Chicago, IL — After holding NATO protesters for up to 48 hours, and releasing 6 out of 9 arrestees without any charges, the City of Chicago filed state charges last night against 3 Occupy activists from Florida, including possession of explosives or incendiary devices, material support for terrorism, and conspiracy. On Wednesday night at approximately 11:30pm, police raided a house in the Bridgeport neighborhood, detained several people in multiple apartments, and arrested 9 activists. Police broke down doors with guns drawn and searched residences without a warrant or consent.
Andover Patch: Breaking News Alert
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? We the people are, apparently.
Hear ye, hear ye!!
The First Circuit Court of Appeals—the highest federal court for New England just below the U.S. Supreme Court—last Friday handed down a ground-breaking decision defending our right to videotape the police and other public officials as they engage in their official duties—including when, as in this case, the cops appear to be beating a man on the Boston Common.
read more
Audioboo / Peter Beaumont on pitch battles between police and protester on the Kassr Nile bridge #Egypt
I know it seems absurd that anyone would think that police shouldn’t have to have reasonable grounds for shooting unarmed citizens full of electricity whenever they choose, but the law is not clear. But as has been documented thousands of times now, police are not using common sense or good judgment and are often using the device as an instrument of torture in a punitive and coercive way. This ruling is a step toward making police stop using these things just as they were previously stopped from indiscriminately using billy clubs. It’s abuse of power and no free society should allow their authorities to use such violence on its citizens unless they are protecting themselves or others.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
(“This is a phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal, which is literally translated as “Who will guard the guards themselves?” It is also sometimes rendered as “Who watches the watchmen?”)
People will tell you that this is the job of the Fourth Estate. But is the Fourth Estate doing its job? How does it respond to the challenge of the netroots?
azspot:
The ACLU of Maryland is defending Anthony Graber, who potentially faces sixteen years in prison if found guilty of violating state wiretap laws because he recorded video of an officer drawing a gun during a traffic stop. In a trend that we’ve seen across the country, police have become increasingly hostile to bystanders recording their actions. You can read some examples here, here and here.
However, the scale of the Maryland State Police reaction to Anthony Graber’s video is unprecedented. Once they learned of the video on YouTube, Graber’s parents house was raided, searched, and four of his computers were confiscated. Graber was arrested, booked and jailed. Their actions are a calculated method of intimidation. Another person has since been similarly charged under the same statute.
The wiretap law being used to charge Anthony Graber is intended to protect private communication between two parties. According to David Rocah, the ACLU attorney handling Mr. Graber’s case, “To charge Graber with violating the law, you would have to conclude that a police officer on a public road, wearing a badge and a uniform, performing his official duty, pulling someone over, somehow has a right to privacy when it comes to the conversation he has with the motorist.”
(via digby)
You’ve heard the “official story” from the mainstream media, for which “if it bleeds, it leads.” Now hear the activists’ view.
World leaders have started arriving for the G8 and G20 meetings amidst a massive security crackdown that will mark the most expensive three days in Canadian history. Large swaths of Toronto’s downtown core have the appearance of a police state, with an estimated deployment of over 19,000 security personnel—nearly five times the number at the G20 in Pittsburgh last year. The security price tag is around $1 billion, and some predict the total summit cost will surpass $2 billion.
read more
…the law means that “Arizonans are now living in a world where police may impound vehicles transporting anyone found to be an undocumented immigrant, which means that Arizonans who don’t check the papers of the kids they drive to Sunday school may now be engaging in illegal activity.
