is to watch the damn videos, linked at my name -- I know they're long, and there isn't all that much excitement, and the dialogue really sucks -- and tell me how a) the protesters and the onlookers and the media and whatnot are engaging in riot or even endangering the public safety (you'll note some traffic is continuning relatively unimpeded while grenades and teargas are being launched at the dispersing crowd) and b) how the police response is proportionate to the threat of all these unarmed no accounts doing nothing but disobeying. Or -- as the case may be -- obeying unsatisfactorily.

What I'm getting at is that some jurisdictions (after bitter and very expensive experience) and many nations around the world have figured out how to deal with these sorts of things without too much damage to their reputations. The United States, China, Israel and several others have not.

What, specifically, are the Authorities so desperately afraid of?

Answer if you can.

Thanks for bringing that up...you can find a link to an image of the damage police did to the bodies of protesters back in '03. It caused quite a furor here, but I doubt anyone in Minneapolis gave it a second thought. Keep this in perspective, it happens all the time and its wrong (I met this woman several weeks later, and she was fine, no scars). The lawsuit that followed brought an end to Oakland's experiment with rubber bullets. Just as the one in LA brought a change to the way LAPD ostensibly handles demosntrations involving browner people. Finding a resolution to this, even justice, will bring us no closer to any of our goals. i think we may have reached the limit of useful discussion on this issue. Noted, documented.

link at sig in either post...

as they were trained, ordered, indoctrinated, paid to do ...

They are not the Republican Party. They aren't supposed to "take sides" or "play favorites." They are on-duty. They don't get to chose or decide if they want to be there.

Yes, the cops (which it should be noted includes all sorts of agencies and hierarchies of authority) have been behaving badly ... many of their arrests will be thrown out ... some people will win judgments.

I suspect there is some "battle field" rule about not engaging in discussion or negotations with anyone not in custody ... a distracted or otherwise occupied officer is a weak-link.

Police brutality is not okay... even if it is remarkably common 24/7/365 in many parts of our country.

Spitting on and verbally assaulting police and/or vigorously resisting arrest increases the likelihood you will be "subdued."

How wrapped in white cotton fluff has your life been up to now?

The cops don't need you and man they expect the same. If the cops believe they have lost control of the situation, people will be injured, people will die. We can talk about how "wrong" all this is afterwards.

...over the last few years. Her last book was a bestseller. She'll run with this (as well she should). The overkill from Fletcher, DHS and the FBI is there for all to see. Moyers will run with this. Tavis Smiley will run with this.

Glenn, thanks for the heads up.

some crazy whitch runs up to cops doing their duty and confronts them and is surprised they didn't have a discussion?

You people are too stupid to be allowed to report on the real world. No one stifled her voice as a reporter. They just didn't let her interfere.

I didn't realize how good looking Palin is until I saw this poor excuse for a female. In this case abortion would have done us all good.

The fact these Reich Wingnut Fascist Police State Gestapo are slamming, beating, and injuring American Citizens is not surprising in the least. Under this Criminal Regime, we've seen the rise of Nazi-like tactics against the Press, unless of course you belong to the MSM, Corporate Criminal "Approved" Press. Then there's denial of Constitutional Protections like Habeus, active and open embracing of Extraordinary Rendition to Black Sites, Illegal Detention without access to Legal Council, Torture, and even Murder.

Police have become the Enemy of the Citizenry, not the protectors they were intended to be. The absolute glee with which they break the Law is also very troubling, seeming to indicate they've been given carte blanche to commit any crime they wish, assured of protection from prosecution by their equally Criminal "Leaders".

I hope charges of assault, battery, and intent to violate civil rights are the very least of the response to these actions by an out of control group of Criminal Thugs.

Remember Nazis, what goes around comes around.

I don't have to. Don't you get it?

Lawful order to disperse. Case closed.

Do not make any statements regarding the incident. Ask for a lawyer immediately upon your arrest.

Remember officers' badge and patrol car numbers.

Write down everything you remember ASAP.

Try to find witnesses and their names and phone numbers.

If you are injured, take photographs of the injuries as soon as possible, but make sure you seek medical attention first.

If you feel your rights have been violated, file a written complaint with police department's internal affairs division or civilian complaint board.

All good advice. Police are notorious liars.

Incidentally, i-Witness, one of the groups pre-emptively persecuted, saved many protesters from bogus convictions at the RNC in NY by providing video documentation that refuted the hyperbolic and falsified reports of the police.

Bet you money that the property-destroying "protesters" were Republican plants.

Yes, Amity got uppity (thanks, I really enjoyed stringing those two words together) with omooex about this but omooex is correct. These are mostly white, upper middle class people (kids) bitching, pissing and moaning. The lower classes have suffered this all their lives, and on a day to day basis.

Class justice. It is more about class than race but obviously certain races are under-represented in the upper classes.

click on sig for link ...

The hosts of Fox & Friends were predictably irate on Tuesday about the alleged anarchists who have been witnessed causing disruptions during the Republican National Convention, while ignoring questionable police tactics and seemingly indiscriminate arrests directed against peaceful protesters and journalists.

Yes, the usual right-wing suspects in the press (and here at UT) are pounding the table defending the police and their reprehensible tactics.

This incident really helps tell us who the police-state loving crowd is. Take notes; a few will pretend to be on your side in a thread or two.