ACLU decries use of force by police at Bush event

[housewolf]

ACLU decries use of force by police at Bush event

A response to a Jacksonville protest, lawyers contend, is an ominous example of burgeoning militarization
Friday, January 07, 2005
BETH QUINN

MEDFORD -- The force riot police used last fall against a crowd of peaceful demonstrators protesting a presidential visit was one of the worst examples nationwide of the growing police militarization since Sept. 11, 2001, civil liberties advocates said Thursday.

When police wearing face shields and body armor moved without warning against a crowd of 200, they struck six people with batons and five others with plastic balls fired from rifles, said three lawyers who investigated the Oct. 14 incident in Jacksonville for the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Dozens more became ill when the plastic balls released pepper spray, the investigators said. The crowd was made up of mostly middle-age people, but also included at least 20 children, elderly people and local residents who were passing by, protest organizers said.

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Police didn't ask organizers to move the demonstrators and didn't give people time to get out of the way after issuing a bullhorn order to disperse that most in the crowd couldn't hear because of the roar of a helicopter overhead, the investigators said.


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