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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 19697
[Civil]
Date Posted:
5/18/2008
6:48:27 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 7,191
RSS: 14,309
Comments: 5
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Paying For The Right To Speak Up
Author: Susan Greene Source: Denver Post (CO)
Title: PAYING FOR THE RIGHT TO SPEAK UP
They call it the Activists' Retirement Plan.
Cities have paid protesters millions of dollars after using overly aggressive, unconstitutional police tactics to handle mass demonstrations.
Denver insists it won't happen here.
Some activists aren't so sure.
"Any time you get a bunch of law enforcement people with a $50 million security budget and new toys, they're going to find a threat. They'll manufacture one if they need to. And we'll all be paying for it later," warns Paul Bame, a software engineer from Fort Collins.
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Community Thoughts: There are 5 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| A Very Important Lesson | May 19th. at 11:47:06 am EDT
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GreeneDragon (Palmdale, California) - Email Me
Anyone remember Canada last year ? [Web LINK]
And they admitted it when caught! [Web LINK]
I doubt the local police will be foolish enough to repeat the mistake of posing as protestors while wearing police issue boots, but lots of vidcams and sharp eyes would be good to have there anyways.
I think the most important lesson that can be learned from Canada is the way the good guys handled it ... staying calm, telling the bad guys to "put down the rock" in a VERY LOUD voice and making sure everyone looked at them very hard and very fast. Also, others made sure to look around in case this was some kind of diversion. Smart all the way!
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| Some Lines Need To Be Drawn.... | May 19th. at 11:07:51 am EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
I agree that calling attention to oneself in protest does run some risk of arrest and settlement and that protests should be peaceful, but sometimes aren't.
Yes, they should complain, and I hope they do about the way they were treated, especially if they weren't breaking any laws otherwise, but Cops sometimes do need to protect those who aren't protesting from those who are, especially when those protesting get out of hand. And many protests do get quite violent and are useful to cover a majority of other crimes, such as looting and robbery.
What line needs to be drawn is where body art and jewelry and signs and symbols on a sign or a car are being censured when the person is breaking no laws or injuring no people at the time he is sporting them. While it may be offensive to the eye, no one has ever gone blind as any result of viewing such things.
While quiet protests can aggravate some people, cops included, if they are peacefully displayed and no one is being physically harmed, spat on, or vilely verbally assaulted then they should not act--until they do.
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| These Protests Are Peaceful Until... | May 18th. at 2:55:37 pm EDT
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Young Coyote (W. Hempstead, New York) - Email Me
one of two things happen.
a) - A couple of bad apples in the bunch start some crap, giving the police an excuse to start cracking heads left and right.
b) - The cops start @#$%ing with the protesters so that they can have an excuse to use force.
I'm normally a supporter of police officers. I respect the men in uniform who help protect us on the street from thugs and the detectives who spend so many hours out of their lives to catch the more debased members of our society.
But riot police are one of the few exceptions. About only 10% of the time, maybe, are the used for actual riots. The other 90% of the time they're used in situations that don't call for that kind of force. Throw in how highly emotional people get during these protests, on both sides of the argument, and it's no wonder things degenerate into a brawl.
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