Holy crap.
But that was not enough. The police then attacked the dispersing crowd, chasing about 30 people into a corner. They shoved them to the ground and beat them. They gassed them at close range. My colleague from Democracy Now!, Ana Nogueira, and I got separated in the mayhem. I was lucky to end up on the "safe" side of the street. Ana was in the melee. As she did her job - videotaping the action - Ana was wearing her press credentials in plain sight. As the police began handcuffing people, Ana told them she was a journalist. One of the officers said, "She's not with us, she's not with us," meaning that although Ana was clearly a journalist, she was not the friendly type. She was not embedded with the police and therefore had to be arrested.In police custody, the authorities made Ana remove her clothes because they were soaked with pepper spray. The police forced her to strip naked in front of male officers. Despite calls from Democracy Now!, the ACLU, lawyers and others protesting Ana's arrest and detention, she was held in a cockroach-filled jail cell until 3:30 am. She was only released after I posted a $500 bond. Other independent journalists remained locked up for much longer and face serious charges, some of them felonies. In the end, Ana was charged with "failure to disperse."
The real crime seems to be "failure to embed."
Jeremy Scahill on the "Miami Model" via American Samizdat.
originally posted by zagg
Comments
embedded=head embedded you-know-where.
man, talk about flashbacks -- "bringing the war back home" indeed.
Posted by: r@d@r | November 25, 2003 3:26 PM
that's just sick.... but of course, i'm not surprised. and what about the charge they are using "failure to disperse". what the hell is that about? i'm curious about how often they order a group of protesters to disperse and whether they at any point have to justify that. isn't that like saying... "we've decided you cannot protest at this moment in this place"? to they at any point have to justify such orders? how long do they wait before they start arresting? it's ridiculous.
the police are out of control of the citizenry... of course the government is also no longer accountable to citizens so... i've said it before i'll say it again... we need outside help to create regime change... this is a rogue government and has been for many years.
Posted by: denny | November 26, 2003 10:51 AM