Four More Journalists Who Covered Inauguration Day Protests Were Charged With Felonies
Last edited Wed Jan 25, 2017, 12:26 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: The Guardian
The National Lawyers Guild accused Washington DCs metropolitan police department of having indiscriminately targeted people for arrest en masse based on location alone and said they unlawfully used teargas and other weapons.
These illegal acts are clearly designed to chill the speech of protesters engaging in First Amendment activity, Maggie Ellinger-Locke, of the guilds DC branch, said in a statement.
None of the arrest reports for the six journalists makes any specific allegations about what any of them are supposed to have done wrong. Kellers report, which also covers the arrests of an unknown number of unidentified other people, includes a note that a police vehicle was vandalized. I had absolutely nothing to do with the vandalism, said Keller.
Reports on the arrests of five of the six journalists contain identical language alleging that numerous crimes were occurring in police presence. They state that windows were broken, fires were lit and vehicles were damaged. The crowd was observed enticing a riot by organizing, promoting, encouraging and participating in acts of violence in furtherance of the riot, the police reports said.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/24/journalists-charged-felonies-trump-inauguration-unrest
More info from Fox News (of all places, I know):
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/22/lawyers-police-wrongly-arrested-some-on-inauguration-day-felony-rioting-charges.html
But on Sunday, Mark Goldstone, a lawyer representing about 50 of those arrested, said police "basically identified a location that had problems and arrested everyone in that location." He said there were not 230 people engaged in conduct that merited a felony rioting charge and called the charges an overreach.
"They arrested everyone in a single location including reporters, lawyers, law students and non-riotous protesters," Goldstone said.
SNIP
Goldstone, the attorney, said that police have to make reasonable attempts to identify individual lawbreakers, not just arrest a group.
One of those arrested Friday was wearing a T-shirt identifying him as a legal observer, someone who is there to observe and report on the activities of the police and demonstrators, Goldstone said.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,561 posts)I fear for our country more than ever on reading this.
ananda
(28,856 posts)Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
IronLionZion
(45,409 posts)Expect a lot of injustice.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)tenorly
(2,037 posts)democrank
(11,092 posts)What have we become?
bdamomma
(63,819 posts)a calculated corporate coup d'état of our democracy. Putin had his hand on this along with the FBI.
Plus we have other appointees involved with this Bannon, Preibus and whole Goldman Sachs and Exon Employees to cause as much damage to our environment .
I remember Putin saying Trump is a clever man which I have trouble believing. We need to stay vigilant they want silence us that will not work.
I pray that the Congress will not stand back on the dismantling of democracy. Something will have to be done quickly and we must have a plan be it on a local state level.
We must rise up these protests have shaken them or our power in numbers now they want to squelch our voices just like other oppressive countries. We cannot be fooled we know exactly what is going on.
I will continue to donate to organizations like ACLU and Planned Parenthood.....and Democracy Now.
benld74
(9,904 posts)HoneyBadger
(2,297 posts)He claimed to be an anarchist and a journalist in a tweet yesterday. And that was the order that he listed them in.
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)other than being there.
Interesting that you focus on that one individual, HoneyBadger. Why not look up info about the documentary producer that also got arrested on the same spurious charges?
HoneyBadger
(2,297 posts)pnwmom
(108,973 posts)examples of his work as a photojournalist.
Took me about a minute.
https://twicopy.org/HuntedHorse/
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)No ones narrative is as subtle as we may believe. Our tells are much more obvious than we realize.
davekriss
(4,616 posts)Where in the constitution, or for that matter in district or federal law, is it said that to be "an anarchist and a journalist" is a crime?
IronLionZion
(45,409 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)leanforward
(1,076 posts)pnwmom
(108,973 posts)mopinko
(70,070 posts)repeat after me. they cant do that.
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)myrna minx
(22,772 posts)Mc Mike
(9,111 posts)dRumpf is definitely a nazi, and we can see where these bad cops' nazi proclivities work hand in hand with dRumpf. One hand washes the other.
A bunch of cops already wanted to go after reporters, legal observers, lawyers, all protestors, now they think it's open season. Their political orgs backed dRumpf.
dRumpf wanted all protest against him crushed, doesn't want to hear a peep out of his intended victims.
I hope they sue the PD for millions.
IronLionZion
(45,409 posts)They certainly targeted multinational chains and bank branches and left the local small businesses alone. They also smashed the more expensive cars and left the cheaper ones alone.
There are videos of what happened and they've shown it on the young turks and democracy now and others.
It's true that not everyone was a lawbreaker. But the lawbreakers were right amongst the peaceful protestors and wore masks so the cops just corralled them all and arrested them. It seems they are throwing the book at them to make an example and serve as a deterrent.
And the masks and sunglasses helped the anarchists against the tear gas and flash bang grenades. But the normal protestors didn't have that protection.
On the flip side, there were a grand total of 0 arrests during the women's march. I love women. Not a big fan of anarchists though. The one good thing I saw them do was sucker punch that Nazi leader in the face when he wasn't looking. They also helped an elderly disabled couple get away from the tear gas. That poor couple were probably wondering what the hell was going on. This is my city. Normal people do live here.
This was only Trump's first day. Remember him encouraging violence at his rallies. You know he can't wait to unleash his jackbooted thugs. Lots of Trumpers everywhere are itching to sign up to be brownshirts and punch some hippies.
neeksgeek
(1,214 posts)Watch out. Pay attention.
This is an insidious virus creeping through law enforcement.
If it goes much further, and the M$M stops covering it for their own protection, will critics and dissenters just start disappearing?
Edited to add the most important part: SPEAK OUT!