http://www.alternet.org/rights/97306?page=entire
QUOTE
I asked the guy if he lived in St. Paul. "Yeah." It turned out he lives next door, in the building where I've been staying, an artist's co-op on Broadway Street. I was about to ask him what he thought about the scene here when he sort of laughed and said, "Yeah, you know -- I was just arrested."At around 9:45 that morning, John, 20, was walking home from the bank a few blocks away when he spotted what he thought was a police riot club -- a ubiquitous weapon on the streets here. "It was right off of West 7th Street in, like, a planter; I checked it out but it ended up being a broomstick."
He put it down and kept walking, when suddenly he was surrounded by police officers -- "three squad for sure, maybe four" -- one of whom was a woman. "She was like, 'Get on your stomach or I'm gonna tase you!'" He asked them what he had done, but they wouldn't say. Instead, they asked him leading questions about other people they'd just arrested. "They said, 'so, who was in the white van you were associated with?" "I was like, white van? I don't know what you're talking about."
John said he hasn't done any anti-war organizing -- "I'd like to" -- but since the arrival of the RNC and the protesters against it, he has been checking out the scene around town. "Yesterday I was just cruising around. I was in the Funk the War march -- they had this huge Gandhi statue and a globe …" But despite the mostly peaceful protests, when it comes to security, "it's been crazy." He showed me videos he'd taken on his phone while he skated around, lines of cops in riot gear -- "There was a bunch of people getting maced over there" -- and shots of the buses and unmarked minivans the police have used to detain people and take them away.
I asked him if he had been read his rights. "No, they didn't read me my Miranda rights at all. ... They cuffed me, and when I complained to one one guy about the cuffs being too tight, he was like, 'Oh yeah? Well, let me tighten that up for you.'"
...
"They held me right down over there," he said, pointing north. "It's, like, the St. Paul police station." They confiscated and searched his belongings but forgot his cell phone in his pocket. "They put me in a cell that had snot and blood all over the wall," he told me, pulling out his phone and showing me footage of the stained white walls. He was given no phone call.
...
"So, you were picking up sticks?" one guy joked, "What were you thinking?"
"I thought I was free!" John laughed.
He put it down and kept walking, when suddenly he was surrounded by police officers -- "three squad for sure, maybe four" -- one of whom was a woman. "She was like, 'Get on your stomach or I'm gonna tase you!'" He asked them what he had done, but they wouldn't say. Instead, they asked him leading questions about other people they'd just arrested. "They said, 'so, who was in the white van you were associated with?" "I was like, white van? I don't know what you're talking about."
John said he hasn't done any anti-war organizing -- "I'd like to" -- but since the arrival of the RNC and the protesters against it, he has been checking out the scene around town. "Yesterday I was just cruising around. I was in the Funk the War march -- they had this huge Gandhi statue and a globe …" But despite the mostly peaceful protests, when it comes to security, "it's been crazy." He showed me videos he'd taken on his phone while he skated around, lines of cops in riot gear -- "There was a bunch of people getting maced over there" -- and shots of the buses and unmarked minivans the police have used to detain people and take them away.
I asked him if he had been read his rights. "No, they didn't read me my Miranda rights at all. ... They cuffed me, and when I complained to one one guy about the cuffs being too tight, he was like, 'Oh yeah? Well, let me tighten that up for you.'"
...
"They held me right down over there," he said, pointing north. "It's, like, the St. Paul police station." They confiscated and searched his belongings but forgot his cell phone in his pocket. "They put me in a cell that had snot and blood all over the wall," he told me, pulling out his phone and showing me footage of the stained white walls. He was given no phone call.
...
"So, you were picking up sticks?" one guy joked, "What were you thinking?"
"I thought I was free!" John laughed.
Say it with me now, "Lawsuit!"
In about a year or so, abused residents can look forward to a million dollar settlement/payoff from the city, just like residents of Seattle got post WTO.
From just the city government's perspective, they are gonna regret this when officials are later forced to resign, sued, fined, etc.
It's retarded on their part.
