Wading through the backlog of 'things to read' - this: --- Julia Thompson wrote: > Deborah Harrell wrote: > > > - as has been noted on-list previously - > > the scare tactics being employed by the current > > administration to erode civil liberties (re: the > > Patriot Act)... > > On that note: > > http://www.summitfreepress.com/S27story.htm > > About the "pre-emptive" arrests of some folks who'd > assembled to organize a protest; some media folks, > not participating but covering the > event, were arrested, as well.
If this is even partly true, it is an appalling development; what has become of the right of citizens to gather peacefully in a public place? Excerpts: "There were over 650 arrests that day. Very few arrests ended up with charges of civil disobedience or property destruction. Almost all were apparently for no cause. The following day the only property destruction reported by the police were two broken windows very early in the morning at a Citibank many blocks from the Pershing Square park... "I was loaded on the last of fifteen off-duty city buses that were filled to the brim with anyone that happened to be in the park . We were driven to a parking lot at the DC Metropolitan Police Academy in Southwest DC wherein I was kept handcuffed for 14 hours on the bus. It was 7 hours before we got any water, and then just 9 ounces. The police gave us no food. The only food we got in 12 hours was two sandwiches split between the entire bus of detainees. And that was the bus driver’s own lunch, who was not a police officer but a metro bus driver. "While held on the bus we asked repeatedly what the charges were against us. We were not given an answer. Our legal council from the National Lawyers Guild was not allowed to speak to us on the bus... "At 1:00 am I was processed into a holding facility which was a gymnasium with a wood floor and some old beat up gym mats. "Two hundred of us were held all night in the gym, half hog-tied all of the time. Our right wrist was handcuffed to our left ankle so you had to remain hunched over or stay in a ball... "For those who wore contacts, there was no eye drop solution or anywhere to put their contacts. Eyes were burning. No aspirin for anyone who got a splitting headache. No soap and water available after a bowel movement in the dirty port-o-pottys." Debbi Forwarding To Lawyer Friends For Comment Maru __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
