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Why We Were Falsely Arrested
Amy Goodman
TRUTHOUT
Friday, September 5, 2008
St. Paul, Minnesota – Government crackdowns on journalists are a true threat to democracy. As the Republican National Convention meets in St. Paul, Minn., this week, police are systematically targeting journalists. I was arrested with my two colleagues, “Democracy Now!” producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, while reporting on the first day of the RNC. I have been wrongly charged with a misdemeanor. My co-workers, who were simply reporting, may be charged with felony riot.
The Democratic and Republican national conventions have become very expensive and protracted acts of political theater, essentially four-day-long advertisements for the major presidential candidates. Outside the fences, they have become major gatherings for grass-roots movements-for people to come, amidst the banners, bunting, flags and confetti, to express the rights enumerated in the Constitution’s First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Behind all the patriotic hyperbole that accompanies the conventions, and the thousands of journalists and media workers who arrive to cover the staged events, there are serious violations of the basic right of freedom of the press. Here on the streets of St. Paul, the press is free to report on the official proceedings of the RNC, but not to report on the police violence and mass arrests directed at those who have come to petition their government, to protest.
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
It was Labor Day, and there was an anti-war march, with a huge turnout, with local families, students, veterans and people from around the country gathered to oppose the war. The protesters greatly outnumbered the Republican delegates.
There was a positive, festive feeling, coupled with a growing anxiety about the course that Hurricane Gustav was taking, and whether New Orleans would be devastated anew. Later in the day, there was a splinter march. The police-clad in full body armor, with helmets, face shields, batons and canisters of pepper spray-charged. They forced marchers, onlookers and working journalists into a nearby parking lot, then surrounded the people and began handcuffing them.
Nicole was videotaping. Her tape of her own violent arrest is chilling. Police in riot gear charged her, yelling, “Get down on your face.” You hear her voice, clearly and repeatedly announcing “Press! Press! Where are we supposed to go?” She was trapped between parked cars. The camera drops to the pavement amidst Nicole’s screams of pain. Her face was smashed into the pavement, and she was bleeding from the nose, with the heavy officer with a boot or knee on her back. Another officer was pulling on her leg. Sharif was thrown up against the wall and kicked in the chest, and he was bleeding from his arm.
I was at the Xcel Center on the convention floor, interviewing delegates. I had just made it to the Minnesota delegation when I got a call on my cell phone with news that Sharif and Nicole were being bloody arrested, in every sense. Filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films and I raced on foot to the scene. Out of breath, we arrived at the parking lot. I went up to the line of riot police and asked to speak to a commanding officer, saying that they had arrested accredited journalists.
Within seconds, they grabbed me, pulled me behind the police line and forcibly twisted my arms behind my back and handcuffed me, the rigid plastic cuffs digging into my wrists. I saw Sharif, his arm bloody, his credentials hanging from his neck. I repeated we were accredited journalists, whereupon a Secret Service agent came over and ripped my convention credential from my neck. I was taken to the St. Paul police garage where cages were set up for protesters. I was charged with obstruction of a peace officer. Nicole and Sharif were taken to jail, facing riot charges.
The attack on and arrest of me and the “Democracy Now!” producers was not an isolated event. A video group called I-Witness Video was raided two days earlier. Another video documentary group, the Glass Bead Collective, was detained, with its computers and video cameras confiscated. On Wednesday, I-Witness Video was again raided, forced out of its office location. When I asked St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington how reporters are to operate in this atmosphere, he suggested, “By embedding reporters in our mobile field force.”
On Monday night, hours after we were arrested, after much public outcry, Nicole, Sharif and I were released. That was our Labor Day. It’s all in a day’s work.
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17 Responses to “Why We Were Falsely Arrested”
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September 5th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
You were Falsely Arrested because you are weak wimps that why the bullys picked you out the police wouldent dare pick on men carring guns and or bigger than they are they have to out number you ever time befor they arrest you its why they built the matrix to collect the weak peoples like you …:)
September 5th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
That sucks for Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now! crew. I’m sure they were targetted in advance for that. They should arm themselves and consider shooting next time. If a gang of thugs tries to steal your first ammendment rights, that’s what the second one is for.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
The journalists played the game along with governments. It seems that their job is done. Now they are being targeted to silence them. I think the wind is changing…
September 5th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Sure thing johnny. Real easy to dismiss the author as “weak wimps”. We will see how tough you are when a SWAT team is outside.
The crew is an accredited press therefore the police should have left them alone. This is a major milestone on the road to tyranny.
But do us all a favor. Before you attempt to prove how ‘hard’ you are, let the others in the house get clear. No one else needs to be harmed because you have a weapon and a lack of self worth.
Internet Tough Guys. Keyboard Commandos. Digital Daredevils.
/smirk
September 5th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Amy- it was because u buy into the man made global warming
Thats what happens in a communist country
What freedom or press or speech
Slaves should do what they are told
September 5th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Global warming? Laughable. Its the military industrial complex permanent warfare system that is taking away liberties piece by piece.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
There you go Amy. This is the same institution you tried to protect. You know 9/11 is an inside job. You were there near WTC7 when you heard it blow up. Why are you continuing to protect these people? You have the resources and credential as a journalist to cover this and blow it wide open. By keeping your mouth shut, you are protecting ‘them’. These same people that smacked you and your co-workers on the head and will do again at a drop of a hat.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
If I were to bloody the nose of a police officer that would be called assault on a police officer, but if they bloody my nose, that’s called enforcement??
Anybody see a double standard here?
Don’t forget that cops are just civilians on the job – that’s all. Being a cop is just another job like working at mcdonalds or walmart. It is not a license to break the law, nor a permit to violate their sworn oaths.
Has anybody considered suing a cop for violating his oath of office? Like when those sworn to uphold the constitution (the law of the land) become it’s tresspassers and violators.
The police are held to a higher standard by God himself, should they not also be held similiarly by man?
Peace.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Now it’s time for the injured parties to file lawsuits against the police. Maybe if the people of Minneapolis have to shell out millions of dollars for the illegal actions of their despicable punks that have the audacity to masquerade as public servants, they will wake up and get a mayor or police chief that doesn’t have such little regard for the precious liberties our forefathers risked their lives for us to have.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Journalists are always the first to be murdered in a political purge.
September 6th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Sweet Deal! Neocons win, win, and win again.
This is how the swindle works.
Send a message to anti war protesters by visiting an illegal arrest and violence against a zionist in the press.
Anti war activity diminishes as the word spreads about what happened to poor old “Amy” and her crew.
Amy now has plenty of material/”talking points” to distract the public from the illegal war and to glorify journalists and the importance of the Freedom of the Press.
Amy hires a zionist lawyer for big bucks and free publicity.
Amy wins multi-million dollar lawsuit compliments of the tax paying sheep.
Neocon fraud has become an art form.
Better than a “magic bullet” or a “magic fire.”
September 6th, 2008 at 9:13 am
My advice to demonstrators: Have you noticed how they push the crowd back and thin them out to an area where they arrest the ones left being the mindset that those left are the hardcore demonstrators. Let me tell you a story about an incident back in my early years. I studied martial arts for about ten years. Early morning in San Francisco I was at the bus station alone waiting for the last bus to Berkeley where I resided at the time. There were 2 men who arrived as I was waiting, by their body language I could tell they were together and pretending to be apart. Not freezing are waiting for their attempt to rob me I slowly circled them keeping an eye on them with peripheral vision tightening the circle as I circled them. They left. My advice is to not let them push you into an area. Either circle them are confront them and stand your ground, don’t let them take control. Good luck..A particular song I like is, I won’t back down by Tom Petty. You can stand me at the gates of hell and I won’t back down, I will stand my ground, I know what’s right.
September 6th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Nothing new, here exactly what happened in Germany pre WW2. It is the norm in a fledgling fascist police state before the dictators take full charge. Your country will be under military rule soon. Those recently built Halliburton concentration camps are not just to look at! You will be free allright free to do exactly as you are told !
September 6th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
@beijingyank
“Send a message to anti war protesters by visiting an illegal arrest and violence against a zionist in the press.”
Are you trying to say Amy Goodman is a Zionist? IF you are, you are a total moron!
“Award-winning journalist Amy Goodman, as she never tires telling audiences all over the country, is “a Jewish American, the granddaughter of an Orthodox rabbi and the great-granddaughter of a chassidic rabbi.” She also happens to be a promoter of anti-Semites and anti-Zionists of nearly every stripe.”
“Goodman, as usual, recited the full list of her kosher credentials when she delivered an emotional eulogy, before thousands of young people, many wearing keffiyahs, for Rachel Corrie at Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington. Corrie, the young American woman killed by an Israeli military bulldozer as she tried to block its work of saving Israeli lives, has been lionized in death by the anti-Israel Left, and Goodman’s eulogy was a major contribution to the creation of the Corrie legend. “Your wonderful classmate,” Goodman told the crowd, “was unbelievably brave.”"
“If Goodman attracts listeners who may not be motivated by hatred for all things American and Jewish, it may be because of her focus on journalistic freedom. She repeats like a mantra, everywhere she goes, that our mainstream media is “a megaphone for corporate interests.”"
http://www.jewishpress.com/con.....ntid=17410
You are a retard beijingyank!
September 6th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErFOsoKzpD0
about 2:48 watch the WTC collapse in slow motion zoomed-
still think its arab hijackers led by osama boogeyman that made them fall?
cmonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
September 6th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I wonder how long they will let us live, we useless eaters. Will they store me at a contain&dispatch camp for experiments by pharmaceuitical companies or genetic experimentation. Have we become doomed inslaved subjects to the realm of darkness and death? Ah, We sleep, yes We dream a life to live and hope we don’t awake to what whispers to us in the wind. Look around you. Do you not see what has come? That odor assalting your sense of smell? It is our history, our land, our natural rights as sovereigns that wither and die. Conform or perish. We must all obey and give up or Not. We will all decide how we will overcome or succumb to the takeover of our country by jackals and theives. Every department, every member, Those corporate moguls who would see us dead to complete their malicious agenda for total control over everyone of us need the message of a free people to be delivered in person. Do you get my drift? Remember, Every man, woman and child is a militia if they have a mind, to be… I will see you under the Liberty Tree.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Blessings on you! Keep up the wonderful work!