Police break up anti-war meeting in Washington

[EV_Ares]

Mounted police charged in to break up an outdoor press conference and demonstration against the Iraq war in Washington on Thursday, arresting three people, organizers and an AFP reporter said. "The police suppressed the press conference. In the middle of the speeches, they grabbed the podium" erected in a park in front of the White House for the small gathering, Brian Becker, national organizer of the ANSWER anti-war coalition, told AFP. "Then, mounted police charged the media present to disperse them," Becker said.

The charge caused a peaceful crowd of some 20 journalists and four or five protestors to scatter in terror, an AFP correspondent at the event in Lafayette Square said. No one appeared to have been hurt. Three people -- Tina Richards, the mother of a marine who did two tours of duty in Iraq; Adam Kokesh, a leader of the Iraq Veterans Against the War group; and lawyer Ian Thompson, who is an organizer for ANSWER in Los Angeles -- were arrested, Becker said. The ANSWER coalition is trying to rally support for an anti-war demonstration in Washington that is due to take place on September 15.

Last month, the movement was threatened with a fine of at least 10,000 dollars unless it removed posters in the city announcing the September 15 march. Washington city authorities have said the posters had to come down because they were stuck on with adhesive that did not meet city regulations.

"At our demonstration today we were showing the media that the paste we use conforms to the rules," Becker said.

"One of our activists was making a speech when the police barged in and grabbed the podium. At that point, Tina Richards started to put up a poster, so they arrested her and two others." "This strategy of suppression has not worked. We expect many tens of thousands of people" in Washington for the September 15 anti-war demonstration, he said. The march has been timed to coincide with the release of a report by the US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and will be part of a week of protests led by veterans of the Iraq war. A petition calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush, allegedly carrying one million signatures and endorsed by former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, will also be submitted to officials during the week's activities, ANSWER has told AFP.

Link: http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Police_break_up_anti_war_meeting_in_09062007.html

[daninthemoon]

1. Is this the beginning, or is this the end? I sure haven't seen this on

MSM today. Seems pretty damn important.

[havocmom]

12. Sad that it took so long to show up here on DU.

I wanted to post it when I saw it after coming home and checking the news online. Decided to wait and see if it registered here at all

So sad for my country and so sad for DU.

[tuvor]

18. Light a candle or rue the darkness.

Go for the first option next time, if I may be so forward. Sometimes that's how things get started.

:)

[havocmom]

26. Generally that is what I do, but with all the Good Germans yesterday

pissin blood because some guy would DARE to NOT go along to get along at some electronics store, I bit my fingers, decided to do an experiment and just wait.

Results did not cheer me. People getting scattered by mounted cops - I remember that from my misspent youth ;) and the nation is coming back to that shit. Meanwhile a whole lotta DUers (many of whom I admired) are too busy advocating that Joe Citizen NOT stand up for his rights.

Gotta tell, ya tuvor, I am beginning to have a semi-serious crisis of faith. If it weren't for the offspring of some of my favorite people (here and in the material world) who deserve better than where we seem to be heading, I would wander off and let the fools reap what they sow with their complacency and fear.

[redqueen]

28. you're not helping with that "good germans" shit

fucking shameful

keep it up though

if your intention is to further divisions, it's fucking working!

[tuvor]

35. Thank you for clarifying, havocmom.

I appreciate the reply.

[Prophet 451]

39. Sod the candle, light a flamethrower! n/t

[Hissyspit]

21. Well, that's why it didn't get posted!

Because you didn't post it.

Babylonsister is on vacation. I was gonna try to monitor Rawstory today, but I was SOOO sleepy and tooks naps between teaching. I'm not sure where Kpete was.

DU doesn't du itself.

[snappyturtle]

29. Me too.....I got lost looking for dupes! There's always too much

to read.....but this is awful. I wonder what "they" have in store for the marchers on September 15th?

[havocmom]

43. Am a bit worried about the Air Force command stand down on the 14th too

:scared:
Any sort of exercise or stand down days when cheney is having trouble gives me the 'Oh noz!'

[Divine Discontent]

48. "decided to wait and see if it registered here at all"

No offense, but, what kind of thinking is that? Should I not have reported the Republican politician getting arrested for offering $20 to give an undercover cop a hummer the day it happened because I wanted to see if others would do it for me and be on the ball? If we all did that we'd never see anything. Take two and call me in the morning.

[Tom Joad]

15. bet amy goodman covers it on Democracy Now!

but don't expect many congressional dems to care about this.

[dickbearton]

42. The Nazi Bush, Cheney, and Corporate America only beginning...

to show it's face.

[baldguy]

2. $10,000 for "unauthorized adhesive"?

What makes me think that no adhesive would be "authorized"?

[Bobbieo]

3. It's happening and this is just the beginning!!!

[dogday]

4. K&R

[BlackVelvet04]

5. Time for some very public and large lawsuits. n/t

[havocmom]

14. meh, too busy whining about somebody insisting on protecting their rights

after shopping for electronics.

I was feeling guardedly optimistic, until today, this story and how friggin long it took to get posted here among us progressive activists.

:cry:

[superkia]

6. I think too many people are already afraid of the government.

We need to have massive turnouts to these types of demonstrations, they wont arrest 5000 people but they can sure scare and arrest some of a crowd of 50. I live in Maryland so I will be there for the 15th and I hope that it doesn't turn out to be a small showing because our rights are being taken away and we need to stand up for them before its too late. If not we don't deserve them! I know that the location has allot to do with who shows up but we are so overcrowded in the Md., D.C., Baltimore and Virginia area that we shouldn't have a problem with having enough people. That is if people are permitted to promote it. Some have work but our rights as citizens should warrant a sick day.

[Kip Humphrey]

7. Will you protest in the streets BEFORE or only AFTER Bush nukes Iran?

SEPT. 15th.

Washington, D.C.

or your local cityhall

or your state capital.

[ananda]

11. I'll be at my local city hall marching to the capitol.

I hope we have a huge turnout here in Austin.

And I hope there are hundreds of thousands in DC.

[LittleClarkie]

8. Right in front of the media. Brilliant

Have they learned nothing since Vietnam?

[The Vinyl Ripper]

10. But the MSM will not report it, so it didn't happen n/t

[snappyturtle]

30. I think that was a good part of the mounted police's message

to the folks in D.C. ...many were journalists! If the journalists got the "message" then there won't be much for coverage.

[havocmom]

44. Just a more refined version of that tank that fired at the hotel in Iraq where press stayed

A tad refined for the home crowd, but same damned message.

[snappyturtle]

46. I'd forgotten about that but you're right....same message. n/t

[tom_paine]

9. Ah, the Middle Phase of transition from Liberty to BushPutinist Tyranny

VIPR Teams and Behavior Detection Officers, oh my!

Yes, it has only just begun...look to the past and the Old Nazis to see where our Kinder and Gentler Nazis, the Bushies, are taking us.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Lovely., really... folks its just the begining

[tuvor]

16. You'd think this would've been youtubed....

What with this being the 21st century and all.

[Hissyspit]

20. VIDEO Here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x52589

[tuvor]

22. Thank you, Hissyspit!

[The Count]

37. Wow! This is a whole new level of repression that just started!

I remember the DC police at previous marches being actually nice to us.

[Divine Discontent]

41. well, that's good,

but there can always be a few boot lickers in every crowd... who knows what connections these few have there in DC, and who ordered them to do this - or if they just got a tad obnoxious just for the hell of it...

[havocmom]

17. Kick

:kick:

[Hissyspit]

19. Photos Here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1752639

[spanone]

23. wake up america......wake up

[Forkboy]

24. Depressing K&R

[LiberalEsto]

25. The goddamned DC mounted police

and all the other blasted Capitol police, park police, and DC police a are a bunch of bloodless, soulless monsters. They were like that in the Vietnam era too. I remember how they smiled as they knocked down and clubbed innocent passers-by during the May Day demos in 1971.

My husband and I got trapped on a side street during one of the anti-Iraq war demonstrations a couple of years ago. There was a line of cops in riot gear at each end of the block, and a couple hundred protesters. Most of us were ordinary looking middle-aged adults, and we weren't doing anything except walking. In fact most of us had split off from the main march and were heading to a Metro station to go home. The commanding officer -- you could see the lust in his eyes to have his boys club the daylights out of us. There was no way to escape. Chief Ramsey arrived, and it looked for a while like he was going to order us all arrested. For what, I don't know. Then some kind of media arrived, and after a tense hour or two, the cops (I honestly think the old term "pigs" applies to this bunch) reluctantly allowed us to leave. I think the media saved our butts.

I'd like to know more facts -- who were the arresting police in this latest instance, and what law did they cite in breaking up up the news conference?

I hope the victims sue the crap out of whichever police agencies were involved in this.

[ananda]

27. Yes, sue both the persons and the institution.

I want the pd to pay, and each cop.

[rox63]

31. Should I bring bail money with me to DC next week?

Or maybe body armor? :scared:

[LiberalEsto]

32. Have a trusted family member or friend

ready to post bail if you need it. That's what I'd suggest. However, I've never been arrested, so far.
Anyone here who has been arrested in DC and knows the procedure?

[dickbearton]

45. During Vietnam, they were pigs...

Now they are Gestapo pigs.

[Golden Raisin]

33. The Founding Fathers would be so proud.

[bhumikag]

34. this government sickens me!!

u are right..founding fathers would be so proud of this government that fears it's people exercising their constitutional rights..a government that sends mounted police force to disperse a "crowd" of 10-20 people..sickens me

lets hope Petraeus suggests troop withdrawal and slowly this illegal war would end

bhumika
politics desk,the newsroom

[The Count]

36. Wasn't the posters chicanery startred by Faux? Found a source:

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/363488.shtml

In an unprecedented action, the ANSWER Coalition today received citations fining the organization $10,000 for the placement of posters announcing the September 15 March on Washington DC. The fines come after a campaign led by
FOX news calling for the DC government to take action against those putting up posters for the September 15 demonstration.

[mogster]

38. Thanks for this news

I posted it back home, and added some paragraphs.
--------------------
As the ANSWER coalition and many other peace organizations are preparing for a large demo the 15th of September in Washington DC, the September 11th anniversary is adding to the tension in an eerie way, with Bin Laden now doing American politics, promising to address the nation on the anniversary day of the 911 horror. General Petraeus, now in charge of the American troops in Iraq, are supposed to put forward his report on the situation in Iraq on the same day.
In addition, word is out that USNORTHCOM is planning an excersise for a martial law scenario in October.

It is a difficult daily life for ordinary Americans these days; already under strict surveillance by the Bush government through wiretapping programs and restriction of free speech like in this incident, they now face -- on the six year anniversary of the supposed terror attacks -- the very man thought to be the perpetrator mocking them by addressing the nation, still free at large.

Trust in the government is plummeting in the wake of harsh rethoric against Iran from mr. Bush, now lone leader of a fast shrinking 'Coalition of the Willing' after Britain's troop withdrawal.

Tension will be high on the 15th this month.
--------------------
http://www.iterapi.com/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=49&art=347

[cui bono]

40. "adhesive that did not meet city regulations"

What a load of bullcrap.

:grr:

I wonder if they inspected all that duct tape we're supposed to use to seal our windows.

[Bonescrat]

47. In the video she (Tina Richards) says...

she says as she's putting up the poster with wheat paste (the apparent adhesive used)

"This is wheat paste which is water soluble and in compliance."

Sounds to me like they were aware of the law and acted accordingly specifically choosing a "compliant" adhesive.

(edited for slightly incorrect quote)

"A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

[MasonJar]

49. Inundate the Congress. This is unacceptable, as is a martial law exercise.