Claire McCaskill gets it that demonstrations last night were peaceful - contrary to major news media

[bigtree]

Last edited Sun Aug 17, 2014, 11:26 AM - Edit history (6)

Claire McCaskill @clairecmc · 14m
Once again,very small number of people last night looking for confrontation. 7 people arrested.Vast majority are peacefully using 1st Amdmnt.

Claire McCaskill @clairecmc · Aug 16
America, please don't hold small group of looters against hundreds & hundreds of peaceful protesters. Rather hold small group accountable.



chryssi @chryssi · Aug 14
.@clairecmc comforting a young protester in #Ferguson


Trymaine Lee @trymainelee (Journalist, Pulitzer Prize Winner. National Reporter @msnbc, formerly of HuffPost, New York Times and Times-Picayune· 8h
Alderman Antonio French said there were 50 or 60 protestors who dug in, that whatever the police fired burned.




Antonio French @AntonioFrench (Alderman of the @21stWard in St. Louis) 1h
From @nytimes: Police in #Ferguson Arrest Protesters Who Defied Curfew http://nyti.ms/1qgtMuc

Trymaine Lee @trymainelee · 8h
Alderman French: There was a small group that was adamant. Some of them were armed. "Some a rough bunch... that wanted to fight.

('armed' looks to me as a a consequence of MO law allowing that. Just my own opinion right now)

MORE @organizemo · 3h
5 out of 7 from this morning are out of jail. All were arrested after being dragged out of cars, some parked in own driveways. #Ferguson

KMOV @KMOV · 7h (about 2:30 am)
"No looting tonight that we know of," --Capt. Ron Johnson. #Ferguson #KMOV

stacia l. brown ‏@slb79 8m
Melissa is not playin'. She juxtaposed Cp. Johnson's promises of no tanks & gas last night w/footage of tanks & gas last night. #nerdland

Retweeted by Melissa @ MSNBC
msnbc @msnbc · 14m
"Another canister, and another." - @Trymainelee describes the scene as protesters defied curfew in #Ferguson http://on.msnbc.com/1mXLEJn

Trymaine Lee @trymainelee · 7h
Capt. Johnson says tactical unit and tear gas in response to reports of gunmen on top of restaurant waiting for officers to enforce curfew.

Umar Lee @STLAbuBadu · 8h
antoniofrench not arrested. Escorted out of area by police. #Ferguson http://instagram.com/p/ryiNl2FoLX/


In my own opinion (bigtree) the curfew was definitely the most threatening provocation

The citizens we witnessed in the several live feeds were peaceful and thoughtful - some were visibly angry, but that's never been a justification for violence against an individual or group.

We all saw folks just milling around, most complied with the curfew order, at least in that section of town. The ones who didn't were standing in the middle of one part of a street. Couldn't have been a hundred of them - looked from the distance the press were made to stand and the camera feeds we were watching to be about half of that number.

wsj:

Police also spotted an armed man in the middle of West Florissant Avenue, but he wasn't apprehended, Capt. Johnson said. A police vehicle was targeted by gunfire, but it is unclear whether it was hit, he said.

That's some sketchy justification for gassing them - incredibly denying gassing them at first, then admitting it when offered evidence in the form of spent canisters.


George Sells @GeorgeSells · 40m
Tear gas canister found on the side of West Florrisant Ave. @FOX2now #ferguson

That one group they attacked was very vocal, chanting and one woman with a mic. . . appeared on tape to be doing little more than loudly asserting what she was saying was her right to assemble (that's disputed by the Alderman above who was actually there) - maybe she didn't have a legal right to be part of a group in the street, or out side her home during the curfew, but she and the others who were bombed by the police were not 'warring,' the police were - against this relatively sparse group of what appeared to be mostly peaceful demonstrators.

No effort appeared to be made to arrest more than a few of them and that sounds more like a police assault (however one might justify it) than two warring factions there.

Before the police violence, it appeared that most of the people who had been doing little more than milling around the area, had left the scene completely - all except this one group which, from the distance of the images we could see on the live feed, looked to be no more than a couple folks deep and a street width wide.

here's another mnm account from @WSJ: One shot, seven arrested in Ferguson protests http://on.wsj.com/1AnxBFb

Cpt. Johnson tried to justify the use of smoke bombs by asserting that the crowd wouldn't disperse . . . so the fuck what? That's no reason to gas and smoke bomb demonstrators. It's the exact thing he said he wouldn't be resorted to. Johnson talks of responding to a disturbance , which looks to be mostly unrelated to the group, and the police who moved en masse toward the demonstrators didn't go anywhere else - the bulk of them went nowhere else except right at these demonstrators who were gathered in the middle of a street, not at the building he described.

The gunshot at(?) a police vehicle he described doesn't appear to have been proven to have come from this group.


Umar Lee @STLAbuBadu · 5h
Video of Protesters Gassed/Smoked in #Ferguson after curfew #MikeBrown #HandsUp:

[bigtree]

1. kick

. . . more detail in op. (updating)

[LisaL]

2. Somebody was shot, so I wouldn't exactly described it as peaceful.

Unless there is a new definition of peaceful I am not aware of.

[bigtree]

3. that doesn't look to be the pretext for the gassing - more like an after the fact justification

. . . pretext given this morning was that they had 'reports' of snipers on a building somewhere. It's not even clear if that building they describe as pretext for the bombing and gassing was anywhere near this group of protestors.


Trymaine Lee @trymainelee · 7h
Capt. Johnson says tactical unit and tear gas in response to reports of gunmen on top of restaurant waiting for officers to enforce curfew.

Trymaine Lee ‏@trymainelee
Police: "you are violating a state imposed curfew. You must disperse peacefully or face arrest or other actions"

[TriplD]

12. The gunshots happened in the chaos after the police fired teargas

So it turned out that firing teargas created the chaos that gave the gunman the cover necessary to shoot and then escape.

Isn't that the reason they didn't escalate things at the Bundy Ranch?

[bigtree]

14. that's a reasonable assumption, I think, TriplD

. . . and the reference to the Bundy ranch is a good and apt comparison.

[Fred Sanders]

4. The corporate media distorted Occupy, they will distort this also, it is what they do.

They want to generate fear and outrage, then they will cover it, always, it is the master plan, the prime directive.

Who watches peace, war, that is where the eyeballs are.

Peace negotiations in Cairo? What negotiations?

Do you see the massive coverage equal to when children were dying now that peace has a chance?

"Do not give peace a chance", is their song.

[jwirr]

5. I was watching the feed also.

[bigtree]

6. thanks for your eyes and ears

. . . very important resource, much appreciated.

[brooklynite]

7. Boy, don't you just hate those "DLC/Third Way" politicians?

[bigtree]

8. Some in Ferguson out after curfew felt . . .

Lewis E. Reed @PresReed (St. Louis City resident, President of the Board of Aldermen) 3m
Some of the young people who stayed in #Ferguson a little after 12 told me they were not there for any violence or looting.

Lewis E. Reed @PresReed · 10m
Some in #Ferguson after 12 felt civil disobedience is a historical necessity to change & did not aggressively confront police.

[Tommy2Tone]

10. We heard the same BS during the aftermath of Katrina

The national media was so fixated on roaming bands of blacks murdering people, they ignored what the police were doing and how no one in power was helping. Turns out is was all a lie, but some people still believe it.

Same thing here. The media is using non existent or over blown reports of looting to justify the strong arm tactics that have terrorized an entire community.

[bigtree]

11. interesting point, Tommy

. . . The majority of the major news media LEFT shortly before the curfew.

The media who remained, independent sources and others, were ORDERED to stand in a small 'zone' which was a good distance from the demonstrations and ORDERED to stay there or else subject themselves to arrest (or 'worse' as the bullhorn announcements by police repeatedly informed those gathered).

Most of what folks who watched those live feeds saw and have commented on has been confirmed by several sources (tear gas included, which was initially DENIED by police as being used) and much of the major news reports have included events and detail that was impossible for these reporters at the scene to witness up close or otherwise.

What are the sources, I wonder, for their information? Police?


Alex Howard @digiphile (Justice Reporter for @HuffPostPol.) · 1h
“All of us in the press pen were threatened with arrest if we left the area”—@ryanjreilly, #CNNreliable. Reminiscent of ‘free speech zones.’

[Tommy2Tone]

16. Law enforcement wants darkness

as in no cameras.

They can then do their will and that seems to be any damn thing they want.

[Tommy2Tone]

9. Police are there to protect and serve

They could start by protecting the protesters and local businesses. Instead of arresting peaceful protesters, they could arrest the small number of looters.

That would be serving the community and trust me, no one wants these looters to destroy property and businesses that serve their community.

[bigtree]

13. They had a free press zone

. . . they could have easily accommodated that relatively small number of demonstrators without resorting to violent attacks on them.

I find the justifications given by Cpt. Johnson stunningly unbelievable. I will note that I've had great admiration for his statements and conduct outside of those.


Alex Howard @digiphile (Justice Reporter for @HuffPostPol.) · 1h
“All of us in the press pen were threatened with arrest if we left the area”—@ryanjreilly, #CNNreliable. Reminiscent of ‘free speech zones.’

[TomCADem]

15. Where is Fox News and Hannity Describing Protestors as Patriots?

Heck, at the Bundy ranch, people displaying fire arms and manning militia style check points was described as patriotic demonstration.