This account, posted on Minnesota Independent, which offers a more comprehensive report on Thursday than I can offer, is particularly invigorating:
A medic and some members of the Mn Peace Team surround a young protester writhing and screaming on the ground, clawing at his eyes. “We need someone to come and take this young man to a hospital,” says a Peace Team member into a phone. The protester is Misael Ivan Lopez, age 20, who grew up in East St. Paul and now lives in Uptown Minneapolis. In between gasps for air and rolling around waiting for his eyes to clear, he related what happened.
“I went to the wrong circle up there,” he said, motioning toward University Avenue, “and I got closed in. They weren’t trying to close me in, but it was just like how everything was happening. Everyone was riding around and I ended up being by myself with another guy on a bike in a f*cking square full of guys who were like—they tackled me as I was trying to put myself on the ground. I was already face down when a guy threw my camera and pulled my stuff off me and turned my head [toward him] and sprayed me. They grabbed my face and sprayed me after I had already dropped down and fetal-ed.” A medic put another dose of water into his eyes. “I saw him coming so I hit the ground because I didn’t want to get hit—I fetal-ed,” he repeated. “They stretched me out and turned me so I was on my back and another guy pulled my goggles off and he sprayed me. My goggles were already tilted a little bit”—he pointed to a space between his eye and his left ear—“and the guy ripped them off the rest of the way and sprayed me. Aaargh!” he yelled, in pain and frustration, and flipped back on his side. Fetal-ed.
There's more video and photos here in this Twin Cities Independent post.
396 were arrested Thursday night. Thursday night brought the total number of people arrested during the RNC to over 800.
We should all take the time to thank the brave independent, alternative, and corporate journalists who hung around and were subsequently arrested for believing they needed to be their to cover the scene. What was happening was news and arrests of journalists were utterly gratuitous. See this press conference for more on the violent suppression of journalists.
What Is At Stake Here? (Or What Was at Stake There?)
Laura Flanders of GRITtv posed this question to a panel, which addressed the police violence during the RNC in a live broadcast on September 4th, after McCain had delivered his acceptance speech. (*Currently, the episode has not aired or is not posted online for linking to.)
Rosa Clemente, the vice presidential candidate for the Green Party in this 2008 election, was part of the panel and had also just finished addressing a crowd at the Nader Super Rally in Minneapolis. Her address to the crowd focused on the police violence that had happened all week, violence which had greatly affected her while she was on the ground organizing with the Poor People’s Campaign for Economic Human Rights.
What is at stake here shall be considered after I address what was at stake.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
