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Police abuse

Ferguson: 47 Arrests, No Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets; Holder Steps In

August 20, 2014 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
Less violent than the previous nights in Ferguson. The police did not use tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades or smoke bombs and the crowd only had minor incidents of people throwing bottles at the police. There were still confrontations between police and the people but at a much lower decibel than previous nights. At times 'peacekeepers' stood in line between police and protesters to minimize conflict. Reporters were corralled in a specific area and some were threatened with arrest. In total there were 47 arrests reported (these numbers may not be accurate, the police reported 31 arrests then night before when there were over 70).

Tense Tallies In Ferguson Include Fires, Shootings And 31 Arrests

August 19, 2014 Kevin McDermott, www.stltoday.com , , ,
With armed Missouri National Guard troops posted to area streets for the first time in modern history, violence erupted anew Monday night as protesters hurled bottles at police and fired shots, and officers responded with sound cannons. “Back off now!” one officer ordered protesters as the conflict escalated shortly before 10 p.m. Later, police fired tear gas at protesters who defied orders to disperse. Police fired at least three tear gas volleys near the QuikTrip as emergency vehicles sped to the scene. Police also used tear gas to break up protesters near West Florissant Avenue and Northwoods Estates. “They’re gassing our kids,” one protester shouted. In front of McDonald’s, a tactical unit removed a driver from his car at gunpoint. Some protesters tipped over portable toilets and dragged them into the streets. An armored vehicle moved down the street trying to clear the crowd, and some pastors stood with their arms locked trying to restore peace. They helped to move protesters away from the police line. The confrontation followed a day of dizzying new developments in the Aug. 9 police shooting death of unarmed Michael Brown, 18, and the week of protests, looting and violence that has followed . . . .

Should Police Have Liability Insurance?

August 18, 2014 Michael T. Hertz, www.PopularResistance.org , ,
Suppose police departments were required to have liability insurance policies on their police officers, so if they were sued by injured civilians there would be money available from a source other than taxpayers? One would think that political conservatives would welcome that result because it would lower the tax burden. But who should be paying for the insurance policy? The idea being advanced here is that such policies should be required, and individual policemen should have a deduction from their salaries to pay for the policies. This would provide financial protection for the policemen (they would all be insured) in the event they did something foolish, but it would also protect the taxpayers and provide an independent fund for the victims. For instance, the policies could provide for up to several million dollars towards the death or injury of a civilian victim. It might be recalled that local governments (e.g., Detroit) can go bankrupt, so the policies would provides assurance of compensation where needed.

Cops Shamed In Confrontation: March For Ezell Ford In Los Angeles

August 17, 2014 Staff, www.revolution-news.com , ,
Los Angeles activists took to the streets Friday with family members of Ezell Ford, a mentally disabled black man who was murdered while unarmed on Monday, August 11th by LAPD. Their march began at 65th and Broadway, and made its way to the Newton Police Station in South Central L.A. Ezell was the subject of an “investigative stop,” conducted by the LAPD. Multiple witnesses say that at the time of the shooting, Ezell was lying on the ground and complying with officers. The two officers involved in the shooting claim that Ezell tried to tackle one of them, and reached for their weapon. Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that the officers who on August 11th, shot Ezell Ford, did not have a dash cam installed on their car, and were not wearing lapel cameras.

Ferguson Exposes the Reality Of Militarized, Racist Policing

August 17, 2014 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org , ,
The public reaction to the killing of Michael Brown and its aftermath has been immense. On Thursday evening protests were held from coast-to-coast expressing solidarity with the people of Ferguson and grief for the death of Michael Brown and the deaths of others across the nation killed by police. There are now increasing calls for the demilitarization of the police by the Attorney General and elected officials. And, the DOJ has announced a broad review of police practices that lead to deadly force. People are taking action pressuring the DOJ to act, see: Tell The Department of Justice to end racist and militaristic policing. This is a teachable moment and an opportunity to advance the cause of transforming the police. Hundreds of thousands of Americans watched events unfold in Ferguson. They saw the police tear gassing a community in mourning, firing at them with rubber bullets and using sound canons to disperse them. They saw military-style police chase them into neighborhoods where they continued to fire tear gas and rubber bullets. They saw reporters abused and arrested as a SWAT team took over a McDonald’s where they were reporting from and other reporters attacked with tear gas and then the police dismantling the journalist’s equipment.

Is LA Ferguson 20 Years Later?

August 17, 2014 Brenda Gazzar, www.dailynews.com ,
“Those same class issues, that same sense of racial inequality, social inequality, economic inequality, those same frustrations and resentments that roiled 49 years ago and exploded in the Watts riots are still in effect in 2014,” said USC law professor Jody Armour, an expert in crime and race issues. “We see them bursting out in Ferguson, Missouri, rather than in L.A.” Since those same conditions still exist in areas like South Los Angeles, Watts, Inglewood and Compton, Armour said, “we could be the next Ferguson.” Meanwhile, an incident Monday in South L.A. in which two Los Angeles Police Department officers shot and killed 25-year-old Ezell Ford, a black man described by family as mentally challenged, has also evoked strong concerns from community members.

Marching For Justice In Ferguson, MO

August 17, 2014 Helen Jaccard and Ellen Davidson, www.stopthesewars.org ,
FERGUSON, Missouri–Thousands filled the streets of Ferguson, MO, Aug. 16 to protest the police killing of African-American youth Michael Brown, Jr., Aug. 9 and the harsh police response to subsequent demonstrations. After a week of police using tear gas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets against angry community protests, today’s rally and march, which included supporters from around the country, was nonviolent but spirited. The initial rally was held right at the site on Canfield Road where Mike Brown, Jr. was shot by Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department. Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke passionately at the rally, ending with the chant, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” referring to Mike Brown’s words and actions as he was being shot to death.

Popular Resistance Newsletter – End War At Home And Abroad

August 16, 2014 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org , , , ,
The recent murders of black men by police and the excessive militaristic repression of protest in the grieving community of Ferguson, MO brought the issues of racism and militarized police to the forefront of the nation this week. We focused our coverage on these issues because they have been bubbling at the surface for a while and now that there is a national dialog and some movement by officials, there is a greater opportunity to organize and change the situation. This week, the US Civil Rights Commission asked Attorney General Eric Holder to play a stronger role in investigating the case in Ferguson. The Department of Justice announced that it willconduct a broad review of police tactics.

Stop ‘Urban Shield’ Conference: ‘No’ To Militarized Police

August 16, 2014 War Resisters League, www.popularresistance.org ,
The militarized lockdown and brutal attack on Ferguson's Black community is not an anomaly. Police repression is growing across the US and globally through coordinated efforts to militarize policing tactics and weapons. Local police departments are now directly funded by the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense. From September 4th-8th, one such DHS-backed program, Urban Shield, will be hosted by Oakland's Marriott Hotel. This weekend - including SWAT training, national and transnational police networking, and weaponry sales - is coordinated by the Urban Areas Security Intiative (UASI.) UASI is an initative in which the St. Louis area police actively participate. The military tanks, tear-gas, rubber bullets and SWAT armor attacking the people of Ferguson are there because of these programs: Resist the occupation of Ferguson by stopping Urban Shield.

Ferguson Shows Need For Black Power Movement

August 15, 2014 Massoud Hayoun, www.america.aljazeera.com , ,
In areas such as St. Louis County, where community members say African-Americans are sometimes stopped multiple times in a trip across the micro-cities, many black Americans say the police profiling and brutality discourages them from travel and therefore the spread of information on community tragedies and movements in response to them. Communication is an issue even in traditional bastions of the black empowerment movements. Hodari B. Davis of Young, Gifted and Black, a black youth organization based in Oakland, California — which recently started performing a song called “Don’t Shoot” — believes that a lack of communication is preventing a nationwide response to the killings in recent years. Davis cited the counterintelligence program Cointelpro, which the FBI carried out from the 1950s through the ’70s to covertly disrupt black power and other ethnic-based movements.

Tell Dept. Of Justice ‘End Racist And Militaristic Policing’

August 15, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org , , ,
Although the Department of Justice does not link their new decision to undertake a broad review of police tactics to any specific incident, it comes during a wave of notable instances of police killing unarmed black men and responding with excessive force to a peaceful protest of the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The DoJ is also considering reinstating a national commission to provide guidance to police policies. This move is supported by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. There has been a push to stop the growing militarization of police forces and the overuse of SWAT teams for some time. At present, local police units are being inundated with free military equipment including tanks, assault rifles and vehicles designed to resist land mines. They are also being trained in military tactics. And there is also a push to hire members of the military into the police force.

Solidarity Actions: Saturday 1PM CST When Mike Brown Was Killed

August 15, 2014 Staff, www.actionnetwork.org ,
THIS SATURDAY, St. Louis Calls for Solidarity Actions for Justice for Mike Brown, for Trayvon Martin, for Eric Garner, for Renisha McBride, for Amadou Diallo and so many others Groups on the ground in St. Louis are calling for nationwide solidarity actions in support of Justice for Mike Brown and the end of police and extrajudicial killings everywhere. On Saturday at 1pm CST -- one week after the murder of Mike Brown by a Ferguson police officer--we in St. Louis will gather at the location that Mike was shot in the Canfield Apartment buildings. We ask that you gather at the places in your community on Saturday where police and extrajudicial killings have occurred to memorialize lives that have been lost and demand justice by ending systemic violence upon communities of color. We know that the murder of Mike Brown in St. Louis is just one of hundreds of murders per year by extrajudicial means throughout this country. There are too many names to list

#NMOS14: Solidarity From Coast To Coast

August 15, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org ,
In response to the most recent murders of unarmed black men by police and the excessive show of force against the mourning community of Ferguson, MO, a national moment of silence was called for on Thursday, August 14. The call resonated from coast to coast as communities in 96 cities in 37 states plus the District of Columbia organized events. The turnout at many of the events was large. In New York City, thousands of people filled Times Square and shut it down with an impromptu sit-in. Police initially kettled the marchers and started making arrests, then changed their tactic and began releasing people from the square. Marchers everywhere held their hands in the air and chanted "Hands Up, Don't Shoot!"

Net Neutrality, Filtering And Ferguson

August 14, 2014 Zeynep Tufekci, www.medium.com , , ,
Ferguson is about many things, starting first with race and policing in America. But it’s also about internet, net neutrality and algorithmic filtering. It’s a clear example of why “saving the Internet”, as it often phrased, is not an abstract issue of concern only to nerds, Silicon Valley bosses, and few NGOs. It’s why “algorithmic filtering” is not a vague concern. It’s a clear example why net neutrality is a human rights issue; a free speech issue; and an issue of the voiceless being heard, on their own terms. I saw this play out in multiple countries — my home country of Turkey included — but last night, it became even more heartbreakingly apparent in the United States as well.

Healthy Response To Racism And Trauma In Ferguson

August 14, 2014 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.greenshadowcabinet.us , ,
It is right that we mourn these deaths and those of the hundreds of young black men and women who are disproportionately targeted by police each year. According toa study which may underestimate the actual number, a black man is killed every 28 hours by either police, security guards or vigilantes. On top of that, Stop and Frisk policies target people of color and people of color are more likely to be incarcerated. It is common in the cases of shootings by police for the officers to falsely claim that the victim was armed or aggressive and for the media to falsely portray the victim as a criminal. This is an attempt to justify the use of deadly force and extrajudicial murder. However, we have a justice system to decide if and when execution is the punishment. Although that system is itself flawed, it is preferable to officers trying, sentencing and executing a person in an extra-judicial approach to ‘justice.’
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