Video: New School Protesters Beaten, Arrested (Again)
B&H Photo Video Sued For Gender Bias
Person Fatally Struck By G Train At 7th Avenue Subway Station
16-Year-Old Confesses To Shooting That Caught Girl In Crossfire
Sexual Harassment On Subways An "Underreported Crime"
Police use pepper spray to break up a group of protesters during a rally at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul Monday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The Post has a funny editorial today about how St. Paul police could have avoided all "the ugliness that's marred the GOP convention this week" by taking some tips from the NYPD's "effective" management of the 2004 RNC protests. Of course, St. Paul officials did consult with the NYPD before the convention, and their raids on protesters' homes seem partly inspired by the NYPD's pre-convention spying in 2004. But according to the Post, demonstrators in St. Paul are now "pining for the apparently gentler tactics of the NYPD."
And furthermore! The Post says it's unfair how cops "took much heat from the lefties" after the New York RNC; after all, the mass arrest of over 1,800 demonstrators was the simply the only way the NYPD could "maintain control - so that lawful protesters could exercise their First Amendment rights." By that logic, St. Paul police need to kick it up a notch; they've only hauled in an estimated 300 people so far. Sure, looking for logic in the Post is a fool's errand, but you'd think the tabloid would at least be happy with all the rubber bullets, pepper spray and concussion grenades aimed at these "trouble-making morons." After the jump, some video of St. Paul's finest in action.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Great pic. Having been exposed to pepper spray in the past, I know that photographer had a terrible rest of the day.
Think for a moment about the concept of the flamethrower. Okay? The flamethrower. Because we have them. Well, *we* don't have them, the army has them. That's right. We don't have any flamethrowers. I'd say we're fucked if we have to go up against the army, wouldn't you?
George Carlin, RIP
You know what?
I watched the video.
I don't feel sorry for them.
Great, take advice from the NYPD who beats innocent people and takes out bikers just minding their own business. Yeah that sounds like a really good idea.
wow, that basically a video of the police unleashing a lot of weaponry on kids just standing on the sidewalk saying stuff.
so much for the reactionaries talking about vandals and rioters. who is it who's out of control?
You march on the cops like a bunch of douchebags, expect a beating.
Or, in this case, pyrotechnics. :D
"the ugliness that's marred the GOP convention this week"
They do a pretty good job of that themslves, right?
I've only seen one news program (ABC?) focus on the unsavory lobbyist parties that took place Sunday night despite McCain's reasonable request to tone it down during Gustav. Apparently one of the parties featured a band called "Hookers & Blow" (or something like that).
I'm waiting for the lawyers to sue (you burned my eyes... you ruined my $4,000 Digital SLR camera...)
A couple of bone-headed protesters, but obv THE PIGS are the ones out of control.
We can sit and let these "public servants" unleash military tactics on us or we can get organized and take our country back.
REVOLUTION 2009
Don't these "trouble-making morons" have jobs? Oh, excuse me . . . this is their job. What a bunch of jerks!
This is pretty tame stuff compared to the experience of protesters in China, Thailand, the West Bank, and Kashmir don't ya think? I really hope these kids to get too bruised up before their first day at NYU.
I don't see anything wrong with what the cops did in that video, nobody got hurt. The protesters attempted to go somewhere they weren't supposed to go, they were blocking traffic and the cops fired noisemakers at them, not "grenades" as the girl calls them. If it were a grenade that went off right next to her, she wouldn't be yelling "holy fuck," she'd be dead, and so would the cameraman. No firehoses, no batons, no tackling off of bikes, no arrests...noisemakers. Sounds like the best possible outcome to me.
gre·nade
1. a small shell containing an explosive and thrown by hand or fired from a rifle or launching device.
2. a similar missile containing a chemical, as for dispersing tear gas or fire-extinguishing substances.
Yes, they were grenades, asshole!
pay attention, morons. No matter the protest, the cops are going to spray you with chemicals and beat you with sticks. Wake up. This style of smashing protest will only raise the level of protest to a more aggressive level with a militant bent. The cops are the enemy of the people.
Do you call firecrackers grenades, too? My point is valid no matter what definition you want to pull out of the dictionary, but you have no good response other than to call me an asshole. Classy.
OK, yes technically a firecracker is a form of grenade. But these were not firecrackers being thrown --- they were very obviously grenade-like military-style weaponry. Classhole.
This is the typical reaction of 40-hr work-weekers... the protesters are wrong the cops are within their bounds. It's B.S. The cops are there to protect and serve. If there were protesters who were smashing windows or burning property, that is one thing. But in this case, the cops fired first with the rubber bullets. Then the protesters attempted to march toward the cops (dumb, but legal) and then all hell broke loose.
When are we going to stand up and take back our rights?
They may actually be "stun" grenades, though other reports are still calling them concussion grenades.
So not only do you hate law enforcement, but you have a problem with people who have regular jobs? Please tell me, NYCSniper, what sort of lifestyle will lead me to enlightenment? Skateboarding? Weed dealing? Revolutionary recruiter?
Marching toward the cops is obviously legal, but should the cops have waited until the marchers were belly to belly with them before they did anything? That's when people actually get hurt.
where's the weathermen when you need them.
Longacre, I was just making a comment about complacency.
When are YOU going to actually do something? When the cops are belly-to-belly with YOU?
Thing is, then it'll be too late. Get the flamethrowers.
And FYI, I don't hate law-enforcement. I am not an anarchist. I am an American in the tradition of Jefferson, Adams, Washington, etc. I believe we should be free and not under the strong arm of police or nanny states.
LIVE FREE OR DIE. VIVA LA REVOLUCION.
#21- Then go do something about besides commenting on Gothamist, Mr. "NYCSniper".
From that video, it looks like they just rounded up everone along the waterfront... that's pretty scary... it was a really small group of protesters...
The cops did a great job. These scuzzy little shitbag anarchists need a good ass whooping every now and then.
Yeah, those signs and banners looked dangerous.
Honestly, the strongest thing in that crowd was probably the smell of B.O. and patchouli and definitely not worth the cost in munitions.
They may smell bad but they are standing up to the bush dictatorship while you squeeze out your third puppy. Don't forget to spend a thousand bucks on the latest baby stroller, you robots.
I love how some of these yuppies commenting here really don't see how far gone this country is just from watching that video alone.
This is not what the founding father's vision of America was, these cops are basically tyrannical. Those kids were just protesting, when a few of the kids were walking toward the other side instead of the cops telling them they should not walk toward that area they *Instead* start *shooting* rubber bullets, tear gas et cetera (I am surprised they did not use tasers).
That's not Jefferson's America, that's Proto-Fascist Bush Regime.
The rhetoric is heated up, but the problem is that a lot of people see these protestors as dirty hippies, anarchists, etc. And the whole anti-Bush thing is painting the protestors into a corner. What we all need to keep in mind is, we didn't go from colonial America to now overnight. These are not all Bush's policies. Remember Waco? Elian Gonzalez?
A police state doesn't happen overnight and no one president causes it. It happens slowly, and because many people don't want to stand up to the police or cause a scene. Most will say, "C'mon man, it's not worth the trouble. You wanna spend the night in jail over this bullshit?"
The protester's (and my) point is that we shouldn't have to live in fear of the cops. We shouldn't be told what streets we can or can't walk down as tax-paying citizens. That is not freedom.
And to "The Edge": Why do I spend time posting here on Gothamist? Because I believe it is a way to rally people to the cause. We need to be organized. We need peaceful revolution. And we need to say loudly and clearly that we will not tolerate military tactics by police against citizens to whom they are supposed to "protect and serve".
I've said it before, I'll say it again....
REVOLUTION 2009!!!!!
One last thing: The pic at top says it all: Here's a guy with press badge CLEARLY VISIBLE, being "pepper sprayed" IN THE FACE by a cop. And that spray is no doubt damaging his equipment as well.
Remember: Adams, Jefferson, etc. stood up to the British who had MORE MONEY, MORE MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, and MORE MANPOWER. But they still won. We can too.
1) The cop seems to be aiming pepperspray DELIBERATELY at the press guy.
2) The use of force by police in all of the videos shown to date seems excessive and overreactive.
3) Does anyone here STILL believe all that crap about this being "the land of the free and yada yada yada"?
#31 apparently not, some of the comments here clearly *love* (that's because it has not happen to them yet) the path this country is heading.
And yeah, you can clearly see that the cop is aiming directly at the press guy.
What a letdown. I was hoping the anarchists would win this melee and then go on to take over the world and abolish government so we could all smoke pot. Damn.
We need a way to all get organized together, make a plan, and fight back.
Ideas?
Also, according to John Adams only 33% of the colonists supported revolution, 33% were against it, and 33% were uncommitted to either side (moderates?).
REVOLUTION 2009
revolution 2009? start now-move to Canada