Home
Archive
Newsletters
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Police Trap Peaceful Protesters in Denver

Posted by Davin Hutchins, American News Project at 7:00 AM on August 26, 2008.


Not everything is warm and fuzzy at the DNC.

Share and save this post:

      

      

Share on Facebook       

AlterNet Social Networks:
follow us on twitter
find us on Facebook

Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form

Get Video in your
mailbox!

 

A calm political protest quickly turned chaotic as anxious police surrounded thousands of marchers heading toward Denver's Convention Center, using tear gas, batons and aggression.


Honduras Crisis Forces Obama to Focus on Latin America
Will Obama side with a democratically elected government that happens to be a Venezuelan ally?
Post by Tom Hayden. July 1, 2009.
Fox News Urges Viewers to Keep on Tea Baggin' on July 4th (VIDEO)
No, we won't EVER get tired of that double-entendre!
Post by Lee Fang. June 30, 2009.
Katie Couric, Tavis Smiley, Bob Woodward, Nicholas Kristof, and I Hit YouTube with Pointers for Citizen Journalists
Become The Huffington Post's 'Eyes and Ears.'
Post by Arianna Huffington. June 30, 2009.
Advertisement
Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
This is the true state of our Nation
Posted by: vkobaya1 on Aug 26, 2008 7:23 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The police attacking protestors is more indicative of the true state of this nation than all the pretty words inside the convention center. I was very moved by Ted Kennedy's appearance and Michelle Obama's speech, but the truth is what happened outside, not inside. I will vote for Obama, I have no choice as a McCain win is unthinkable, but if Obama were true to the rhetoric inside the convention then he would be outside listening to the protestors. And if he did that, the reason for the protests would not exist.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» taxes schmaxes... Posted by: undrgrndgirl
Typical
Posted by: Yankeeinexile on Aug 26, 2008 8:14 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Of course they kicked out the press, after they singled out the 10 protesters. Wouldn't want anything caught on film to be used in a subsequent lawsuit. Hopefully someone upstairs in those buildings recorded what happened on video.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Typical Posted by: Xynyx
» RE: Typical Posted by: VZEQICVA
» RE: Typical Posted by: VZEQICVA
here is how u defeat a wall of police...
Posted by: andrewstromotich on Aug 26, 2008 11:17 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
dressed in face sheilds and gas masks looking to attack a peaceful protest...
just a thought, but its easy actually.
get some balloons, so aerosol miracle whip (or paint) and water bomb launchers.
start firing those balloons straight at the masked men and they will have to take off their masks to see, which of course means they can't use tear gas...
hasta la victoria siempre

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» i love how americans are so fearful... Posted by: andrewstromotich
» maybe yer right though Posted by: andrewstromotich
» tsk tsk lauren, yer fangs are showing Posted by: andrewstromotich
» now THAT is an interesting idea. Posted by: JoshuaLudd
» yea right Posted by: andrewstromotich
» Given that the 60s happened... Posted by: JoshuaLudd
The Democratic party allows this brutality and oppression..!
Posted by: TJColatrella on Aug 26, 2008 11:21 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There is no "Right to Peaceably assemble and petition" the Democratic Party "for a redress of grievances"..apparently..!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

State of the police state, Pleasant Hill, California
Posted by: Lauren on Aug 26, 2008 12:28 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I just sent this message to my mayor:

I need to report a serious problem with the Pleasant Hill police. Some officers have been profiling me. It has amounted to a local conspiracy to commit some very serious crimes.

The fact you refuse to meet with me about this issue after repeated attempts leads me to believe you are involved in the cover up of this criminal conspiracy to mistreat me.

It is all about religion and religious discrimination. I am very disappointed you can not find the time to meet with me to hear my grievance against the police.

I need you to learn how I have been mistreated by them and some other paid staff of the city of Pleasant Hill, so I fail to understand why I am not allowed to be heard. Do YOU want to discriminate against me too?

***
I made an appointment with the mayor yesterday to have it canceled today. The secretary has no idea why and can answer very few questions, like she has been told not to talk to me. I tell her everything, so she can't claim to not know what is going on.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

LockDown Nation: "how dare you contest the 2-Party system or "Free Trade" & WTO?? on your KNEES!"
Posted by: BlueBerry PickN on Aug 26, 2008 1:39 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
LIVE from the PEPSI CENTER!!! Corporate Democrats snowing over desperate 'please don't hurt us!' electorate
Used To Get High For A Living - John Butler Trio
I used to get high for a living
Believing everything that i saw on my TV
I used to get high for a living
Eating all the BullShit food that they sold me
I used to get high for a living
Thinking that my destiny was out of my control
I used to get high for a living
There's lots of different reasons and i'll tell you so

Super size, large fries, big mac, coca cola
Go on man, pick your poison!!
Speed, weed, ecstacy, LSD
Man, it don't bother me 'cos we're all on something
Caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol
You know i'm clawing at the walls trying to get my fix
Prozac, ADD tablets, coke, smack
Now you know i am turning tricks 'cos

Escape, can't wait all trying to get away
From this place man that we're feeling
Can't deal, can't feel what's real
All trying to conceal all this time we're stealing
No doubt, the route you're on
Can't find the clout that you've been needing
'Til then my friend you must contend
With the monster that you're feeding

I used to get high for a living
Believing everything that i saw on my tv
I used to get high for a living
Eating all the bullshit food that they sold me
I used to get high for a living
Thinking that my destiny was out of my control
I used to get high for a living
There's lots of different reasons and i'll tell you so

Got links of the Cheney
Getting crazy, getting lazy with their foreign relations
Starting wars, closing doors
Trying to bring about one quicker, man, revelations
Economic rational calling fouls with the workers
Just trying to make it pay
Cost cutting, head butting
Big business do what they like and you do what they say
What's wrong get along, just prolong all the thoughts
You got going on, on the inside
Appease, stand at ease, just try to please
All the apathy that you're trying to hide
How now brown cow?
Did we get from this standing place
And now we're kneeling
'Til then my friend you must contend with the monster that you're feeding

Denver Police Have Already Arrested At Least 100 Protesters
Talking 'Anarchy' With Chomsky, 24Apr00 - The Nation

Protesters: Police pepper-sprayed 'peaceful' gathering
Anthony & Sabalow, Rocky Mountain News, Updated 8:11PM, 25.Aug.08

Nader P1/2 Impeach!
Nader 2/2 Corp. Rule
Nader & Blumenthal
Greenwald: The AT&T Convention in Denver

Fox News reporter Jenkins tasked with ‘causing trouble’ at Democratic convention.

& THE PROBLEM IS PEACEFUL & DISILLUSIONED DEMONSTRATORS?

BlueBerry Pick'n
ThisCanadian
" ... tolerance of intolerance is cowardice..." ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
"We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid.
"do no harm"

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

We need a Larger Movement!
Posted by: Godfather89 on Aug 26, 2008 4:25 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We need over 100,000 people to help get this movement going! We need more peple! Advertise, Spread The message!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Peaceful Protesters= Cops with clubs and beatings
Posted by: jeffrey7 on Aug 26, 2008 4:54 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Face it, we live in a Police State Country. We'd like to think otherwise but it's not true.
I used to heckle Bush's Daddy when he came around. The only thing that saved me was I was in a wheelchair but the folks that had the permit to protest got the riot cops with clubs,M16's and plexi-riot shields...and they
had a permit!!
When I led the march on the State capitol with Protect the Earth we did'nt have a permit. It was kind of an accident with wheelchairs being able to use roads if the curbcuts are blocked,like they were by the cops,so who am I to tell 5000 environmentalists
they can't follow me into the streets up to the Capitol. The thing is it was the non-permit almost spur of the moment happening of it that caught the cops totally off guard and they had no riot gear or strongarm jerks taking away our rights. Seems permits might be like a hunting trip with Dick Cheney,sure they might be legal but that don't mean you won't get shot in the face.
Write in Jeffrey7 for President '08

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The New Regime!
Posted by: GreyFoxThree on Aug 26, 2008 5:29 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Welcome to the New Regime! All hail Dictator Bush! LOL

RD
Is your ISP watching?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Without the Massive Police Presence these Conventions would look like Thailand's Protests
Posted by: rfrancis@godisdead.com on Aug 26, 2008 9:27 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
That is why protesters are made to suffer.

The political parties do not want the American public to see 10s of thousands of people, a literal sea of people as far as the camera can see, swarmed around the convention centers where they are nominating their candidates.

To do so would show the massive opposition to the two main parties.


P.S. Cops also tend to be power abusing assholes. Think of all the people you know from high school who became cops.

Were they assholes in high school?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I GET IT!
Posted by: Rolomax on Aug 27, 2008 12:02 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The police want to make Democrats look bad.

(waits to see results of RNC)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

And. . .
Posted by: shikejian on Aug 27, 2008 5:23 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
you people bitch about China? Sheesh!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

It's amazing how soon Americans forget.
Posted by: chuckjs on Aug 27, 2008 6:26 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Your country has been like THIS for years and years and years. Ya'll seem doomed to repeat your shitty history because most of you forget it the day after it happens.

Here is a great link to an incident in 1970 that makes what is going on today look a little less NEW and JUST HAPPENING SINCE BUSH TOOK POWER than most of you think.

http://dept.kent.edu/May4/chrono.html

Pay close attention to who was in power at the time and what party he represented. Read it and remember you have had a police state and NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH for at least 40 years.

It's nothing new and ingenious. It's just an old tried and true Republican strategy to take over the US and have a one party system.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

No surprise
Posted by: JoshuaLudd on Aug 27, 2008 6:31 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This is not surprising. Anyone who has paid any attention to what has gone on at the DNC and RNC as well as WTO, G8, or any other protests in this nation would know this is EXACTLY what happens time and again.

Given some of the articles being posted around here over the last few days it would seem maybe, just maybe "progressives" are finally waking up to the fact that their government really does not represent them, does not actually care about what they want, and that there are myriad mechanisms in place to stifle any real dissent from the status quo.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Why do Americans pretend to live in a democracy?
Posted by: PakiBoy on Aug 27, 2008 7:04 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
American government does not represent American public.

The laws and policies of the government is almost exclusively dictated by Corporate elites.

The corrupt electoral system decides who you get to "vote" on the election day. The so-called primary system coupled with stringent requirements for independent and 3rd part candidates ensures that public only has access to candidates of the DEM/Republican parties.

The rest of the candidates are almost completely censored by American Pravda (MSM). This is true for both Federal and state "elections".

US government destroyed socialist and communist movements in US via persecution. Is this how a democracy works?

And now protesters are put in cages and beaten up.

America currently has a President that has broken not only international laws but many American laws as well. Yet you won't even hear a whisper of accountability and the rule of law in American Pravda.
Some freedom of speech you have!

Well, so much for the America being the leader of the free world. Free in American jargon must be Orwellian for slavery.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

yeah right
Posted by: andrewstromotich on Aug 27, 2008 9:22 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
dress in military style dress just like the cops, bring "defensive gear" and be prepared to battle. that is just so dumb and a sure way to have the public look at u as militant. where the hell is wavy gravy when u need him.
don't u remember the pie brigade? instead of whipping things into a frenzy, make the public like u with a little whipped cream.
u guys so want this to turn into something violent.
no police commisioner is going to be able to defend using live ammo on whipped cream wielding protesters dressed in rainbow wigs. u guys learned nothing from the 60's...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The Solution
Posted by: Nicnic on Aug 28, 2008 5:51 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We are fighting an elitist machine that controls all aspects of our government. Both candidates have no choice but to do its bidding because that's who's groomed them. Think BO has struggled? Get the facts. He's been groomed, cultured and underwritten for decades. He's a complete phony. They just don't pop out of nowhere. Likewise the rest of the lot on the hill and elsewhere is hopelessly aligned as the cogs on the wheel that rolls over you. And you still feel you have a choice. You are encouraged to exercise your great right to vote. But it just keeps getting worse.

The sad part about all of this is that it's made possible by a funding mechanism. And that is what their strength boils down to. Not ideology or compassion, but money. But it’s also their weakness. You don’t have to go to Washington to defeat it. You simply need to stop be their pet consumers and supporting the only means of sustaining elitism. You’re better than that and you’re a lot better off without it.

You don’t need to fret about overcoming them on their turf. You don’t need a politician on your side. You don’t even have to vote anymore. They are so tied into money you simply need to stop giving it to them at the point it enters the system. You have the power to instantly effect almost any change in less than 90 days without compromising your goals. You can bring any company in this country to its knees in no time at all.

ALL IT TAKES IS A TRUE AMERICAN! BOYCOTT NOW!

TAKE BACK YOUR LIFE AND YOUR COUNTRY. BOYCOTT NOW!

JUST STOP BUYING THEIR CORPORATE POISONED FOOD AND ECO-TRASH. BOYCOTT NOW!

BUY LOCAL SUSTAINABLE GOODS. BOYCOTT NOW!

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS AND PRODUCERS. BOYCOTT NOW!

UNPLUG FROM CORPORATE CULTURE. BOYCOTT NOW!

DON’T WEAR DESIGNER LOGOS. BOYCOTT NOW!

DON’T BE A STOOGE AND A SHILL ANY LONGER. BOYCOTT NOW!

DISCOVER THE ULTIMATE WEAPON. BOYCOTT NOW!

SACRIFICE A LITTLE AND IMPROVE THE WORLD IMMEASURABLY. BOYCOTT NOW!

LEARN TO CULTIVATE YOUR OWN LIFE. BOYCOTT NOW!

BOYCOTT NOW! BOYCOTT NOW! BOYCOTT NOW!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]