Pussy Riot members visit Occupy activist Cecily McMillan in prison

[G_j]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/09/cecily-mcmillan-pussy-riot-occupy-wall-street-


• Campaigner is awaiting sentence for assaulting police officer
• Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova 'appalled and saddened' by case

Jon Swaine in New York
Friday 9 May 2014 16.21 EDT

Cecily McMillan, the Occupy Wall Street activist convicted of assaulting a New York police officer, received a celebrity endorsement of sorts on Friday when two members of the Russian punk collective Pussy Riot visited her in prison.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who spent almost two years imprisoned in Russia after their group performed a “punk prayer” attacking President Vladimir Putin at an Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, met McMillan at Riker’s Island jail in New York, where she is being held awaiting sentencing.

McMillan, 25, faces up to seven years in prison after being found guilty of deliberately elbowing Officer Grantley Bovell in the face as he led her out of a protest at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan in March 2012. She was denied bail and is due to be sentenced by Judge Ronald Zweibel on 19 May.

A spokesman for McMillan’s support group said on Friday afternoon that Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina had spent about an hour with McMillan inside the prison.

..more..

[misterhighwasted]

1. elbowed him? she should have pointed an assualt rifle at him.

She'd be out riding 4 wheelers in the Nevada desert today.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Did you forget the sarcasm label?

[misterhighwasted]

3. No sarcasm label necessary. Take it however you want.

Seems a serious point to make as to elbowing an officer manhandling your private parts to the point of leaving bruises, just for engaging in a protest to be heard in this country, or being left alone when pointing an assault weapon at an officer.

In this case I could only add a small part of the "sarcasm label"..I'm pretty much serious as to my opinion on this subject.
Assault weapon or elbow..Let me think, which is more threatening?

Makes no sense to me at all. I hope to see the entire Bundy assault weapon pointing entourage all be given 7 yrs in prison.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. It isn't necessary...

the Bundy militia are doing this now.

[JoeyT]

7. +1 n/t

[m-lekktor]

12. yup.

pretty much!

[redgreenandblue]

5. K&R.

[G_j]

6. I'm shocked Hillary didn't issue a statement supporting Cecily

as she did for Pussy Riot. ..NOT..

[struggle4progress]

10. Well, let's see. Members of Pussy Riot were arrested and charged for disrupting

a church service to make a political statement. Cecily McMillan OTOH testified she's been drinking to celebrate St Patrick's day and hadn't gone to Zuccotti Park to protest ; she was arrested and charged for clocking a cop in the eye with her elbow

RECAP

Pussy Riot: a non-violent in-your-face political statement
Cecily McMillan: drunk, not actually making any statement, assaulted officer

[Enthusiast]

11. Me too.

[1000words]

8. "Celebrity" endorsement

Activists, or self-promoters? The gray area grows, in my opinion.

[JJChambers]

9. This incident was captured on video

She clearly elbowed the policeman in the face and he didn't grab her and take her down until after she hit him. But on DU, apparently violence is acceptable as long as the victim is a policeman and the perpetrator is a protestor. I love what occupy stands for; but I can still recognize a crime when I see one, even when it's someone on our side who commits it.