police responses to occupy behavior.

[Josh Oakley]

UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Seattle, New York. All of these areas have experienced a clash between Occupiers and police. There is some question as to the appropriateness of police responses. In my city, Seattle, we have experienced this. Less than judicious use of pepper spray at an occupy Seattle movement put an 84 year old woman in the hospital, and caused a pregnant woman to miscarry. This thread is about the question of police use of force. Are police following procedures as they we expected to, or are some of them going maverick and making their own rules? Are the the procedures detrimental to the public good? Should they be changed? If you are an occupier, do you CARE what the policies are? As always, why or why not? And as always, let's do try and keep it civil. Nerf guns and borders only, please!

 

[Carol]

Well, the "pregnant woman" may not have been pregnant to begin with...
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Occupy-protester-with-miscarriage-claim-2293379.php

The 84 year old woman wasn't hospitalized, she got on her normal bus to go home. She was actually more concerned about being trampled. An interview with her is below...I thought it was interesting hearing her take on the movement as a whole. She called the pepper spray 'invigorating', and spoke about why activism is important to her. Agree or disagree, she tells an interesting story.

http://current.com/shows/countdown/videos/occupy-seattle-octogenarian-activist-dorli-rainey-on-being-pepper-sprayed-by-seattle-police-importance-of-activism

 

[Josh Oakley]

Well, the "pregnant woman" may not have been pregnant to begin with...
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Occupy-protester-with-miscarriage-claim-2293379.php

The 84 year old woman wasn't hospitalized, she got on her normal bus to go home. She was actually more concerned about being trampled. An interview with her is below...I thought it was interesting hearing her take on the movement as a whole. She called the pepper spray 'invigorating', and spoke about why activism is important to her. Agree or disagree, she tells an interesting story.

http://current.com/shows/countdown/videos/occupy-seattle-octogenarian-activist-dorli-rainey-on-being-pepper-sprayed-by-seattle-police-importance-of-activism

And this is why I shouldn't listen to hearsay/ take anything in The Stranger at face value.

 

[ballen0351]

Looks like it will be Philly and LA's turn next let see how this works out
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/27/9053619-deadlines-loom-for-occupy-philly-los-angeles

Members of the Occupy movement in Philadelphia say they expect some civil disobedience if protesters are forced to dismantle their encampment downtown.
Mayor Michael Nutter has set a deadline of 5 p.m. Sunday for demonstrators to remove their belongings. Some have agreed to, but not all. The city has not said what will happen if they do not.
Diane Ackerman, a member of the group's legal collective, says the movement itself will remain strong regardless of what happens. Occupy Philadelphia has been largely peaceful since it began. Despite a few dozen arrests, there have been no violent confrontations with police like elsewhere.
Philadelphia's eviction notice is unique in that protesters are being asked to move to make way for a construction project.
The movement has another deadline Sunday. Protesters in Occupy Los Angeles face an eviction deadline of midnight Pacific.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said on Friday that the Occupy LA protesters would be given until 12:01 a.m. on Monday to dismantle their tents, pack up their belongings and clear out -- or face forcible removal.

 

[ballen0351]

http://www.philly.com/
Live tweets from the occupy philly camp giving play by play so far nothing has happened they are past the deadline

 

[ballen0351]

Occupy Philly leaders tell protesters to hide weapons and drugs. lol

 

[granfire]

Occupy Philly leaders tell protesters to hide weapons and drugs. lol

<facepalm>

over tweets?!

 

[Makalakumu]

Here is where all of this is leading...

http://open.salon.com/blog/dennis_l...ining_manual_protests_are_low-level_terrorism

The Department of Defense is training all of its personnel in its current Antiterrorism and Force Protection Annual Refresher Training Course that political protest is "low-level terrorism."

And

And according to a law school professor, pursuant to the Military Commissions Act:

Anyone who &#8230; speaks out against the government&#8217;s policies could be declared an &#8220;unlawful enemy combatant&#8221; and imprisoned indefinitely. That includes American citizens.

​

Protesters are Enemy Combatants. It's pepper spray today, what does tomorrow bring?

 

[Big Don]

Here is where all of this is leading...

http://open.salon.com/blog/dennis_l...ining_manual_protests_are_low-level_terrorism



And



Protesters are Enemy Combatants. It's pepper spray today, what does tomorrow bring?

I doubt any reasonable person would consider patchouli scented douche bags terrorists, or enemy combatants. But, lunatics, conspiracy theorists, etc need something to get riled about.

 

[Xue Sheng]

In Albany...so far it is like this

> Governor (Cuomo) wants them arrested based on a curfew that teh city of Albany has in place... but they have not enforced in years
> Albany DA (Soares) says.....nope... I got better things to do
> Governor sends in the State police to arrest any of them that are found on state property after 11:00pm
(the city park the OWS people are in a city park that borders a state park)
> Albany DA response: OK but I have better thing to do so I will release them as soon as they arrive

Now the Governor has to decide whether or not to throw the entire thing to the Attorney General, which he has the power to do and therby get around the Albany DA

 

[ballen0351]

<facepalm>

over tweets?!

No over the loud speakers.
The reporter was live tweeting everything they were saying. They were also collecting Quarters because it takes $1 in quarters to make a call from jail so they were collecting quarters and handing them out to everyone that was planning to be arrested.

 

[ballen0351]

Crack downs occured in LA and Philly last night. 200+ arrests in LA and dozens of arrests in Philly

 

[Tez3]

Are the laws the same in every city? Would protesters doing the same things in different cities be charged with different offences or maybe not charged at all?

 

[cdunn]

Are the laws the same in every city? Would protesters doing the same things in different cities be charged with different offences or maybe not charged at all?

Laws vary widely, especially state to state.

 

[Empty Hands]

Are the laws the same in every city? Would protesters doing the same things in different cities be charged with different offences or maybe not charged at all?

Mayors and the local District Attorney also have wide discretion in how they choose to respond to the protestors, which laws to enforce or whether to enforce at all, and which charges to bring or not bring. So the personalities involved will also have a big impact on the response.