stfuconservatives:

(trigger warning for police brutality)

raveybird:

anonmedics:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/david-graeber-new-police-strategy-in-new-york-sexual-assault-against-peaceful-protestors.html

A few weeks ago I was with a few companions from Occupy Wall Street in Union Square when an old friend — I’ll call her Eileen — passed through, her hand in a cast.

“What happened to you?” I asked.

“Oh, this?” she held it up. “I was in Liberty Park on the 17th [the Six Month Anniversary of the Occupation]. When the cops were pushing us out the park, one of them yanked at my breast.”

“Again?” someone said.

We had all been hearing stories like this. In fact, there had been continual reports of police officers groping women during the nightly evictions from Union Square itself over the previous two weeks.

“Yeah so I screamed at the guy, I said, ‘you grabbed my boob! what are you, some kind of fucking pervert?’ So they took me behind the lines and broke my wrists.”

Actually, she quickly clarified, only one wrist was literally broken. She proceeded to launch into a careful, well-nigh clinical blow-by-blow description of what had happened. An experienced activist, she knew to go limp when police seized her, and how to do nothing that could possibly be described as resisting arrest. Police dragged her, partly by the hair, behind their lines and threw her to the ground, periodically shouting “stop resisting!” as she shouted back “I’m not resisting!” At one point though, she said, she did tell them her glasses had fallen to the sidewalk next to her, and announced she was going to reach over to retrieve them. That apparently gave them all the excuse they needed. One seized her right arm and bent her wrist backwards in what she said appeared to be some kind of marshal-arts move, leaving it not broken, but seriously damaged. “I don’t know exactly what they did to my left wrist—at that point I was too busy screaming at the top of my lungs in pain. But they broke it. After that they put me in plastic cuffs, as tightly as they possibly could, and wouldn’t loosen them for at least an hour no matter how loud I screamed or how much the other prisoners begged them to help me. For a while everyone in the arrest van was chanting ‘take them off, take them off’ but they just ignored them…”

How. 

socialistictendencies:

The death of a Bronx man who suffered a fatal asthma attack after cops pepper-sprayed him has been ruled a homicide by the city medical examiner.

An autopsy found that Kemp Yarborough cause of death was by“acute bronchial asthma attack during a physical altercation including pepper spray,” the city medical examiner told….

More at link

http://rt.com/usa/news/death-pepper-yarborough-nypd/

(Source: occupyzigbe)

ALERT from Occupy Portland

ALERT! A man named Justin James Bridges, musician & ASL translator for Occupy Portland General Assembly, was assaulted by @PortlandPolice today during camp clean out.

He was beaten repeatedly in the back and has now lost use of his right arm. Though Justin was lying on the ground in compliance, Portland Police continuously beat him in the back with clubs until his eyes rolled back in his head. Fellow protesters thought he was dead. He is now in critical care.

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION, ESPECIALLY PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE, DO NOT HESITATE TO COME FORWARD. National Lawyers’ Guild # 503-902-5340. Protect rights, protect the truth.

Please share. And if you have info or evidence, for the sake of justice, come forward.

(Source: twitlonger.com)

thedailywhat:

Photography Is Not A Crime of the Day: Just when you think the Oakland PD’s response to Occupy Oakland couldn’t get any worse, a new video emerges to prove you wrong.

YouTuber antiprocon writes:

While filming a police line at Occupy Oakland after midnight on Nov. 3 following the Nov. 2 general strike, an officer opens fire and shoots me with a rubber bullet. I was standing well back. There was no violence or confrontations of any kind underway.

The incident starts @ 0:31, when a tall police officer can be seen raising his rifle. Moments later a shot is heard, followed immediately by a clearly visible smoke trail.

[tp / thanks anon!]

(Source: thedailywhat)

cognitivedissonance:

The photo above, taken by Jay Finneburgh, shows Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen being carried away after he was struck in the head by a tear gas canister thrown by Oakland police during last night’s raid on Occupy Oakland.

Video shot at the scene shows police throwing a flash grenade into the crowd as other protesters rush to help him:

Olsen did two tours of duty in Iraq and is a current member of Veterans for Peace. He’s now listed in critical but stable condition with swelling of the brain and a skull fracture. He is also on a respirator due to the doctors sedating him in order to evaluate the possible injury to his brain.

From The Guardian:

Keith Shannon, who served with Olsen in Iraq, arrived at the hospital after protesters contacted him through Facebook. He confirmed Olsen had a fractured skull, and said he had been told by a doctor Olsen also had brain swelling. A neurosurgeon was due to assess Olsen to determine if he needed surgery, Shannon said.

“It’s really hard,” Shannon said. “I really wish I had gone out with him instead of staying home last night.”

Shannon, who is also 24, said he had seen the video footage showing Olsen lying on the floor as a police officer throws an explosive device near him. “It’s terrible to go over to Iraq twice and come back injured, and then get injured by the police that are supposed to be protecting us,” he said.

This is utter brutality. Scott Olsen enlisted in the military, fought for the U.S. in combat, and is thanked for it with a severe head injury while defending his fellow citizens from police action at home. Veterans for Peace have stood with numerous camps, including Boston, where elderly members were beaten by police.

In Oakland, despite police using multiple rounds of tear gas, flash grenades, rubber bullets and beanbag projectiles on protesters, they remained peaceful. Police denied the use of tear gas initially, but confirmed it at a press conference today. It was also claimed this started because a protester threw a rock at police, while Oakland Mayor Jean Quan stated the raid was because of “unsanitary conditions” and “ongoing vandalism” happening because of Occupy Oakland.

As for police denying the use of flash grenades and rubber bullets, the video above shows use of the flash grenade, and here’s a rubber bullet picked up by a demonstrator:

How long will this police aggression against unarmed, peaceful protest be allowed to continue? Scott Olsen is merely one of its victims. We, as citizens, must demand an end to the vicious crackdown at occupy protests across the nation. Remember, be peaceful, but stand resolute.

The tides are moving in favor of occupy movements. For example, Occupy Cleveland just won the right in federal court to occupy a city park around the clock. The judge wrote the demonstrators of Occupy Cleveland had their First Amendment rights violated and ordered the city to grant the protesters a permit.

Solidarity forever, my friends. Do not let the police scare you away.

occupywallstreet:

Oakland PD throws exploding gas canister into group helping an injured protester at OccupyOakland

Holy fucking shit.

Watch this.

Right fucking now.

occupywallstreet:

On January 29, 2011, Hillary Clinton told Hosni Mubarak: “We urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests.” 

On October 25, 2011, Oakland Police told peaceful protesters: “I hereby declare this to be an unlawful assembly. If you refuse to go now, chemical agents will be used.”

occupywallstreet:

Veteran shot in the face by rubber bullet at Occupy Oakland protests

occupywallstreet:

Thousands gathered in front of Oakland’s City Hall this evening in response to last night’s violent police invasion and destruction of Occupy Oakland’s camp.

Tonight, police have again used tear gas, flash grenades and rubber bullets to forcefully disperse the lawful assembly by Oaklanders. Some injuries have been reported. We will have more information as it becomes available.

At this time, this appears to be the most violent police attack on protestors since the Occupy movement began.

occupywallstreet:

VIDEO 3: In Belgium, a plainclothes police officer kicks an “indignant” protester associated with the Spanish movement full-on in the face during an occupation of a bank there. The police officer was later arrested. This is the difference between police brutality in the US and in the EU…

In America they’re allowed to run us over with motorcycles. Now that’s freedom!

occupywallstreet:

VIDEO 4: NYPD officer runs over observer for the National Lawyer’s Guild with a scooter, and leaves it on him, before another officer lunges in with a baton. They later “brutally dragged the injured man away, flipped him over, and kneed him full force in the small of the back as they handcuffed and arrested him.”

occupywallstreet:

Police violently arrest 100 protesters at occupy Boston

#whathappenswhenyouchallengecorporatepowerinamerica

occupywallstreet:

Boston Police Attack Veterans for Peace

This is what a police state looks like.

mohandasgandhi:

cognitivedissonance:

Video of veterans being arrested at #OccupyBoston for surrounding the camp.

This is America, folks.

Oh, come on. And this is after beating members of Veterans for Peace?

Good for these protesters for not backing down. Gandhi and King both spent a significant amount of time in jail. If you’re going to get arrested for something (unjustly or not) it should be for this.

Who’s next? They can’t put everyone in jail.

somepolitics:

No major media coverage, and several instances of police brutality. 

The Livestream feed can be found here.

Reblog this to spread the word.