[Onthebarricades] US: Vicious repression of 4 July event

[Andy]

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo

http://tinyurl.com/2oqneh
Spokane
Celebrating, clashing over freedoms
by Jonathan Brunt and James Hagengruber
Staff writers
July 5, 2007

In the Inland Northwest, it was a Fourth of July to celebrate freedom -- 
or clash over the freedoms Americans have.

Under the Clocktower in Spokane's Riverfront Park, 17 people protesting 
police brutality were arrested about 6:45 p.m. as people gathered in the 
park for Neighbor Day and the annual firework displays.

Officers charged the group, which included self-proclaimed anarchists 
and other teens and young adults, after ordering them to disperse. One 
arrest was after what police say was an assault on an officer. 
Protesters dispute that.

Spokane Police Sgt. Jason Hartman said the gathering was halted in part 
because it was interfering with a nearby concert sponsored by Clear 
Channel Communications Inc. He noted that the protesters hadn't obtained 
a permit.

"It was interfering with their event," he said. The arrests "were based 
on their failure to comply with our order to lawfully disperse from the 
park."

Others saw it differently.

"They were assembled peacefully," said Jorgi Martin, who witnessed part 
of the protest. "They were having a picnic, just like everybody else in 
the park was having a picnic."

About 50 people, from a group calling itself Alternative Solutions and 
Possibilities and mostly dressed in black, had assembled next to the 
tower after marching through Peaceful Valley and downtown Spokane in a 
planned event.

While some in the group began to picnic, sitting on a large American 
flag, a few others held signs and distributed fliers. Some asked police, 
who were beginning to congregate around them, if they wanted a copy of 
their literature on police brutality. Officers declined.

Police soon began to assemble around the group, and a couple with 
cameras photographed those in the crowd, who responded by chanting, "We 
are not afraid." One officer began walking within a few inches of some 
protesters to take their pictures. A few protesters tried to block the 
camera with their signs.

A scuffle began, and a protester was taken to the ground and arrested. 
Police allege the male pushed and tried to choke the officer. Protesters 
said the officer shoved the man to the ground without provocation.

After the man was dragged off, more officers assembled, and remaining 
protesters stood tightly together holding a sign that read "Those who 
hold power must be targeted."

More officers gathered, and one read an order telling the protesters to 
disperse. Moments later, police charged the group, ripping down their 
sign and pushing protesters to the ground. Those who were arrested were 
forced onto their stomachs. Their hands were tied behind them with 
plastic ties.

Police and some working at the event formed a circle around those who 
were arrested. Periodically over the next half hour or so, police went 
into the crowd and dragged people into the circle to detain them. Many 
in the crowd cheered as police made arrests.

But the spectacle, which lasted for about an hour, also created a debate 
between those who felt police were overreaching and infringing on 
citizens' rights of assembly and speech and those who felt the 
protesters were desecrating the flag and disturbing the peace of those 
who were there to watch fireworks. Police broke up some of the debates 
that became overly heated.

Those arrested were taken to jail on charges of failure to disperse and 
trespassing. Hartman also said one was booked on charges of assaulting 
an officer.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/onthebarricades/attachments/20070707/23ef2476/attachment.html>