Police Gather in Riot Gear

[MrBossNigga]

March On Macy's - Reign On The Parade

Double-Split Committee

Double Minimum Wage - 4 hour Maximum Workdays

Legalize Marijuana

[vickfan24707]

@MrBossNigga That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. 4 hour maximum work days? I know 16 year olds that work more than that, that's just laziness. Then again judging by your screen name "nigga" makes you look like a fucking retard.

[Hollywoodman44]

POLICE look sooo funny in there riot gear even when they know there non-violent protesters they still wear it like there in fuckin iraq.

[selfhelp69]

highly militarized RNC....way to go '7 mansions' McCain. Free speech is only a right if you can afford it.

[jwc7215]

uh... you do realize that these poeple werent being stopped by the police for what they said.. its what they did that got them in trouble... im not a cop, but i would fuck somebody up if they threw a piss bomb at me too

[rayofminneapolis]

It's almost a foofighters video

"What if I say

i'm not just another

one of your plays

YOUR THE PRETENDER

WHAT IF I SAY I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!"

[Devinvollmer]

Good thing its not hockey season.

[appldknwldge]

They look like evil robots.

[CopsRStagingRiots]

cops are using provocateurs to stage riot .

[matthrms]

peter, none of these these videos show what the protesters are doing to evoke these actions against them, because they were taken by people whose primary objective is to make the police look over bearing and out of control. And do you honestly think that the house raid had nothing to do with planned violence? Because the journalist would have said so right?

[peterscottfrost]

matthrms -- We have a Constitution which is being ignored. And yes, the house raid that I am referring to had absolutely nothing to do with "planned violence." I am aware that some of the people posting videos have agendas. That doesn't change what the police did, mostly before the RNC even began. I would urge you to read Glenn Greenwald's articles of 8/30 & 31 on Salon's web site. I'm not defending the jerks who use these events (RNC,WTO) as an excuse to trash private property and act poorly.

[peterscottfrost]

I like the headline on the Fox 9 site "Lawlessness will not be tolerated in our city." (Unless it is the police who are being lawless.) The "protesters" who appear to be causing all of the trouble are the self-proclaimed "anarchists." (I'm not even sure that they have any philosophical understanding of anarchy.) I live in Seattle, which was trashed by those same people at the WTO. I do not support what they do. But, again, that is a separate issue from what the police have been doing.

[peterscottfrost]

I just think that my main point is being overlooked. I never, as one poster implied, made any derogatory generalizations about cops. One of by closest friends is a cop. I am referring to specific violations of Constitutional rights by specific cops. That kind of activity on the part of the government should not be tolerated in a free society. If it is, we will not long be a free society.

[peterscottfrost]

Again -- where are the RNC delegates? This has nothing to do with roads being blocked.

watch?v=Ag3WhS7v66I

[peterscottfrost]

The police are reacting to "riots" that aren't happening. Whenever a group starts to peacefully protest -- as it is their Constitutional and natural right to do -- the police start shooting rubber bullets or gas grenades. The police are the problem here, not the protesters. This is an embarrassment. Welcome to the police state.

[LoveLostAngel08]

Actually the riots did happen you moron! The police only shoot rubber bullets and gas grenades because they are trying to protect innocent people without killing the worthless protesters who were setting fires and throwing bombs, this video just doesn't show that side of things.

[COUNTCARDULAR]

please go away you government moron stooj stop spamming you idiot crank

[MrsSarb]

Bombs??  WTF? I don't think so.

[LoveLostAngel08]

The protesters threw things into the streets and at police and smashed in windows and even attacked members of the media.

[peterscottfrost]

LoveLostAngel08 -- You seem like a nice person. I'm sure you mean well. But have you seen all of the videos of police abuses going on in Minneapolis? I urge you to check out Glenn Greenwald's articles on Salon's web site. He documents a lot of violations of people's first amendment rights by the police. And that's just for starters.

[LoveLostAngel08]

I actually know many of the officers involved in those situations, and very rarely are people 'abused' by police, usually they did something wrong.

[matthrms]

May as well save your breath lovelost, because here on the internets, police are pigs, and these instigators are noble upstanding people just trying to cover a story, and were not doing anything like, oh, planning to incite riots and harass the police like their website said.

[LoveLostAngel08]

ha, upstanding, as if.

[peterscottfrost]

Eh... you lost me one that one. :)

[LoveLostAngel08]

peterscottfrost, That was a reply to another comment, and it would appear the reply I made to you was deleted. I agree with you that cops should not take away constitutional rights, but at the same time protesters who are blocking the road are taking away the rights of others who are trying to get to the RNC to voice their opinions.

And I have to agree with everything matthrms is saying, because its the point I have been trying to make.

[peterscottfrost]

LoveLostAngel08 -- Okay, well, I don't think we disagree quite as much as it seems. It's been fun having this discussion with you. I hope there are no hard feelings! :) Take care.

[peterscottfrost]

LoveLostAngel08 -- If protesters were throwing bombs, don't you think the mainstream media, which are just puppets for the government, would be dutifully reporting on it? Just curious why they aren't. Where are the YouTube videos of this alleged bomb throwing by protesters?! Please refer me to one. :D

[LoveLostAngel08]

The media generally sides against the police, but actually if you go to Fox 9 you can see video of the protesters smashing windows, blocking traffic, breaking property etc. and you can read an article about the delegates the protesters attacked. And as far as you tube goes, the protesters are the only ones posting videos, seeing as the police are busy doing their jobs and can't film a defense, and so all the videos on here are only up to make the police look bad.

[peterscottfrost]

I don't get your local Fox affiliate here. But the people who have mostly been abused by the police were not even protesting. They were in private homes. The police have been taking people's private property without giving receipts or making any charges. There are dozens of reports of these things happening. Here are a few videos:

watch?v=NIm-IWaOPjo

watch?v=ougH8G6UnkI

watch?v=f0UUsdCx3Qg

This should not happen i a free country.

[peterscottfrost]

One of the groups targeted by the police was a group that exposed police corruption and perjury at the 2004 RNC. Coincidence? If the police look bad, it is because they are being bad.

[LoveLostAngel08]

Police found weapons and buckets of human urine that protesters were planning to throw at police in the houses that were raided, coincidence?

The police are doing what they are trained to do, protect innocent people from bad people. Like the protesters who attacked delegates by spraying chemicals on them today.

[peterscottfrost]

Even assuming that there are a few protesters who are behaving badly, you are using them as an excuse for police misconduct. The people with I-Witness Video had no "buckets of urine." They were guilty of nothing other than exposing police corruption. Their home was surrounded by police and their personal possessions were stolen by the police. Journalists - JOURNALISTS! - have been detained and had their things taken. These people are not even protesters.

[LoveLostAngel08]

The 'journalists' who were detained were trespassing and refused to tell police who they were and why they were there. If they had cooperated and answered questions they would not have had any problems.

I believe in free speech and the right to say what you believe, and for the majority of peaceful protesters today thats fine. But when people start blocking roads and breaking glass and attacking people it is no longer okay and the police should intervene.

[peterscottfrost]

You have not explained why the cops took the personal property of journalists. (Not "journalists," actual journalists.) Where were these people trespassing? Some of them were surrounded in private homes where they were stating with the permission of the owners. That is not even in dispute. It is not a crime. It sounds like you are just parroting what the officials are saying.

[peterscottfrost]

That should be "staying," not stating. :P

[LoveLostAngel08]

Where are you from and where are you getting your information, 'cause hon you don't have the facts.

If they were in private homes someone called in a tip against them. The police don't just break in to random houses for fun. The journalists who were arrested were in areas that were marked off, and weather or not they are 'actual journalists' makes no difference they still need to answer the questions police ask to prove who they are and why they are there.

[peterscottfrost]

You have WAY too much confidence in the police. One of the groups targeted PROVED in court that the police (in NY) made false charges and committeed perjury. They proved it with video footage.

What would the "tip" be, by the way -- that there are people planning to protest in the house next door? That makes no sense. Again -- these people broke no laws. Neighbors interviewed said they were great people. Sometimes cops do bad things. I urge you to Google Glenn Greenwald and read his articles.

[LoveLostAngel08]

Look, police are people too, I know they may not all be good, but the vast majority are truly there to help and to keep innocent people safe.

I don't know what the tip was, and neighbors of serial killers also usually say they seemed like good people (an extreme example i know, but i want to make a point). I urge you to look at both sides of this, because there was violence, and it was planned violence, so obviously the police are not wrong in preparing for a violent outcome.

[peterscottfrost]

I agree that when people destroy private property or violate the rights of other people, then the police should act. Only then. The police have no business being the violators of the rights of people who have broken no laws. (By the way, they raided a house they did not have a search warrant for.) How do you feel about Gandhi or Thoreau? Is nonviolently blocking a road really worthy of such overkill? Should police shoot rubber bullets and gas grenades at people who block roads?

[LoveLostAngel08]

They were blocking the road so that delegates could not get to the convention to state their beliefs. One persons freedom of speech cannot override another's. We all have a right to express our opinions, even Republicans (I know it's a novel concept, equality, oh my!). They were not shooting at the people blocking the roads until the people blocking the roads started pushing and grabbing at the police.

[peterscottfrost]

That's not what I saw on video. I saw the cops shooting at protesters who were clear across the street or farther. Here's one example: watch?v=NKsl--kQ2gI

Where are all of the RNC delegates? I don't see any.

[LoveLostAngel08]

Look at the footage on the Fox 9 website, also there is an article there about the 80-year-old delegate who was sprayed with Chemicals by protesters.

[peterscottfrost]

You missing the point. When there are hundreds of protesters, and a few do bad things, that in no way excuses the police from violating the rights of citizens in completely unrelated incidents. If somebody gassed an old lady, that person should be punished. When cops surround a house, raid it without a search warrant and hold the inhabitants at gun point, they too should answer for their actions. Where is this "equality under the law" of which you speak? It's a double standard.

[peterscottfrost]

The police in Minneapolis are behaving the same way that the police in China behaved prior to the Olympics. This is not about protecting innocent people. Even if there were people with buckets of urine, which I doubt, since when is that illegal? And how would urine help anyone make their case for ANYTHING they might be protesting?! That doesn't even make sense.

Preemptive arrests are a tactic used in police states, not free countries.