http://www.youtube.com/v/-d9wmqO2Khw&hl=en&fs=1
I got the above video from the LAist.com post about the police violence. The person being arrested has press credentials.
I was fortunate enough to be at the Republican National Convention protests in 2000 in Philadelphia and in 2004 in NYC (where I was arrested while delivering food to protesters by bike and spent 24 hours in jail). Eight years later and the pattern is the same:
1. The police and FBI deem anyone and everyone who is in the hosting city and is thinking/planning beyond the permitted liberal march ‘terrorists’.
2. The media regurgitates false messages spread by the police/fbi about potential violence and criminal activity.
3. They presumptively arrest hundreds of people on false charges in order to keep them off of the street.
4. Everyone to the right of radical leftists (including those spineless liberals) dismisses any tactics outside of a permitted march (these are the people who locked arms to protect the Nike store in Seattle in 1999. Way to go liberals!). Without any evidence outside of the police’s made up stories, protesters are criminalized and everyone plays into the ‘lock up the bad ones’ mentality without questioning anything.
5. When the convention closes up, they let almost everyone out of jail with no charges and the city, police and FBI fail to produce any real evidence of criminal activity.
6. No one who criticized those arrested or using other tactics bothers to realize this and continue to fall victim to the divide and conquer tactics of the ruling class.
Democracy Now! has some more footage up. You may not agree with the tactics or message of the people on the streets, but I think one would be hard-pressed to be able to defend the police. How long will this continue?
unfortunately this pattern will continue until it stops working.