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After DNC Protesters Rock the Streets, They Plan to Rock the Courts

September 10, 2008 by ringokamens

After DNC Protesters Rock the Streets They Plan to Rock the Courts
by Ringo Kamens

Today, Glenn Spagnuolo of the Recreate 68 Alliance and Attorney David Lane headed off a press conference announcing a major legal offensive against the city of Denver and the police department for violating the constitutional rights of protesters who came to voice their opinions during the DNC.

At the conference, victims of policy brutality, harassment, and surveillance during the DNC spoke about their experiences.

Carlo Garcia, a student at the University of Colorado said that he started talking with an officer and within five seconds he had been knocked to the dirt and dogpiled by four other officers. He showed that his wrists, two weeks after the DNC, still had injuries from the cuffs used against him. He asked, "Is this how our local government treats dissent?". The false arrest also caused legal complications for Carlo, who had conditions from previous charges he chose not to discuss.

After Carlo spoke, several other people had their turn including Alex Bryan, a member of Unconventional Denver who witnessed harassment around the convergence center. According to his statement, the convergence center was a space for people to work on "making signs, banners"... "and other first-amendment protected activities". He testified that several vehicles had been pulled over after leaving the convergence center. One of those vehicles, he said, had "signs, banners, and other constitutionally protected materials". But that wasn't the only one, he said, further clarifying by saying that "This was a calculated, aggressive effort at intimidation against people exercising their legally protected rights of free expression". Later, when he tried to take a picture of a police vehicle who was pulling over cars near the center, he was arrested and cited with "pedestrian use of a sidewalk", a charge he says he still doesn't understand.

Several others came up to testify about what they witnessed during the week of the DNC. According to Glenn Spagnuolo of the Recreate 68 Allience, a member of the CODE PINK protest group was assaulted by an officer directly after Carlo's confrontation with the police. He says that she was hit with a baton and knocked unconscious while the officer said "back up bitch". The video of this incident became an instant YouTube hit and prior to this press conference had already been covered by programs such as Democracy Now! and several local news channels.

At the end, David Lane spoke and talked about the legal aspects of the case. He would not specify whether the lawsuit would be a large class-action or a series of smaller suits. He did say, however that "We will take them into federal and district court. We will seek damages. We will not tolerate this and we will go after officers".

Recreate 68 is asking people who were included in the monday confrontation, harassed near the convergence center/witness to the bulldozing of private property, or otherwise seriously mistreated by police to contact them at legal@recreate68.org

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Comments

Failed once again

September 10, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 10 weeks ago
Comment id: 1157

Once again, you guys fought with the police and made that the subject of your protests. What does anyone know about the unbathed masses; only that you like to fight with the police.
You had tried to disrupt the democrats right to assemble, speak, and listen. They did not want you in the private Pepsi center, so you had a hissy fit and fought with the police.
Everyone I know that was affected by your tiny protests said they will now oppose your views, what ever they are.

Hey thanks for the flame

September 12, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 10 weeks ago
Comment id: 1191

Hey thanks for the flame post. I'm glad that we're effective enough to be hated.

You apparently weren't there

September 10, 2008 by ringokamens, 1 year 10 weeks ago
Comment id: 1158

There actually wasn't any confrontation until the police came and pushed us off public property on Sunday. On Monday, the exact same situation happened where people were detained, arrested without having committed any concrete crimes. Even if they had been planning to commit crimes as police claim, you don't arrest somebody because they "look" like they could commit crimes. You either have to prove conspiracy or wait till they do it. Protesters were marching on the sidewalk, not blocking traffic when two lines of police converged and blocked them up in a street. The police held the streets for several hours. Protesters tried to leave and were beaten back or maced. Who is blocking the streets in that situation?

The protesters made a commitment to non-violent, feces-free protests. The violence, confrontation, and all of that was started by the police.

I encourage you to look up some in-context YouTube videos.

Anyways, your comment is criticizing the protests which isn't what this is about. This is about people getting their constitutional rights violated. It doesn't matter if you're a convicted rapist, you still have constitutional rights and this insures everybody is given a fair chance. Regardless of what you thought of the protests, you should at least recognize that people were brutalized, harassed, and intimidated by the police. I was one of those people, and I know about 100 other people who fit in that class.

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