| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"The Worlds Smallest Minority" |
| Date: |
18 Aug 2006 01:56:52 PM |
| Object: |
Police shot peaceful protesters with rubber bullets then laughed |
Got this from an email list, so the formatting is messy:
Police state tactics are in place NOW- Peaceful
Protesters Shot
with Rubber Bullets
The jack booted thugs were filmed LAUGHING about their outrageous
behavior. The jack booted thugs were praised by their superior: Major
John Brooks. Elizabeth Ritter; one lady that they shot, is an
ATTORNEY. OOOPS!
Apologies are flowing out,
but they are TOO LATE!
Major John Brooks had previously assisted in the kidnapping of Elian
Gonzalez.
Will they be fired?
Will they be disciplined?
They were protesting the Free Trade Summit in Miami, August 10.
If this message is censored view it here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreedomOfSpeechNow/message/110
View the video:
http://www.jonesreport.com/articles/170806_rubber_bullets.html
Protester Shot with Rubber Bullets Shows Police Disconnect, Brutality
Jones Report | August 17, 2006
Elizabeth Ritter was shot four times with rubber bullets by police
while she
was protesting a Free Trade Summit in Miami, August 10.
This horrifying example truly shows the disconnect between police and
the
citizens they pose as protecting and serving.
These police actually laugh at their victims, in spite of news
cameras and
hundreds of witnesses of which they were certainly aware. Arrogant and
unchecked power now threatens to be the norm for ever-increasing riot
police.
They rule with faux violence and real threats (rubber bullets been
known to
cause death, in certain cases). Here, Ritter was even shot in the face
in an archetypal showdown with goons dressed in black 'storm trooper'
uniforms, over-armed to handle a peaceful protest.
They shoot at a business woman repeatedly, even after seeing blood
drip from
her body. Somewhere, behind a disconnected, under-informed and wrongly
influenced "peaceful" force, these instruments of terror think they are
protecting the populace rather than subjecting them to tyranny, all the
more terrifying for being out in the open.
Protester Shot with Rubber Bullets Shows Police Disconnect, Brutality
Jones Report | August 17, 2006
Elizabeth Ritter was shot four times with rubber bullets by police
while she
was protesting a Free Trade Summit in Miami, August 10.
This horrifying example truly shows the disconnect between police and
the
citizens they pose as protecting and serving.
These police actually laugh at their victims, in spite of news
cameras and
hundreds of witnesses of which they were certainly aware. Arrogant and
unchecked power now threatens to be the norm for ever-increasing riot
police.
They rule with faux violence and real threats (rubber bullets been
known to
cause death, in certain cases). Here, Ritter was even shot in the face
in an archetypal showdown with goons dressed in black 'storm trooper'
uniforms, over-armed to handle a peaceful protest.
They shoot at a business woman repeatedly, even after seeing blood
drip from
her body. Somewhere, behind a disconnected, under-informed and wrongly
influenced "peaceful" force, these instruments of terror think they are
protecting the populace rather than subjecting them to tyranny, all the
more terrifying for being out in the open.
Police demonstrated similar excessive force after the Red Sox's
American
League Championship Series Victory in October of 2004. Police tried to
subdue a 'belligerent' crowd by firing upon them.
Twenty-one year old Emerson University student, Victoria Snelgrove,
was killed
after she was hit by a rubber bullet in the crowd that was merely
celebrating a sporting event.
Police in the Boston case say they did not also beat the woman
victim, those
that was apparently the case with other fans deemed rowdy.
The crowd was described as out-of-control and reportedly also set a
car on
fire. However, police have clearly over-reacted when police simply fire
into a crowd and irresponsibly shoot the student in the eye, who was
otherwise not a particular subject of police control.
The weapons are 'meant to be non-lethal,' just as the police
themselves are
meant to maintain peace in the society they serve. Yet, it is the
police committing the atrocities-- the forces that should be scaled
back, not re-inforced and escalated.
Boston mayor Tom Menino sees the need for such violent escalation,
however. "We're going to have to take some drastic measures since
people won't act
responsibly. I as mayor will take it into my own hands, and probably
ban liquor being sold in bars and, once the game starts, bar TV cameras
in the bars during the games; try to do everything we can to keep the
peace," Menino said.
The point here is that these are not isolated cases, but an
unfortunate trend
of an emerging police state, taking its first aims at large public
gatherings, like sporting events, deemed otherwise difficult to
control.
Police are increasingly equipped like armies. They have been
unleashed in full
riot formation at both Democratic and Republican National Conventions,
at Mardi Gras festivals and other large events.
Police fired rubber bullets during Mardi Gras festivities in Austin,
Texas in
February of 2001. When police determined the largely peaceful crowd to
be unruly, they opened fire, shooting University of Texas Economics
student Saif Siddiqui in the eye.
"They say that they're supposed to fire the pellets in the legs, not
in the
face," Isram Siddiqui said. "There was no warning that they were using
bullets to dispose the scene if they can't control it, they shouldn't
have it."
35 people were arrested that night, including several injuries.
Jason Morgan says he was subdued by police, told to kneel on the
ground, after
which he was beaten, hit with pepper spray and shocked. Jessica Murray
was subsequently struck in the chest when she protested police action
against her friend.
Similar actions took place in Seattle in February 2001, where police
again
used pepper spray and rubber bullets to break up crowds after the bars
closed.
This is all demonstrative of unacceptable attacks against largely
unarmed,
largely peaceful people by police who have over-stepped the bounds of
their role in society. They have completely lost touch with their
purpose and relationship with society.
In the aftermath and organization purpose of such forces, however,
police
continue to justify themselves on the grounds of "keeping the peace"--
how far out on a limb will they go?
Follow up articles:
http://www.topix.net/content/kri/1958844295107711880200939465850086632
559
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/front/15228898.htm
Attorney incensed after viewing FTAA police video A police
training video
showed high-ranking Broward deputies laughing about shooting rubber
bullets at a Coral Gables attorney at the free- trade summit in Miami.
BY ASHLEY FANTZ
CHARLES TRAINOR JR./MIAMI HERALD STAFF
THE WOMAN IN RED: Elizabeth Ritter exercises her First Amendment
right during
an FTAA protest near police on November of 2003.
More photos
Video | Watch footage of Ritter being shot
Video | BSO officers comments after the protest
Video | BSO officers call protesters "scurrying cockroaches"
Read the Civilian Investigative Panel's final report (.pdf)
As a middle-aged Coral Gables attorney, dressed sharply in a red suit
jacket,
skirt and black slingback heels, Elizabeth Ritter stood out among the
throng of protesters on Nov. 20, 2003.
Frustrated that she couldn't do business because the Miami-Dade
County
Courthouse was shut down that week during the Free Trade Area of the
Americas summit, she hastily made a sign that read ''Fear
Totalitarianism'' and decided to stand with the protesters.
The sign, however, became her shield against a barrage of rubber
bullets fired
at her by a legion of Broward Sheriff's deputies in riot gear. And, in
an image captured by a videographer, she is shot in the head as she
cowers in the street.
And now another video, recently released, raises questions about the
degree to
which police, specifically, Broward Sheriff's deputies, were
encouraged, -- and even praised -- for using force against Ritter and
other protesters.
In the video -- recorded by BSO on Nov. 21, the day after the event
-- a BSO
top commander gushes over shooting protesters. Another officer refers
to them as ``scurrying cockroaches.''
And when it comes to ''the lady in the red dress,'' said a sergeant,
referring
to Ritter, eliciting hoots and laughter, ``I don't know who got her,
but it went right through the sign and hit her smack dab in the middle
of the head!''
Viewing the video for the first time last month, Ritter was incensed.
Until
now, she had no plans to sue, even though a long list of people --
labor union workers, a filmmaker, protesters and a local reporter --
filed complaints and lawsuits alleging the agencies in charge of crowd
control -- Miami Police, Miami-Dade Police and BSO -- used excessive
force and made false arrests.
MINOR OFFENSES
About 220 people were arrested, the majority for minor offenses such
as
obstructing sidewalks, according to the Miami-Dade state attorney's
office. Charges have been dropped in nearly half of those cases. So
far, 57 people have been convicted, according to spokesman Edward
Griffith.
The Miami Civilian Investigative Panel, a voter-created board that
vets
complaints against the Miami police, looked into 20 allegations of
police misconduct. Six of those complaints have become lawsuits backed
by the American Civil Liberties Union. Last week, the panel issued a
report criticizing police for profiling and ''unlawfully'' searching
protesters, but announced it had found no evidence of excessive force.
THE BSO TAPES
On one of the final days of the summit meant to hash out a trade
agreement
among 34 Western nations, Ritter had accepted a friend's invitation to
attend an FTAA-related law lecture at Bayfront Park.
While leaders from 34 countries negotiated inside Miami's downtown
Intercontinental Hotel, TV news showed hundreds of police in riot gear
facing protesters, many college-age, who thought a trade pact would
hurt developing countries.
OVERKILL
But it wasn't trade issues that brought Ritter and her friends to
downtown
that day. The attorney thought it was overkill that the police had all
but shut down the city.
''My city, my hometown, was becoming a police state,'' she said.
A videographer captured what happened next, showing Ritter walking
alone in
front of a line of BSO deputies on NE Third Street.
As the deputies advance, Ritter turns around to face them and raises
her
sign.
A barrage of projectiles is fired. She kneels, holding her sign above
her head
as a shield.
Ritter is shot five times -- in her legs, upper body, and shoulder.
And when
she kneels on the ground, the sign above her head, a projectile rips
through it and strikes her in the head.
Hard rubber projectiles typically leave welts and bruises, but at
close range
can pierce the skin, or rarely, kill.
'I turned around and said, `Why did you hit me?' Is a woman in a
business suit
a threat?'' Ritter recalled in a recent interview.
A MISTAKE?
'But then I thought, `That must have been a mistake.' A police
officer isn't
going to shoot me on purpose.''
Ritter walked around downtown in a daze, finally getting a ride home.
Although
her head and body were bruised and she was upset, she decided not to
make an issue of what happened.
Then, last month the BSO videotape emerged as a result of a public
records
request from the Miami Civilian Investigative Panel.
Its existence was first reported by the Daily Business Review.
The tape, recorded for training purposes, shows Major John Brooks --
then a
captain -- addressing dozens of deputies in an outdoor BSO tent.
''How about yesterday, huh?'' Brooks says, complimenting the officers
for
their work during the protests. ``I would go to war with everyone
here.''
Brooks continues, ``I went home, I couldn't sleep, I was just so
pumped up
about how good you guys were . . . Nobody broke ranks. You're the best
I've ever been with.''
Sgt. Michael Kallman, a BSO counterterrorism unit officer, addresses
the group
next. A voice off-camera says, ``What about the lady behind the sign?
We have intel on her?''
The officers laugh.
Kallman smiles and says, ``The good news about being able to watch
you guys
live on TV is that the lady with the red dress, I don't know who got
her, but it went right through the sign and hit her smack dab in the
middle of the head!''
He raises his forefinger and zooms it toward his forehead.
The cops all laugh.
Another officer asks, off-camera, ``Did I get a piece of her red
dress?'' BSO'S RESPONSE
No disciplinary action has been taken against any officers in the
video, said
BSO spokesman Elliott Cohen.
''There has been no Internal Affairs investigations involving FTAA,''
he
said.
Brooks left the Miami Police Department and joined BSO amid
controversy over
the removal of Elián González from his uncle's Little Havana home in
April 2000. Brooks, an assistant chief at the Miami police department
at the time, had accompanied agents on the raid to clear police through
police barricades.
Then-Mayor Joe Carollo criticized Brooks, saying his presence in the
van gave
the impression the raid had the city's seal of approval.
In May 2005, Brooks was promoted to major, making him one of Sheriff
Ken
Jenne's highest ranking deputies.
The Miami Herald left numerous messages for Brooks and Kallman
through the
sheriff's public information office. Three messages were left with
Brooks' assistant and at Kallman's office explaining the story and
asking for comment. The Herald also sent certified letters to both men.
Neither responded. Jenne also declined to comment for this story.
Miami police was the lead police agency during the FTAA. Miami Police
Chief
John Timoney declined comment for this article.
Miami investigative panel attorney Charles Mays said the panel's
ability to
vet complaints was halted by one huge obstacle: While Miami officers
wore identifying uniforms, BSO and Miami-Dade officers did not.
''It made it much more difficult to know who did what,'' he said.
''With multi-agencies running around, as an officer you won't know
who's
who,'' said Eugene O'Donnell, professor of police science at New York's
John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former New York City cop.
''It hurts oversight, community and accountability,'' he said.
However, he said it was nevertheless appropriate for law enforcement
to
prepare for the potential for violence -- like that seen in Seattle in
1999 when protests against the World Trade Organization grew explosive
between cops and protesters.
FEW INJURIES
FTAA's injuries hovered around a few dozen and the week was far less
violent.
Miami police had 16 injuries, spokesman Delrish Moss said.
It's unclear how many Miami-Dade or BSO officers were hurt.
Commander Armando Guzman, a 25-year-old police veteran and leader of
the Miami
Police Swat Team during FTAA, said officers faced violence that wasn't
publicized.
Protesters set fire to freight pallets they placed on the street and
fired
ball bearings at police using ''wrist rockets,'' sophisticated
high-velocity sling-shots, he said.
Demonstrators also flung pieces of brick and rebar at cops, said
Guzman. He was nearly hit in the head with a urine-filled Gatorade
bottle. Guzman witnessed the Ritter shooting.
''Unfortunately there were people between us and them,'' he said.
``If you're in the middle, you're going to get hit.''
O'Donnell added, ''I'm not excusing what they said -- and it probably
doesn't
sit well with the public,'' he said. ``But it's not unheard of for cops
to talk in a kind of locker room way.''
NOT A THREAT
Ritter does not accept that.
''I was not a threat to them,'' she said.
''Referring to people as cockroaches is wrong. Saying they want a
piece of my
red dress is wrong. The law, I know, will agree with me,'' she added.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/09/trade.protests.ap/index.html
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=14416
http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2296783&page=1
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/video_leads_she.html
--
Up with liberty!
Down with liberalism, socialism and communism!
.
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