Glenn Greenwald is reporting that the police are doing raids on homes where suspected peace protestors are living/staying. The NYT is reporting that they are searching homes and arresting some folks involved in groups such as the "RNC Welcoming Committee" and "Food Not Bombs," perfectly legal organizations organizing protests of the convention:
In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house. One of the individuals renting the house, an 18-year-old woman, was extremely shaken as she and others described how the officers were deliberately making intimidating statements such as "Do you have Terminator ready?" as they lay on the floor in handcuffs.
Please circulate this story. While several nasty incidents did happen in Denver to keep protesters away from the DNC, here we have SWAT teams pre-emptively acting against protesters. This is not acceptable.
New Brudder?
11 years ago
3 comments:
My dad says this is not the Minnesota he knew and loved. Things went downhill when he left, I guess.
gussie
Yes, the cops are major DBs and they are arresting peaceful protesters, but for some reason we just kind of expected that. It doesn't make it right. BUT, many of the homes that were raided were those of anarchists. They found buckets of urine and sling shots and Molotov cocktails. I don't think those people were protesters for peace.
Mom and dad are going to the big demonstration tomorrow so cross your fingers that they don't get tear gassed or arrested!
That is troubling to hear. Truthfully, I suppose we did have suspicions AND the news anchor kept switching off when referring to "anarchists" and "anti-war activists." So frustrating. Mom sat near a self-identified "anarchist" the other day during lunch and overheard him say they were preparing to "f*@k up the RNC" so I guess she assumed it was people like him being raided. Completely naive, she realizes.
So what is your advice for mom and dad while they're at the demonstrations tomorrow?
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