Police State
Sep 5th, 2008 at 11:55 am by Maya
Looks like the detention centers in Minneapolis are filling nicely - they’re up to around 800 detainees now - the cops are doing a heckuva job with their pre-emptive strategy. People are being denied access to needed medical attention, and kids are being sentenced in adult jails. And for some strange reason they keep ignoring media creds, especially for photographers.
Coldsnap legal collective recommends that you call the following offices:
* St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (651.266.8510)
* Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher (651.266.9333)
* County Chief Judge Gearin (651.266.8266)
And demand the following:
* Immediate medical attention as needed for ALL arrestees;
* That the prisoners who haven’t given their names (Jane, John, and Jesse Does) have access to group meetings with a lawyer;
* Dismissal of all charges; and
* Release of all minors.
Too bad this won’t get more coverage.
“And for some strange reason they keep ignoring media creds, especially for photographers.”
that is a VERY big mistake on the part of the cops. Reporters have this thing called “memory”, especially with regard to the names and faces of people who have pissed them off. if they’ve fucked with anyone from the Star-Tribune, there will be backlash.
Look what they did to Amy Goodman. Now that’s all over YouTube.
According to Democracy Now, the RNC has already agreed to pay St. Paul ten million dollars if the city gets hit with a large number of lawsuits over this like New York did four years ago.
Just fantasizing a little:
800 detainees times an average settlement of $25K means a total of $20 mill. I wonder if the Repugs would make up the difference, or leave it as an unfunded mandate for St. Paul.
Let’s hope that a few major MSM outlets are affected by this — we might get some reporting on it.
When reporters were attacked in Olympia, WA, during a Port Militarization Resistance action, things didn’t quite happen as we expected.
The port had been shut down for over 18 hours, and completely controlled by protesters seeking to stop the export of more weapons to Iraq. The riot police moved in and violently broke the blockade. In the process of doing this, they targeted independent journalists with impunity, and one photog from the local rag, “The Olympian.”
Those of us on the ground imagined that The Olympian would have to report on police violence considering one of their own wound up a subject of said violence. Instead, in the following days, the paper published an editorial denying that this photographer had been hit by pepper spray, and further denying that he received any assistance from our medics. That was ridiculous (and countermanded by photographic and video evidence), but the editor insisted.
The paper continued to make clear its editorial bias against specific protesters, the very idea of protests, and their bias in favor of the police (who, according to The Olympian, can do no wrong). The photographer was pissed, and that was that.
Just a thought.