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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=tanstl@aol.com href="mailto:tanstl@aol.com">David Sladky</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, January 09, 2012 6:58 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Fwd: Resisting Police Desires Is Labeled “Violence” … Even
If Police Action Is Unlawful</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class=articleTitle><FONT size=5><STRONG></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=articleTitle><FONT size=5><STRONG>Resisting Police Desires Is
Labeled “Violence” … Even If Police Action Is
Unlawful</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=articleSubTitle></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=articleAuthorName>by Washington's Blog</DIV><BR></TD></TR>
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<DIV class=bigArticleText12><A href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/"
target=_blank>Global Research</A></DIV></TD></TR>
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<DIV class=bigArticleText12><A href="http://washingtonsblog.com/"
target=_blank>Washington's Blog</A> </DIV></TD></TR>
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<DIV class=bigArticleText12><A id=printLink><I></I></A> </DIV></TD></TR>
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<H3 style="COLOR: #000099" class=entry-content align=justify></H3>
<H3 style="COLOR: #000099" class=entry-content align=justify>Police
Captain On Brutality Against UC Berkeley Students: “The Individuals Who
Linked Arms And Actively Resisted, That In Itself Is An Act Of Violence …
Linking Arms In a Human Chain When Ordered To Step Aside Is Not A
Nonviolent Protest”</H3>
<DIV class=entry-content align=justify>Police<A
title="bludgeoned peaceful occupy UC Berkeley protesters with batons"
href="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/police-bludgeon-peaceful-occupy-uc-berkeley-protesters.html"
target=_blank>bludgeoned peaceful occupy UC Berkeley protesters with
batons</A>.</DIV>
<DIV class=entry-content align=justify>In response, the police are trying
to blame the protesters.</DIV>
<DIV class=entry-content align=justify>The San Francisco Chronicle <A
title=notes
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/11/MNH21LTC4D.DTL"
target=_blank>notes</A> today:</DIV>
<DIV class=entry-content align=justify> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=entry-content>
<DIV align=justify>University police say the students, who chanted
“You’re beating students” during the incident, were not innocent
bystanders, and that the human fence they tried to build around seven
tents amounted to a violent stance against police.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>But many law enforcement experts said Thursday that
the officers’ tactics appeared to be a severe overreaction.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Both the ACLU and the National Lawyers Guild said
they had “grave concerns about the conduct” of campus police.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>“Video recordings raise numerous questions about
UCPD’s oversight and handling of these events, including whether law
enforcement were truly required to beat protesters with batons,” the two
groups wrote in a letter to campus officials.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>***</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold" align=justify>“The individuals who linked
arms and actively resisted, that in itself is an act of violence,” UC
police Capt. Margo Bennett said. “I understand that many students may
not think that, but linking arms in a human chain when ordered to step
aside is not a nonviolent protest.”</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Bennett said police merely wanted to enforce the ban
on camping on Sproul Plaza, but were prevented from doing so by
students.</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold" align=justify>“Students who linked arms
were interfering with the officers who were attempting to remove those
tents,” she said.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the Alameda County
Sheriff’s Department, said he saw nothing inappropriate in how one
deputy shown in a video used his baton. Nelson said it appeared the
deputy was trying to keep students from breaching a police line.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>***</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>“Using a baton to go through a nonviolent crowd is as
inappropriate today as it was in the South when they used it to enforce
segregation in the 1960s,” said Jim Chanin, a Berkeley attorney who
specializes in police misconduct issues.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Sam Walker, a professor emeritus of criminal justice
at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who has served as a consultant to
the Oakland Police Department, said he thought the campus response was
“unprovoked” and “completely unnecessary.”</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Using a baton to aggressively poke protesters can be
dangerous, Walker said.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>“The way they were using it, you’re very likely to
hit the groin or kidney,” he said. “I think it is an excessive action
and totally unwarranted in the circumstances we see on the video.”</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>This isn’t the first time university officers have
been accused of excessive force during a protest.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>In November 2009, hundreds of students orchestrated a
chaotic, daylong rally against tuition increases, among other issues. At
one point during the demonstration, protesters pushed a police line back
by about six feet. Officers, with no direction from commanders, reacted
by striking students with batons, using both jabs and overhead strikes,
to re-establish the perimeter.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>A review led by Wayne Brazil, a UC Berkeley law
professor and retired federal magistrate judge, said the effort to push
the crowd back a few feet was “incomprehensible” and “resulted in chaos,
confusion and considerable violence.”</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<H3 style="COLOR: #000099" class=entry-content align=justify>The Problem:
Criminalization of Dissent</H3>
<DIV class=entry-content align=justify>Similarly, in response to DC
protesters being struck by a car, <A
title="police cited the protesters – instead of the driver – and then promised to “get tough” with the protesters"
href="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/peaceful-protesters-hit-by-car-police-charge-protesters-not-driver.html"
target=_blank>police cited the protesters – instead of the driver – and
then promised to “get tough” with the protesters</A>.</DIV>
<DIV class=entry-content align=justify>The bigger issue is that dissent
has become criminalized in modern America.</DIV>
<DIV class=entry-content align=justify>Peaceful protest – as shown by the
Berkeley example – is considered “violence”.</DIV>
<DIV class=entry-content align=justify>Indeed, disagreeing with the
government <A title="may get one labeled as a “terrorist”"
href="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/03/ter%C2%B7ror%C2%B7ist-noun-anyone-who-disagrees-with-the-government.html"
target=_blank>may get one labeled as a “terrorist”</A>:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=entry-content>
<DIV align=justify>The Department of Homeland Security and police forces
label anyone who they disagree with – or who disagrees with government
policies – as “terrorists”.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Don’t believe me?</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Well, <A title="according to a law school professor"
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/cohn09302006.html"
target=_blank>according to a law school professor</A>, pursuant to the
Military Commissions Act, “Anyone who … <SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: italic">speaks out against the government’s
policies</SPAN> could be declared an ‘unlawful enemy combatant’ and
imprisoned indefinitely. That includes American citizens.”</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>And according to an <A title="FBI memo"
href="http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/tmcterrorismmemo.pdf" target=_blank>FBI
memo</A>, peace protesters are being labeled as “terrorists”. Indeed,
police have been terrorizing <A
title="children, little old ladies and other “dangerous” people"
href="http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/09/police-terrorize-children-reporters-and.html"
target=_blank>children, little old ladies and other “dangerous”
people</A> who attempted to peacefully protest.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>And a 2003 FBI memo describes protesters’ use of
videotaping as an “intimidation” technique, even though – as the <A
title=ACLU
href="http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/16960prs20031123.html"
target=_blank>ACLU</A> points out – “Most mainstream demonstrators often
use videotape during protests to document law enforcement activity and,
more importantly, deter police from acting outside the law.” The FBI
appears to be objecting to the use of cameras to document unlawful
behavior by law enforcement itself.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>And the Internet has been <A title=labeled
href="http://infowars.net/articles/november2007/131107terror.htm"
target=_blank>labeled</A> as a breeding ground for terrorists, with
anyone who questions the government’s versions of history being
especially equated with terrorists.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Now, the state of Missouri has <A title=labeled
href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/missouri-governor-stands-behind-miac-smear-report.html"
target=_blank>labeled</A> as terrorists current Congressman Ron Paul and
his supporters, former Congressman Bob Barr, libertarians in general,
anyone who holds gold, and a host of other people.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>In other words, anyone who disagrees with the
“acceptable” way of looking at things is a terrorist.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=entry-content align=justify>The problem is that our country is
<A title="using anti-terrorism laws to crush dissent"
href="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/09/government-using-anti-terrorism-laws-to-crush-dissent.html"
target=_blank>using anti-terrorism laws to crush dissent</A>. And see <A
title=this
href="http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2010/9/29/fbi_raids_and_the_criminalization_of_dissent"
target=_blank>this</A>, <A title="Department of Defense training manuals"
href="http://open.salon.com/blog/dennis_loo/2009/06/14/dod_training_manual_protests_are_low-level_terrorism"
target=_blank>this</A>, <A title=this
href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526972,00.html"
target=_blank>this</A>, <A title=this
href="http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-challenges-defense-department-personnel-policy-regard-lawful-protests-%E2%80%9Clow-le"
target=_blank>this</A> and <A title=this
href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090619153130/http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics/ci_12589887?nclick_check=1"
target=_blank>this</A>.</DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></DIV>
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