NEW YORK FASCISTS
Guantanamo on the Hudson

From This Modern World:

Soon a line of police closed off the other intersection at Irving and 16th, trapping us on 16th St. We didn't get on the street, we didn't climb onto anything to see what was happening, we didn't yell, we didn't attempt to run, we didn't appear violent in any way. There were probably 100 of us together there on the south side of 16th St, I think that the police had trapped other bubbles of people on the north side and farther up and down the sidewalk. We saw the police roll out a yellow net, a mesh bolt of fabric that they unrolled and used to push us into a tight group. At one point a policeman yelled at us violently and angrily that we had brought this upon ourselves. He was walking past us on the sidewalk and he yelled and screamed; and this was the moment when I became seriously afraid. I was standing closer to the street, not pressed against the walls of the buildings, and I was afraid that he would grab me and hurt me: I was very scared. The police never gave us an opportunity to move, to disperse, they never told us that we were about to be arrested, and they never said a word, besides this one officer who scared the shit out of me. It never occurred to me that this would happen. I didn't know that we had participated in anything illegal.

Eventually the police pressed us tightly together into a group. And then they kept pressing. They grabbed instruments from the band members and threw them into the road. Then they grabbed the band members, the group held onto them, but the police pulled these individuals away and tossed them into the road. The police were pressing us and pulling individuals who were on the perimeter away. People were shouting to the police: "Tell us what to do and we'll do it" and instructing us to hold onto the individuals the police were grabbing: "Don't let them take them away." I was on the perimeter of the group and I was scared that they would grab me next. I was standing right next to a street sign, there was a bicycle tied to the sign and it had fallen, and I was standing on the bicycle; every time the police pressed us I grabbed on to the sign and Sarah grabbed on to me, and I prayed that I wouldn't fall and break an ankle on the bicycle. I was scared like I have never been before. I was carrying a bag and yelled at Sarah to get her ID out and gave her some money, and someone else passed around a Sharpie and we wrote the number for the National Lawyers Guild on our arms. This was when I really knew that we were in trouble, even though it had never occurred to me that I had done anything illegal.

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Also from the Washington Post via the Houston Chronicle:

Protesters held too long

New York had time to prepare for the protesters everyone knew would gather in the city during the Republican National Convention, so it shouldn't have taken an angry judge to force the timely processing of those arrested. Yet on Thursday, state Judge John Cataldo ordered the release of hundreds of demonstrators who had not been arraigned in more — sometimes considerably more — than the 24 hours New York state law presumptively allows. Even after the order, the city did not move swiftly enough, prompting the judge to hold it in contempt and fine it.

According to protesters and their attorneys, delays were only part of the problem. They allege that police arrested hundreds of protesters who were doing nothing wrong, along with some bystanders who weren't protesting at all. Questions have arisen as well about the conditions in which detainees were held. New York officials deny that protesters were wrongly arrested or that arrests were intended to keep them off the streets.

Click here for the rest.

The Post essay mentions that, even though the protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, a New York cop was "viciously beaten." I want to know more about that: my best guess is that it had something to do with how the cops were abusing the protesters, but then, that's just a guess. Until I know more, I'll withhold judgment.

Other than that, I'm pretty outraged.

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