Police violence

Judge Blocks Seattle’s Ban On Crowd Control Weapons

July 27, 2020 David Kroman, Crosscut. Educate! Department of Justice, federal law enforcement, Police violence, Seattle

A federal judge late Friday halted the implementation of a Seattle ban on police use of tear gas, pepper spray and other so-called less lethal weapons used for crowd control. His decision gives more latitude to law enforcement to use the tools ahead of what could be a weekend of protests, as federal agents arrive in Seattle with the stated orders of protecting federal property. A separate court injunction against use of the crowd control weapons remains in place, although that order allows for their targeted and limited deployment in certain circumstances.

Louisville: Black Lives Matter Protesters Arrested After Blocking Street

July 25, 2020 Chris Kenning, Hayes Gardner and Ben Tobin, Courier Journal. Resist! Kentucky, Louisville, Police violence, Rebellion2020

Louisville, KY - More than 100 Black Lives Matter protesters were confronted by police after blocking off Market Street in Louisville's Nulu neighborhood on Friday afternoon and setting up an impromptu block party. Police started arresting dozens of protesters shortly before 5 p.m. after declaring that the gathering was an unlawful assembly. In total, 76 were arrested, according to Louisville Metro Police Department spokesman Lamont Washington. The group arrived around 4 p.m., and in less than a half-hour, protesters put up long tables with meal settings, connect four games, a trampoline, artwork and shade tents between Clay and Shelby streets.

Protesters Use ‘Midnight Yoga’ To Cope With Police Violence

July 25, 2020 Chuck Modiano, Deadspin.com. Strategize! Police violence, Rebellion2020, Self Care, Washington DC

Saturday night marked another session of “Midnight Yoga” on Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington D.C. The protesters, who have been out in the streets over 50 days after being initially sparked by the failure to arrest the officers who had murdered George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (still), have turned to the peace that yoga provides to manage their pain, both physical and emotional. Around the same time federal police were turning Portland into a war zone while violently beating and pepper-spraying citizens, D.C. protesters were stretching out their limbs after giving a touching 100 candle-light tribute to late Congressman John Lewis.

Protesters Attacked By Police Are Suing To Vindicate Their Constitutional Rights

July 21, 2020 By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. Resist! Constitutional Rights, Police abuse, Police violence, Portland

Protesters demonstrating against white supremacy and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s public lynching have been met with illegal repression by law enforcement. Police have utilized toxic chemical and sonic weapons, dangerous projectiles, intrusive surveillance, physical violence and “kettling” to trap demonstrators after dispersal orders are given. People are suing to protect their constitutional rights.Plaintiffs allege that police misconduct resulted in the violation of their First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. They charge that the LAPD used “indiscriminate and unreasonable force against thousands of protesters” and used unreasonable and excessive force by hitting “at least close to a thousand protesters with batons and/or ‘rubbers bullets.’” Plaintiffs attest to being restrained with tight handcuffs, denied bathroom access and access to food or water, and provided insufficient ventilation during transport, making them vulnerable to COVID-19.

Portland: A Harbinger Of Things To Come?

July 21, 2020 the Black Alliance for Peace. Educate! Militarization, Police abuse, Police violence, Racism

Militarized federal agents deployed by the president to Portland, fired tear gas against protesters again overnight as the city’s mayor demanded that the agents be removed and as the state’s attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them. (Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP) Masked men in unrecognizable police uniforms jump out of unmarked vans and grab an activist who has been involved in demonstrations against a repressive state. That person is disappeared. Is this Pinochet’s Chile, apartheid South Africa or a scene from a John Clancy novel? No, this is happening in Portland, Oregon, a major U.S. city. The culprits apparently are agents of the federal government who have essentially invaded the streets of that city over the objections of the mayor and the governor.

Ten Reasons Why Defunding Police Should Lead To Defunding War

July 21, 2020 By Medea Benjamin and Zoltán Grossman, CODEPINK. Create! Defund the police, Military Budget, Pentagon, Police violence

Since George Floyd was murdered, we have seen an increasing convergence of the “war at home” against Black and brown people with the “wars abroad” that the U.S. has waged against people in other countries. Army and National Guard troops have been deployed in U.S. cities, as militarized police treat our cities as occupied war zones. In response to this “endless war” at home, the growing and thunderous cries for defunding the police have been echoed by calls for defunding the Pentagon’s wars. Instead of seeing these as two separate but related demands, we should see them as intimately linked, since the racialized police violence on our streets and the racialized violence the U.S. has long inflicted on people around the world are mirror reflections of each other.

Secret Police On The Streets Of PDX

July 21, 2020 Members of Black Rose Anarchist Federation, Black Rose. Resist! Anarchism, Police abuse, Police violence, Portland

Portland has now become a proving ground for the Trump administration to demonstrate its ‘law and order’ bona fides in the run-up to the 2020 election. Federal police, with little information available as to which agencies they specifically work for, have become more active in the repression of demonstrations in the city. A number of recent videos have captured this secret police force, members of which wear military fatigues, grabbing demonstrators off the street and shuttling them away in unmarked vehicles. We caught up with a member of our Portland local to find out more about what’s been happening on the ground.

Portland Protester, Navy Veteran, Describes Beating By Federal Officers

July 21, 2020 By Zane Sparling, Portland Tribune. Resist! federal law enforcement, Police abuse, Police violence, Portland

David stood as solidly as a rock while federal officers pepper-sprayed him twice and struck him at least five times with a baton during a rally outside the Hatfield Courthouse on Saturday, July 18. "I knew I was never going to react. I was never going to fight back," he said. "I'm a little too old to be beaten by a bunch of young guys." David, 53, of Portland, is hardly an anti-establishment type. He says he attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, after high school, later serving with the Navy Seabees while becoming a commissioned officer and aeronautical engineer. David is hoping life will return to normal soon. While he never did speak with the camouflaged feds, he said he hopes they hear his message: "That oath of office is essentially swearing loyalty to the Constitution of the United States, and what they're doing is not constitutional anymore."

Inside The Battle For Portland

July 20, 2020 Shane Burley, Waging Nonviolence. Resist! Anti-Racism Protests, Independent media, Police violence, Portland

On the night of July 11, as hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters amassed around the Justice Center in Portland, Oregon, federal Homeland Security officers opened fire with “crowd control” munitions. They shot a teargas canister directly at the head of Donavan LaBella, a peaceful protester who had been standing across the street holding a sign. The video that captured the protester — unconscious, bleeding and being carried to safety by other demonstrators and street medics — went viral almost immediately, pushing state officials to make public statements and demand that federal law enforcement pull back. This video was shot by a 17-year-old independent journalist Garrison Davis, who was filming on his cell phone and broadcasting on Twitter.

The Anti-Racism Protests Haven’t Stopped

July 20, 2020 Sarah Ruiz-Grossman, Huffington Post. Resist! Antiracism, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Police violence, Rebellion2020

It’s been 50 days since people took to the streets after the police killing of George Floyd — and the nationwide protests haven’t let up since. After demonstrators in Minneapolis called out the unjust killing of Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white police officer, protests quickly spread to cities and towns across the country and even the world. And now, over seven weeks later, while the unrest has quieted in some places, people continue to show up day after day in the name of anti-racism and ending police brutality. It’s now been over four months since Breonna Taylor was killed, and protesters continue to march daily, calling for the cops involved to be charged. Since Taylor and Floyd died, too many other Black and brown people have been killed by police.

On Contact: Police Reform

July 19, 2020 Chris Hedges, RT. Resistance Report Defund the police, Police violence, Policing, Public safety

On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to writer, academic and activist Philip McHarris about the latest calls for police reform in the US. McHarris says the entire system of policing has to be unearthed. He argues there is no way to tweak or reform our way out of mass incarceration or the current policing apparatus and the culture of surveillance. The broader culture of punishment and control is actively harming certain people while also failing to provide public safety. Along the way to remaking the entire system, there are certain steps that can be taken in order to begin dismantling and shifting resources and power.

Oregon Sues Federal Agencies Over Protest Enforcement

July 18, 2020 Conrad Wilson, Dirk VanderHart and Meerah Powell, OPB. Resist! Customs and Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, Police violence, Portland

The Oregon Department of Justice is suing several federal agencies for civil rights abuses, and state prosecutors will potentially pursue criminal charges against a federal officer who seriously injured a protester. The federal lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marshals Service, the United States Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protective Service, agencies that have had a role in stepped-up force used against protesters since early July. The state filed the lawsuit late Friday night. It lists defendants specifically as John Does 1-10 because the “identity of the officers is not known, nor is their agency affiliation,” the lawsuit states.

ACLU Sues Trump Administration Over Use Of Secret Police In Portland

July 18, 2020 Jake Johnson, Commondreams. Resist! ACLU, Police violence, Portland, Trump Administration

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon sued the Trump administration late Friday over its deployment of federal agents to Portland, where unidentified officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshals Service have been detaining Black Lives Matter protesters without explanation and using indiscriminate force to crush demonstrations. "This is a fight to save our democracy," Kelly Simon, interim legal director with the ACLU of Oregon, said in a statement. "Under the direction of the Trump administration, federal agents are terrorizing the community, risking lives, and brutally attacking protesters demonstrating against police brutality.

Portland Mayor Condemns Masked Federal Agents Abducting Protesters

July 18, 2020 Alan Macleod, Mintpress News. Educate! federal law enforcement, First Amendment, Police violence, Portland

Anonymous masked federal agents in military uniforms jump out of unmarked minivans, abducting seemingly random people on the street in Portland, frightening new viral videos show. Officers from the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group and Customs and Border Protection’s BORTAC have been sent to the city to tamp down of 49 days of continuous demonstrations against racist police brutality. The move appears to be the Trump administration’s latest tactic to crush the nationwide protests that erupted in late May over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police.

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