The original footage, shot by Ali Winston, is here: http://www.ktvu.com/video/29587714/index.html
"...or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
-Amendment 1
This law that I believe all police swear to uphold has been violated in fascist police state actions numerous times over our history. Too many to count really, there exists a fundamental perversion in the way police are trained and propagandized by those who issue their daily marching orders.
What happened in Oakland California was nothing short of state terrorism directed to send a political message. This assault on the Occupy encampment had nothing whatsoever to do with the thinly concocted excuses provided by authorities. Oakland police, along with "peace officers" from numerous surrounding municipalities, committed a spree of "wilding" worthy of third world dictatorships.
As the white house pronounced the virtues of democracy and people's uprisings repeatedly, when those rising up were residents of foreign lands this spring, they have said and done nothing to protect the brave people's movements here in their own land. The hypocrisy is so glaring it's comiccal.
These are war crimes.
Is this the turning point?
Has America officially descended into outright fascism?
We have a constitution, but it is flagrantly ignored by those sworn to uphold it. How is this the "freedom" and the "democracy" they print repeatedly in their endless propaganda pieces?
I was present at the 2000 Democratic Convention protests in Los Angeles when police there opened up on the crowd in similar fashion.
That day the LAPD was out in force, thousands and thousands of riot-gear clad formations surrounded the event. Helicopters never stopped circling overhead.
The people had settled into a concert featuring Ozomatli, an African band that played a joyous very danceable eclectic set. Suddenly, the police stormed on stage, announced that the event was over and that the ten thousand people had fifteen minutes to leave the Staples Center lot, or they would be arrested.
I was filming the event with a camcorder, and I retreated across the street from the lot, which was explicitly not in the verboten zone any longer and supposedly safe and legal. I filmed the retreating people who danced and piled out down a gauntlet surrounded on both left and right by lines of well-armed riot police holding large shields.
As the fifteen minutes ticked away, and completely unprovoked, a line of black clad police robots started firing -- directly at me across the street and at a few dozen others who were simply walking away from the event. Apparently given their green light, the LAPD thought their "serve and protect" mandate included blasting into peacefully walking citizens after whatever arbitrary time limit had passed.
Needless to say we ran for it. I was still filming behind me as I felt the sting of some projectiles bounced off the street and back up again. Several young anarchists turned to yell and throw their water bottles. Others overturned a couple of newspaper boxes as they fled down the gauntlet shouting at the powers that be.
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