Halliburton protest in Houston -- review of police bad behavior

[SophieZ]

Cash Cow Gets Tipped
by Katie Heim

From the Free Press

And, posted at Houston Indy Media
Sunday June 05, 2005 at 03:52 PM
http://www.houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/40383.php

If we can accept the accounts of such political radicals as Paul O’Neill and Richard Clarke than it’s clear that the invasion of Iraq was planned as far back as the first days of the Bush administration. No single corporation has benefited more from this invasion than the mega-giant Halliburton. With the former head of Halliburton securely in the co-pilot’s chair, the nation was pushed toward war and huge no-bid contracts for Iraq. This move seemed to be one of many in which the US army would be used as a proxy for the establishment of corporate dominance over the world’s remaining oil reserves. Memos leaked from the White House make clear that the rebuilding of Iraq’s oil infrastructure was foremost on the war maker’s minds while they planned the invasion. Handing billions of tax payer dollars to Halliburton wasn’t a beast of necessity; it was one of the goals. The young men and women sent to defend “freedom” were just pawns in a global game of chess where profit motivation is synonymous with patriotism. These aren’t new revelations; war is good business and always has been.

It should come as no surprise to any of us then when the Houston Police Department on May 18th 2005 became a proxy army for Halliburton and The Four Seasons Hotel. Last year’s protest of the annual Halliburton shareholders meeting was a peaceful event. The only people arrested were five inside who chained themselves to a railing of the stairway, poured fake blood over their bodies and chanted until cut out by police. Outside close to 500 protesters sang, danced, drummed and did peaceful direct action. The protesters where there to shed light on the Arthur Anderson style accounting practices that had ripped tax payers off to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. They protested abuses of Halliburton employees, both US and foreign, and the use of soldiers to guard these employees which further endangers their lives. In the year that has lapsed since May 20th of 2004 all of these problems with Halliburton have become more apparent. From class war, racism, environment and global empire, Halliburton personifies the struggle of the people against the powers that be.

Protesters poured in from Austin, Dallas, New Orleans and San Francisco to blow the whistle on Halliburton’s corruption and greed at this year’s shareholder meeting. Halliburton’s image has taken a nose dive thanks in part to activists efforts, and they have had to spend millions of dollars on a public relations campaign to restore trust in the mind’s of the American public. Houston activists have turned up the heat in the last three months targeting Kellogg Brown and Root recruitment efforts, holding popular education sessions and a town hall meeting to bring to light Halliburton abuses. Battle lines were drawn before this month’s meeting. Halliburton had everything to loose should national attention be focused on another large protest.

The morning of May 18th began with dozens of officers, two riot buses for arrestees, and as many as thirty mounted police standing outside the Four Season’s Hotel at 6:45 a.m. for a protest that was to begin over an hour later. For the first time in Houstonian activist’s memory there was police in full riot gear, as many as fifteen by some accounts, armed with pepper spray. The lobby of the Four Seasons was filled with uniformed officers, undercover police and private security all to guard less than 50 shareholders. Eight activists including myself were arrested inside doing non-violent civil disobedience. Officers immediately resorted to using pain compliance to remove us from the hotel. One young woman, still a teenager, was repeatedly targeted and was drug from the staircase crying in agony. An undercover officer stood on the back of another protester in the lobby, refusing to identify himself or what agency he was working with. The age range of those inside the Four Seasons direct action was eighteen to sixty-five years old; this was a group of people committed to doing what they thought was right, putting themselves in a hostile environment where police almost outnumbered shareholders to shed light on greed and corruption.

As we sat on the bus awaiting transport to jail things on the street got out of control. Police were provoking anger, hassling onlookers for standing on sidewalks and pushing protesters up against the walls of buildings with their horses. There is speculation about the use of professional provocateurs to turn the heat up on the otherwise peaceful event. Protesters attempted to use de-escalation techniques, but to no avail. As the protest continued to move, some attempted to get near the Halliburton headquarters. This was met with charges by officers on horseback against people on the sidewalk and in the street. Protesters were pinned against the walls of the Four Seasons Hotel, being asked to move but there was no where to go. There are reports of an officer Forrester using baton, fists and profanities against the gathered group, this officer later admitted to one woman that he had lost control. Police tipped over a huge paper mache cow in order to stop it from crossing the street.

HPD targeted known organizers, pointing them out and shouting “Get HIM” to one another. Horses stepped on the feet of at least three protesters, injuring them and then officers refused to stop the mêlée so that these women could receive medical aid. One injured protester had to be moved twice to avoid being trampled a second time. Police also targeted anyone with a camera filming their shameful actions. Two videographers were arrested, their cameras retrieved by the crowd before they could be hauled off to the buses in handcuffs. All of the men arrested during this insanity were scraped, bruised and bleeding. As the protesters moved to the park across the street from most of the action police charged through the commons on horseback; another near miss for protesters and onlookers alike.

In all sixteen people were arrested at the Halliburton shareholder’s meeting protest. The police were prepared to cause chaos and disorder with their overstated presence and use of violence. Halliburton and the Four Seasons tried to marginalize our message by portraying us as thugs who thrive on mayhem. The only thugs present that day however were Halliburton, their shareholders, and their proxy army the Houston Police Force, who served and protected the interests of the rich and powerful at the expense of peaceful people exercising what is left of their first amendment rights.


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Mods - Katie gave permission to reprint here in full.

[dogday]

1. Hope they Rip The City Of Houston Police Dept A New One

Police did overreact to this protest.