a little more info:
http://rawstory.com/2009/09/video-appears-to-show-us-troops-kidnapping-protester/
G20 cops dressed in camo ’snatch’ protester
By Muriel Kane
Friday, September 25th, 2009 -- 11:10 am
G20 security officials took responsibility Friday afternoon for a video that
seemed to depict US troops ‘kidnapping’ a protester.
The military was not involved in the incident, but G20 security did acknowledge
that “law enforcement officers from a multi-agency tactical response team” had
detained a protester they said was believed to be vandalizing a store.
Video posted at YouTube shows onlookers calling out “what the fuck” and “what
the fuck is wrong with you?” as people in camo uniforms haul a protester along
by his collar, shove him into the back seat of a car, and rapidly drive off..
Officials with G20 security released the following statement to Raw Story and
other media outlets:
Story continues below...
“Military members supporting the G20 Summit work with local law enforcement
authorities but do not have the authority to make arrests. The individuals
involved in the 9/24/09 arrest which has appeared online are law enforcement
officers from a multi-agency tactical response team assigned to the security
operations for the G20. It is not unusual for tactical team members to wear
camouflaged fatigues. The type of fatigues the officers wear designates their
unit affiliation.
Prior to the arrest, the officers observed this subject vandalizing a local
business. Due to the hostile nature of the crowd, officer safety and the
safety of the person under arrest, the subject was immediately removed from the
area.”
The video was featured this morning at the Drudge Report under the heading,
“SEE U.S. MILITARY SNATCH PROTESTER… .”
At the liberal website Democratic Underground, one commenter asserted, “This is
staged” and then claimed, “Those were not the uniforms National Guard/military
were wearing yesterday. Neither was that the vehicles they were driving. This
was just a bunch of idiots trying to make some point.”
According to news reports, “U.S. authorities assembled a security force of
nearly 5,000 people to safeguard the event, including 2,500 National Guard
troops, 1,200 state troopers, 875 Pittsburgh city police and small groups of
officers from other agencies.”
Police and National Guard troops headed off an unauthorized march by some 1000
protesters on Thursday and eventually forced the crowd to scatter.
The police reaction to the protests has been marked by what antiwar activist
Cindy Sheehan calls “profound overkill.”
“I have been to dozens of protests, large and small, since my son was killed in
Iraq, but I have never seen anything like today,” Sheehan writes. “There were
easily two cops/soldiers for every one of us protesters or maybe even 3 to 1.”
Sheehan also witnessed the National Guard troops working with the local police
and comments, “Seeing the National Guard troops, fresh from Iraq, broke my
heart the hardest. I also talked to dozens of them, none had ever heard of
posse commitatus, and asked them if my son, their brother, died in Iraq so they
could steal the rights of his mother. Most of them wouldn’t even look at me.”
These videos are from YouTube, posted September 25, 2009.
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