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An update on what's happening with protesters arrested during the Republican National Convention: There's a hearing scheduled for next week to see if the city should be held in contempt for "failing to promptly arraign hundreds of protesters" was postponed, in a small victory for city lawyers. Basically, this postponement allows the city's lawyers to explain why the city should not be held in contempt, in hopes that the case can be be thrown out. [Related: NY Times article on the issue] Civil liberties groups are disappointed, to say the least. Some protesters have already already accepted deals ("provisional dismissal" - arrest record is erased after six months) instead of going to trial. There had been a protest at Pier 57 last Saturday over police tactics, but over the weekend, the Mayor scoffed at these claims, saying, ""They broke the law. We will prosecute them. They might as well just plead guilty and go on. The city did what it was supposed to do. It protected the streets of the city and we did as good a job as we could, given the vast bulk of people who came here to get arrested." Taking into account the people who were arrested but not protesting, the Daily News reports the NYCLU as saying, "The mayor's comment reflects a disdain for the principle that people are innocent until proven guilty." And finally, some seized bikes were released last Friday after two weeks.
Check out Gothamist's week of convention coverage
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I love that fact that the "real deal" himself, President Bush is in town yet people are still whining/bitching/moaning about this.
You know, it would make sense to protest Bush himself.
I love that fact that the "real deal" himself, President Bush is in town yet people are still whining/bitching/moaning about this.
You know, it would make sense to protest Bush himself.
Hmmm, perhaps if you had been detained for 2 days without access to lawyer, suffered chemical burns, denied medical attention, forced to eat rancid food and then told that you weren't being released because they had to teach you a lesson and because they didn't want to you to be able to protest the RNC, you might have a different tune. And don't forget that many of those arrested were bystanders who obeyed the cops' directions, only to be hauled in illegally.
You have to be able to pick your battles. Enough people will be protesting Bush, I'm sure. But those whose rights were violated during the RNC probably can make a bigger impact by addressing the NYPD's conduct -- by protesting, speaking to their councilmembers, working with the NYCLU, suing the City, etc.
I find it interesting that some people contempuously view those who are fighting against the abridgement of their rights as "whining". In the grand scheme of things, was the NYPD's misconduct small potatoes? Yes, but not to those who were arrested. And you have to stop these things before they become a precedent, and then common practice.
I completely agree with Mike. Besides the fact that much of the protesting during the RNC was against Bush (no matter how muddled the message might have gotten at times), protesting is not always the end all be all answer to solving problems, or even bringing them to mainstream attention. In fact, it can hamper the cause if used inappropriately.
What exactly do you see as bitching and moaning, Dazzle?
Well, I suppose not all of us have such Balls of Steel that some People seem to think *they* do...
;)
Back on topic:
I wonder why they kept the Bikes so long? Um, is a Bike a Menace to Society? Or Does Mayor "Your-Arrested-You-MUST-Be-Guilty,-Scum!" Bloomberg Seek to Punish the Eevilll bikers?
Granted he's smoked Pot, so it is concievable he's still under the influence...
Mike whines about, "suffered chemical burns, denied medical attention, forced to eat rancid food."
Well, welcome to my world in construction. I don't get worker's comp and my life is probably worse than yours. I guess I don't have your time and financial security.
I mentally read that headline 6 times and now I have a headache.
I tried saying that headline 6 times and now I have a headache.
Corie, read what Jorge Ochoa has said. Many people have harder conditions to work in on a daily basis. So to hear the constant bitching and moaning about Pier 57 is sickening.
Also, I think the people who were caught up in the mess and not actually protesting. They have a case. They were falsely arrested. But if you're going to protest and engage the police in conflict, expect what you get.
The biggest claim--people other than the falsely arrested--have against the city is they were kept for over 24 hours. Outside of that the complaints of "chemical burns" and bad food are simply bitching and moaning. And the bitching and moaning--at least in the blog world--of predominantly privledged yuppies who have the time and resources to protest to begin with is quite enough.
You have a right to sue the city. You have a right to be upset. But the constant bitching and moaning. Go shove a bagel in your whine-hole already.
Rosa Parks never complained about how comfortable or uncomfortable her bus seat is. Grow up already.
So does that mean that Dazzle is ... still protesting protesting protester policing?
And at this protest, are the cops policing protesting protester policing?
Yeah, I'm a dork.
Corie, read what Jorge Ochoa has said. Many people have harder conditions to work in on a daily basis. So to hear the constant bitching and moaning about Pier 57 is sickening.
Also, I think the people who were caught up in the mess and not actually protesting. They have a case. They were falsely arrested. But if you're going to protest and engage the police in conflict, expect what you get.
The biggest claim--people other than the falsely arrested--have against the city is they were kept for over 24 hours. Outside of that the complaints of "chemical burns" and bad food are simply bitching and moaning. And the bitching and moaning--at least in the blog world--of predominantly privledged yuppies who have the time and resources to protest to begin with is quite enough.
You have a right to sue the city. You have a right to be upset. But the constant bitching and moaning. Go shove a bagel in your whine-hole already.
Rosa Parks never complained about how comfortable or uncomfortable her bus seat is. Grow up already.
Does the fact that some people's lives are harder than others mean that those people who were illegally detained or maltreated while in custody should just shut up and be thankful their existance isn't worse?! The right to stand up for your rights against mistreatment is something all Americans have [or, at least, used to have]. It's stupid and illogical to take the position that the protesters don't know how good they have it, so they should just grow up and go away. Maybe the point is that Mr. Ochoa should be fighting for his rights, not that other people shouldn't!
"Well, welcome to my world in construction. I don't get worker's comp and my life is probably worse than yours. I guess I don't have your time and financial security."
Maybe if the Republicans hadn't been doing their damnedest to erode the strength of unions over the past twenty years, you'd get your worker's comp.
and this:
"Rosa Parks never complained about how comfortable or uncomfortable her bus seat is."
makes absolutely no sense at all!
dazzle, you've got to be the loudest whiner i've read in these threads. you're at it again with ignoring what is actually said, making massive stereotypes and blanket statements.
jorge, bottom line is that these people were locked up longer than what is legal. that's the point here. you're picking out minor points and ignoring the issue. your tough job is your own problem... who's whining here?
Jorge, how can you accuse someone who was unlawfully detained of "whining" about it? Did you fail to notice that a judge placed the city in contempt of court for its treatment of the detainees? And then you have the nerve to compare jail to your JOB? Give me a break...you are the one deluding yourself, both in the comparison you make to your job and your denial that people have had their rights taken from them.
Furthermore, your assumption that protesters are so financially secure they can afford to go to jail is ludicrous. Did it occur to you that one of the reasons people were out there protesting is precisely because they couldn't afford not to? I'm one of Bush's 4 million uninsured, and, now, one of the unemployed, and I was out there protesting because Bush is ignoring the welfare of average citizens like you and me.
Regardless of what happens with litigation over the detentions, I think it's critical that NYC holds Bloomberg accountable for his attitude and conduct towards the protesters during and after the convention. How his tone has shifted since his pre-convention "we welcome everyone!" rhetoric. Now, we're all guilty in his mind, even though cases of bystanders being unlawfully arrested have been clearly documented.
Bloomberg needs to be replaced by someone who won't sell out his own constituency.
Speaking as an arrestee who spent 34 hours in police custody without being arraigned or being allowed to see an attorney, I will say that it's very simple: our rights were curtailed. Not our "privileges," as Bloomberg would refer to our freedom of speech, but our rights. To the
extent that people's rights were curtailed in Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib or even the poorer areas of the Bronx? No, and many of the people I've met who did do time in Pier 57 are making sure they remember that there are many people out there in New York and the rest of the country, mostly lower income, mostly non-white, for whom this sort of abuse of power is the norm, not the exception. But the fact that we could have had it so much worse does not make the NYPD's actions remotely acceptable; if anything, it's very likely a harbinger of things to come if we don't continue to keep putting the word out and keeping the buzz going.
Even if, as Dazzle puts it, what we're hearing is mostly "privileged yuppies" engaging in "bitching and moaning" about people who were given a taste of what a significant percentage of the population has to deal with on a daily basis (and that is a gross oversimplification on Dazzle's part; I've met and heard from people from all walks who were slowly squeezed through the system on a false charge that amounted to little more than the equivalent of a parking ticket), I still fail to see where the animosity comes from. Awareness has been raised, and if people who do have resources to keep "whining" and continuing to raise the issue continue to do so, I can only see this as a positive step toward reforming these police tactics that, as I understand it, have been going on since before Il Duce Giuliani took power.
Many if not most of the arrestees committed no crime -- I've met one who had no interest whatsoever in the RNC demonstrations and whose arresting officer told her in no uncertain terms that her crime was "being in the wrong place at the wrong time." I was preemptively scooped up en route to a protest and did everything I could to comply with the police's orders, one of which was to leave a public, otherwise unrestricted area outside of Bryant Park that was surrounded by police officers who allowed no avenue of exit.
It was a power play to curtail our freedom of speech, pure and simple. Could the situation have been worse? Absolutely. Those of us who are continuing to write about our experiences in our blogs and working to keep the story alive in the mainstream media are doing these things to make sure the situation doesn't get worse.
Yeah, Dazzle's post is ludicrous--because other people experience conditions worse than bad conditions the people in the bad conditions have no right to complain? Uh, okay. Remember, Dazzle, next time you're annoyed by stepping in dogshit--some people have no legs and would love a chance to step in some dogshit, so don't complain!