged, protests are spreading, and law enforcement officers are using more force in dealing with even the most peaceful protestors.

Those of us old enough to remember the anti-war protests in the '60s recall that as the police became more brutal, public opinion began to shift against the Government.

History always repeats itself....

[Selatius]

1. We see here that attitudes among the police forces against protesters hurts the police in the end.

When you ridicule and deride anti-war protesters and treat them as little more than target practice, you set yourself up for failure and a severe public backlash. It's why civilian oversight boards have started appearing in cities across the country. People got pissed, and now the police are becoming more and more subject to review, like they should have been from the beginning.

[acmavm]

2. Yep. History is indeed repeating itself. But the country has been hijacked

by people who are far worse than we had to deal with back in the day. These people have absolutely no qualms whatsoever about committing crimes, openly subverting the Constitution, and I believe eventually declaring martial law.

They make the Nixon years look like and episode of Pee Wee's Playhouse.

[Greyhound]

7. Can you say "hay market"?

There is nothing new under the sun, and it is coming around again.

[Jed Dilligan]

3. We should fight them dirtier

Dress up a large contingent of protestors like riot police to fuck up all their tactics. Why not? They're undercover in our midst.

[WillyT]

4. Here A Template For Everybody !!!

<snip>

Berkeley Copwatch is the original Copwatch group. We began in 1990 on Telegraph Ave. as an all-volunteer organization dedicated to monitoring police actions and non-violently asserting our rights. Since that time, many Copwatch-type organizations have sprung up across the nation, in various forms. You are welcome to copy any of the materials on our website and use them to help educate the public and to start a Copwatch group in your community. Although you may find web pages or organizations that call themselves "Copwatch", read through their material carefully. Berkeley Copwatch is based on the idea that WATCHING the police is a crucial first step in the process of organizing. We do not attempt to interfere in police activity or to resist police misconduct physically. It is our hope that, one day, mass outrage at police and government violence will increase to a point where fundamental change in the nature of policing becomes inevitable.

Berkeley Copwatch's Goals

Our main goal is to reduce police violence by directly observing the police on the street, documenting incidents and keeping police accountable. We maintain principles of non-violence while asserting the rights of the detained person. We provide support to victims whenever possible. We also seek to educate the public about their rights, police conduct in the community and issues related to the role of police in our society.

Our other goal is to empower and unite the community to resist police abuse. We will do this by sharing information with the community, conducting "Know Your Rights" trainings, sponsoring rallies, supporting victims and other community based efforts to deal with the problem. We also encourage people to solve problems WITHOUT police intervention. We want to explore alternatives to calling the police. Most importantly, we encourage people to exercise their right to observe the police and to advocate for one another.

<snip>

Link: http://www.berkeleycopwatch.org/

And these days, there are LOTS of cameras out there.

:shrug:

[Blackhatjack]

5. The Kent State University shootings galvanized the anti-war movement....

UP to that point who would have believed that law enforcement would fire live rounds into a group of college students?

It was tragic, shocking, and shook up the public.

I fear we are not far from another such incident.

[Trillo]

6. This is one of the bigger issues

surprised it only has one rec. Added my own for two.

It seems to be another 'benchmark'.

[Greyhound]

8. Here's another. n/t

:kick: & R

[Kat 333]

12. One more ... k & r

:kick:

[WinkyDink]

9. We had better judges then....

[L. Coyote]

10. K & R & Impeach

[JohnyCanuck]

11. And not just in the USA

Time for a little post-Montebello truth

by Dave Coles

When CEP president Dave Coles attended a peaceful protest at the SPP, he found that three police officers had disguised themselves and infiltrated the demonstration. Here are his reflections on the incident.

SNIP

Canadians generally don't want to believe that their politicians in government just have a different agenda than the one they talk about with platitudes and homilies.

They don't want to believe, for example, that Canadian, U.S. and Mexican leaders at the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership summit at Montebello were discussing, without democratic input from affected groups, how Canada's massive tar sands production could be exploited to serve U.S. interests. Or how the needs of workers and communities in each country would be sacrificed to bolster the profits of energy corporations.

But let me tell you what happened when a young man named Paul Manly videotaped three policemen acting like swaggering thugs and trying to incite a riot among protestors at the summit. He posted it on YouTube for the benefit of more than 200,000 viewers at last count.

People were shocked. Then they were angry. Then they began to ask questions.

http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?sh_itm=c1a9b2b14e43f37d75a28a80bf0bb6ea&rXn=1&

Here's the link to the Youtube video of the "Quebec Cops Gone Wild" in case you missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow&mode=related&search=

Manufacturing Fear

by Anna Kruzynski

SNIP

Around 6:00 p.m., we were listening to the last of the day's speeches—thank you to the people of Montebello who opened up their village to us. Yes, we managed to express our opposition to the SPP. No, the struggle is not over. We felt energized and encouraged about continuing to mobilize in our communities and workplaces.

It was at this point, when the demonstration was clearly over and the crowd had begun to disperse, that a police officer by my side suddenly shot a projectile of tear gas at a protester beside me who was speaking in a megaphone. The crowd, panicked, moved back. My eyes were burning, my nose was running, my skin burned. The couple of rocks thrown out of the crowd bounced off the well-padded police officers; but we, the protesters, protected with little more than our lemon-soaked kerchiefs, are still suffering today from the brutality committed in the name of “security and prosperity.”

Why did police forces start shooting when the demonstration was over? It seems to me the only plausible explanation is that they needed to provoke a riot, knowing of course that these would be the images that would be relayed by the media instead of accurate information underlying the issues. These are the images that would feed the climate of fear, create a feeling of insecurity, turn you against me, even though we had managed, the previous day, to pierce through the barrier of distrust, and plant a seed of revolt. But we will not be fooled. We know that police repression and disinformation are tactics that are used consciously by those who “govern us” and those who “inform us” in an effort to demobilize us, to divide us, to scare us. That is how they think they will shut us up and force us to accept their policies.

http://www.rabble.ca/in_her_own_words.shtml?x=61706

[JohnyCanuck]

13. Australian cops act like goons at APEC demonstration.

Peaceful Sydney Anti-Bush, Anti-Iraq Protest Shattered By Police Violence : "That's The Way We Do Business Now"

Police Removed Mandatory ID Badges Before Unleashing On Protesters

Media Assaulted & Arrested, Women Shoved And Knocked Down, Hundreds Of Undercover Police Infiltrated The Crowd

SNIP

They came in their thousands, in defiance of a month long fear and intimidation campaign by the state and federal governments, the police and the Murdoch media.

Of the more than 6000-8000 who marched, all but a few dozen protested peacefully, without violence or aggression. More than half of all protesters were women, hundreds of elderly people marched, joined by hundreds of families, with young children.

But the 2500 police deployed, backed by a full riot squad, a water cannon, backpacks full of pepper spray, dogs and snipers in a helicopter hovering above the crowd, were pumped for the long promised "worst riots ever seen in Sydney." A promise made only by the police and state government ministers over the past few weeks.

Protesters were wrestled to the ground, put in headlocks, had their arms twisted up behind their backs, had knees rammed into their spines and, in a number of assaults by police, were punched in the back and neck with a flurry of hard blows while being held down. Few of those assaulted and beaten displayed any resistance at all.

Dozens were removed from the Sydney protest on Saturday for taking photographs or video of police, dozens more were shoved, thrown to the ground and generally provoked. But still the crowd did not erupt into the expected mass violence and disordert.

An accountant, who crossed the street in the wrong place, was slammed onto the footpath and had his face rammed into the ground by at least six police officers. His young son stood nearby, clearly trembling in fear, as police wrestled the man who offered up no resistance, except to protect his glasses. He was held in a police cell for 22 hours and was denied contact with his lawyer and family members. Police didn't return his glasses until after he was released from custody.

http://theorstrahyun.blogspot.com/2007/09/peaceful-sydney-anti-bush-anti-iraq.html

[EFerrari]

14. This has been my take for a long time.

I was hoping it was just me. :(

[followthemoney]

15. The end is near when the thug nature of the police becomes apparent

beyond the boundaries of the poor minority communities.

When the cops become known as pigs to idealist middle class youth the opposition to the government will solidify.

Then the world will learn in 2008 what the world forgot since 1968.

[Blackhatjack]

16. I hate to even raise this, but I believe it is a catalyst for police behavior of late....

Protestors have been around through times good and bad, and have been tolerated as an example of the price that an open democracy must pay to preserve our constitutional freedoms and liberties.

There is no doubt that the Iraq War is the present motivating factor driving the majority of protests in this country. And those protests will certainly increase in size and number until we begin to bring the troops home and end this war.

However.... those in the highest levels of government 'know' that the economy is in a free fall, and that financial conditions for all but the richest citizens are about to take an abrupt nosedive. Record foreclosures, massive unsold housing inventory, falling housing prices, evaporated home equity, increasing ARM mortgage payments, contracted credit, a tanking dollar, rising food, utility and gas prices, job losses and unemployment, and mounting debt, all mean that there is going to be massive financial pain for most Americans .....and soon.

I believe the increase in forceful handling of protestors is just preparation for the massive protests and demonstrations that will occur shortly. These leaders know what is coming, and they are trying to discourage as much protest as possible by demonstrating 'tough tactics' before the media.

THis could be the most choatic election season in recent memory if the war in Iraq drags on and the economy takes a huge drop.

Then it will be interesting to see what the Presidential Candidates of both Parties have to say about their policies when faced with a country in turmoil.

I hope I am dead wrong... but I fear that I am not.

[Greyhound]

17. Lest we forget who it was that sacrificed the election rather surrender power... {DIALUP WARNING}