Police State: Let's Get the Facts Straight

Submitted by Ruth Fowler on

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Facts so far are: a ruthlessly efficient miltary operation comprised of 1400 riot cops armed with tear gas canisters and batons was roundly praised by the mainstream media as "peaceful'. This ignored the police brutality witnessed including beatings, unlawful arrests and rubber bullets used on protestors and media, while the legitimacy of the second 'unlawful assembly' called at First and Main, and resulting in numerous more arrests, is still called into question. A media pool was established covertly, citing non-existent penal codes to silence the press, while media in the pool were working for the LAPD.


Update No. 4: So KCAL9 was running an awesome aerial live stream of the massive deployment of 1,000-plus LAPD officers from Dodger Stadium to City Hall. But then -- get this -- they reportedly stopped the stream because they had "made an agreement with LAPD not to reveal their tactics," and wanted to protect the integrity of the operation.

The Mayor and LAPD appeared on CNN Live to deny all this, naming my blog and saying that it was untrue. Meanwhile, the 292 arrestees' bail was set extortionately high at 5k. Our TRO was thrown out of court as the judge claimed Carol Sobel of the National Lawyers' Guild had not filed in time.

The next day, Occupiers returning to the West Steps of Solidarity Park from Pershing Square were surrounded by riot cops who seemed on the verge of making arrests. Once they dispersed and our General Assembly of approximately 300 people commenced, Occupiers were told by the fifty or so remaining police oficers surrounding City Hall that if we did not disperse by 10.30pm, they would call unlawful assembly and arrest us again. All arrestees released on OR today were warned that if they returned to City Hall, they would face arrest. A source from the mainstream media sent me this email:

Civil Rights Attorney Cynthia Anderson Barker says: "One condition of OR release is a stay away order from City Hall. We can fight that as the case proceeds."

Forty Occupiers outside the City Metro Jail on Los Angeles and Temple, waiting to greet the arrestees this evening, were again surrounded by around fifty policemen despite being peaceful.

As the numbers of Occupiers across America who have now been jailed, tear gassed, beaten and subject to intimidation and violence in reaction to their peaceful protests reaches into the thousands., the Senate just passed a bill that allowed indefinite detention of American citizens living within the US.

They are afraid of us. They are fighting us. That means we are winning.

10 Comments

Ruth, this is called extra-judicial punishment, meaning

Submitted by charliehbryan on

it happens outside the confines of due process and is therefore extra-constitutional, i.e., one of the hallmarks of a nascent police state.

I have blogged about it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&add...

and here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/02/1041721/-Occupy-Los-Angeles-Rai...

With enough noise, our narrative can overpower the false narrative coming from Villaraigosa and his Junta.

Warm regards and bravo\brava!

Charles

I'm not understanding

Submitted by Supersean on

I'm not understanding elements of this. I don't understand how the LAPD policy of embedding journalists that would have access to the inside of the park has anything to do with the lack of media covering the unfortunate arrests that happened outside of the park.

Is the idea that the LAPD set up a distraction at City Hall Park so they could mistreat people 2 blocks away without any cameras present?

Its been reported that 292 were arrested and only 6 will be arraigned, that seems like a pretty small number to me. Not to mention that one of those arraignments was of a gentleman arrested on the north steps that was not ignored by the media, but rather had his arrest carried live on TV. I'm guessing another of the 6 arraignees will be the treehouse guy who clearly resisted arrest. Who are the other 4? I don't know, but the number is so low it hardly warrants the characterization of  'police state'.

The issue of the bail amount also troubles me. Those arrested are making the claim that the bail amount was set higher than it had been for similar offenses in the past. I can't disagree with that, but I'd hasten to point out that Trutanich is in charge now and is by no means limited by the bail-setting policies of his predecessors. I think the arrestees found this out the hard way.

And as far as KCAL having a deal with the LAPD goes, are we actually surprised that a mainstream media outlet would cooperate with the local police?

You're being willfully blind. Ruth's blog entry here continues

Submitted by charliehbryan on

and supplements an earlier blog entry ("That's Why They Had the Media Pool") and both of her blog entries are now being supplemented by first-person accounts of arrestees who have been released.

Arrestees were left to sit on buses for 7-8 hours, forced to urinate upon themselves for lack of access to bathroom facilities. Credible accounts have surfaced of arrestees in grievous need of medical attention or access to prescribed medicines being denied access to both.

Arrestees were held without their attorneys being allowed to contact them, in holding faciltiies where phones did not work. In other words, arrestees for all practical purposes were 'disappeared' by law enforcement.

I'm sure you'll be able to make excuses for these police behaviors too. Some people simply don't recognize a police state until it ensnares them personally.

Not at all Charlie. The

Submitted by Supersean on

Not at all Charlie. The treatment of the arrestees is no different than normal, I'm not saying normal is good or right. The arrestees just got a crash course in how its always been, its the complaining about it that I'm taking issue with.

Welcome to it Occupiers, things aren't the way they're supposed to be, they are how they are. My point is just to remind all of us again that victimhood is not a good look when you're trying to win people over to your side. Symapathy is overrated.

That's funny, Supersean, as you seem

Submitted by charliehbryan on

to be the only person who is claiming that what Occupiers were experiencing was just par for the course. The National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU have both cried foul about the LAPD's and Sherriff's Department's treatment of Occupiers in detention and the excessive bails. So, given that so many agree with my position and so few share yours, one is fully entitled to ask exactly where your sympathies and loyalites lie, with Occupiers or with a power establishment that will stop at nothing, including extra-judicial punishments, to try to  destroy the Occupy Movement. Judging from the tone of your missives, I suspect it is the latter. Which brings up the interesting question of exactly what you are doing posting here and why.

You're looking to the wrong

Submitted by Supersean on

You're looking to the wrong folks to inform your opinion. Try asking the homeless or young black and brown men how far 'by the book' is from reality.

I've been posting here for about 6 weeks now, I'm a supporter.

Maybe I'm just not being

Submitted by Supersean on

Maybe I'm just not being clear. Organizations like the ACLU and NLG are in the business of finding fault with the legal process, and there's lots of fault to be found. My point was that 'abuses' by police are common and the arrestees shouldn't feel like they got some kind of special treatment.

I think its important to put all the claims of police brutality in context. It exists, its not new, and the situation is better now than it ever has been in Los Angeles. Just think, if folks have a problem with Charlie Beck's LAPD then their heads would have exploded under Daryl Gates'!

Lastly, is this what the Occupy movement is about? How does all of the focus on police abuses further the goals of Occupy? How is all of this 'playing' to the general population that we still need to get on our side?

I appreciate your responses Charlie (except the part where you question my motives for posting). Personally, I always start with the way things actually are and make changes from there, I think its more effective than starting with an idea of how things should be and trying to shape reality to fit. Think about it.

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"A media pool was established

Submitted by Mahayana on

"A media pool was established covertly, citing non-existent penal codes to silence the press, while media in the pool were working for the LAPD. "

Mario Brito attended this secretive meeting the morning the camp was raided. Has he had any input into this? I always see him being interviewed on television or in the newspaper. This seems like it would be something important he would weigh in on considering he has those inside connections and was actually at the meeting between the police & media.

The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves - in their separate, and individual capacities. -Abe

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