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Why police are their own worst enemies, part infinity


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NYPD Crushes Tiny Anti-ICE Protest With Overwhelming Force And Bloody Arrests

BY NICK PINTO
SEPT. 18, 2020 11:01 A.M.
  15 COMMENTS
NYPD officers detain a person during an Abolish ICE protest on September 17, 2020.
NYPD officers make one of many arrests during an Abolish ICE protest on September 17, 2020. NICK PINTO / GOTHAMIST
 

The march calling for the abolition of ICE hadn’t gone more than a few blocks through Lower Manhattan on Thursday afternoon when NYPD officers ran into the crowd, tackling marchers to the ground, and taking them into custody.

Fewer than 100 people had set off around 5 p.m. from Foley Square, next to the federal building that holds the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. During a demonstration against ICE the previous day, motivated in part by reporting that the agency is performing non-consensual hysterectomies of women in its custody, protesters had entered the federal building, where a security officer drew a gun on them.

From the beginning, the demonstrators on Thursday were flanked and followed by well over 100 police officers, including members of the Strategic Response Group, plainclothes officers, bicycle police, police on motor scooters, and an NYPD helicopter. As the marchers filed out of Foley Square, some officers already had their batons out. The protesters marched in the street, and almost immediately police used a Long Range Acoustic Device to warn them that if they did not clear the roadway, they would be subject to arrest.

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After the first arrests on Broadway, the remaining marchers, rattled, ran south on Broadway, turning west towards the World Trade Center. At the corner of Greenwich and Cortland Streets, police caught up with them, throwing nine more protesters to the ground and putting them in zip cuffs. At least one man was bleeding from the head after police ground his face into the pavement; 20 minutes after it had started, the protest had met a violent end.

As the officers waited for a Strategic Response Group van to transport their arrestees, they were reinforced by more and more police, including Anti-Terrorism Port Authority Police wearing Blue-Lives Matter face masks, and a fresh unit of 30 or so Strategic Response Group officers massed in orderly ranks. Protesters stood on the eastern sidewalk, calling out to their arrested fellows to get their names and birthdates to help track them through the system, and jeering plainclothes officers who displayed no shields or identifying information.

Immediately after the nine arrested protesters had been loaded into a van, the SRG police raced into position behind the remaining protesters, trapping them on the sidewalk against the phalanx of police already keeping them off the street. In the resulting chaos, police grabbed more protesters, forced them to the ground, and handcuffed them, and the remaining marchers were forced to the sidewalk corners on either end of the block.

Whether police had determined to crush this particular protest almost before it had started because they associated it with the incursion into the federal building the day before, or because the flyer advertising the event on social media had hinted that organizers would not be enforcing respect for property, or simply because the group was very small and there were no legal observers obviously present and it was easy to bring overwhelming force to bear, remains unclear.

For their part, the protesters were nearly as leery of the news media on scene as they were of the police, discouraging photojournalists from taking pictures and reluctant to give their names to reporters, who they feel have not accurately conveyed the disproportionate police violence used against street protesters in recent months.

“We’re here calling to abolish ICE, because of the violence they’re perpetrating against women and children every day,” said one protester who did not wish to give his name. “And instead of defending the safety of vulnerable people, the NYPD, which works hand in hand with ICE, is here perpetrating more state violence to silence our criticism.”

An NYPD spokesperson said they did not have a count of how many people were arrested or what they were charged with, nor could they say why so many officers were dispatched to police a protest of a few dozen people. As part of $1 billion in budget cuts and reallocations, the NYPD is supposed to slash its overtime by $228 million this year. Meanwhile, the city’s Independent Budget Office has stated their prediction that the NYPD will miss that target by $400 million.

After the final wave of arrested protesters had been loaded into a Department of Corrections bus and driven off, the ranks of police fell back, chased by the recriminations of the handful of remaining protesters.

“You guys are literally f*cking nazis, you know that?” one woman standing atop a traffic bollard shouted at the retreating police. “You don’t agree with everything, you’re just following orders? You’re nazis.”

“We’re here protesting ICE ripping the uteruses out of people, and this is how you show up?” one man called after the police. “In 20 or 30 years, when people ask what you were doing now, you’re gonna be like ‘Oh, I beat the s*it out of them for it.’”

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You literally should wait for illegal activity to begin before you start arresting people.  The video of the arrests seemed fine (especially for that stupid chick that was pushing the cop) and I didn't see any beatings as described, but wait a bit and not give people another reason to distrust the police.

The protesters seemed angsty, but was that from the arrests that by all accounts were uncalled for?  Who knows, but it sure seems like a police state when they start things off by arresting folks right away.

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1 minute ago, Randomguy said:

You literally should wait for illegal activity to begin before you start arresting people.  The video of the arrests seemed fine (especially for that stupid chick that was pushing the cop) and I didn't see any beatings as described, but wait a bit and not give people another reason to distrust the police.

Once we put your mayor behind bars, we'll have none of this mamby-pamby behavior you are espousing.

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36 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

NYPD Crushes Tiny Anti-ICE Protest With Overwhelming Force And Bloody Arrests

BY NICK PINTO
SEPT. 18, 2020 11:01 A.M.
  15 COMMENTS
 
NYPD officers detain a person during an Abolish ICE protest on September 17, 2020.
NYPD officers make one of many arrests during an Abolish ICE protest on September 17, 2020. NICK PINTO / GOTHAMIST
 

The march calling for the abolition of ICE hadn’t gone more than a few blocks through Lower Manhattan on Thursday afternoon when NYPD officers ran into the crowd, tackling marchers to the ground, and taking them into custody.

Fewer than 100 people had set off around 5 p.m. from Foley Square, next to the federal building that holds the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. During a demonstration against ICE the previous day, motivated in part by reporting that the agency is performing non-consensual hysterectomies of women in its custody, protesters had entered the federal building, where a security officer drew a gun on them.

From the beginning, the demonstrators on Thursday were flanked and followed by well over 100 police officers, including members of the Strategic Response Group, plainclothes officers, bicycle police, police on motor scooters, and an NYPD helicopter. As the marchers filed out of Foley Square, some officers already had their batons out. The protesters marched in the street, and almost immediately police used a Long Range Acoustic Device to warn them that if they did not clear the roadway, they would be subject to arrest.

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After the first arrests on Broadway, the remaining marchers, rattled, ran south on Broadway, turning west towards the World Trade Center. At the corner of Greenwich and Cortland Streets, police caught up with them, throwing nine more protesters to the ground and putting them in zip cuffs. At least one man was bleeding from the head after police ground his face into the pavement; 20 minutes after it had started, the protest had met a violent end.

As the officers waited for a Strategic Response Group van to transport their arrestees, they were reinforced by more and more police, including Anti-Terrorism Port Authority Police wearing Blue-Lives Matter face masks, and a fresh unit of 30 or so Strategic Response Group officers massed in orderly ranks. Protesters stood on the eastern sidewalk, calling out to their arrested fellows to get their names and birthdates to help track them through the system, and jeering plainclothes officers who displayed no shields or identifying information.

Immediately after the nine arrested protesters had been loaded into a van, the SRG police raced into position behind the remaining protesters, trapping them on the sidewalk against the phalanx of police already keeping them off the street. In the resulting chaos, police grabbed more protesters, forced them to the ground, and handcuffed them, and the remaining marchers were forced to the sidewalk corners on either end of the block.

Whether police had determined to crush this particular protest almost before it had started because they associated it with the incursion into the federal building the day before, or because the flyer advertising the event on social media had hinted that organizers would not be enforcing respect for property, or simply because the group was very small and there were no legal observers obviously present and it was easy to bring overwhelming force to bear, remains unclear.

For their part, the protesters were nearly as leery of the news media on scene as they were of the police, discouraging photojournalists from taking pictures and reluctant to give their names to reporters, who they feel have not accurately conveyed the disproportionate police violence used against street protesters in recent months.

“We’re here calling to abolish ICE, because of the violence they’re perpetrating against women and children every day,” said one protester who did not wish to give his name. “And instead of defending the safety of vulnerable people, the NYPD, which works hand in hand with ICE, is here perpetrating more state violence to silence our criticism.”

An NYPD spokesperson said they did not have a count of how many people were arrested or what they were charged with, nor could they say why so many officers were dispatched to police a protest of a few dozen people. As part of $1 billion in budget cuts and reallocations, the NYPD is supposed to slash its overtime by $228 million this year. Meanwhile, the city’s Independent Budget Office has stated their prediction that the NYPD will miss that target by $400 million.

After the final wave of arrested protesters had been loaded into a Department of Corrections bus and driven off, the ranks of police fell back, chased by the recriminations of the handful of remaining protesters.

“You guys are literally f*cking nazis, you know that?” one woman standing atop a traffic bollard shouted at the retreating police. “You don’t agree with everything, you’re just following orders? You’re nazis.”

“We’re here protesting ICE ripping the uteruses out of people, and this is how you show up?” one man called after the police. “In 20 or 30 years, when people ask what you were doing now, you’re gonna be like ‘Oh, I beat the s*it out of them for it.’”

The protesters should never have entered the building the day before.  That's like having hunting season open.

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Why does NYC not like ice?  Down here, you order a drink and the glass will come full of ice, no matter if it is tea, water or coke.   Then a sweet young waitress will stop by pretty often and refill your glass or bring you a refill from the soda fountain.

I remember a trip to Boston where I ordered a glass of tea and there was one or two tiny slivers of ice in it and no pretty girl asking if "ya'll need a refill" every five minutes.  Shameful!

If you ask me, the police should go in restaurants that do not fill the glass with ice first and rough up the maitre d.

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32 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

In the words of Barney Fife “Nip it in the bud”.

That is what they said when the nazis (in Germany) were getting going. 

The right to peaceably assemble was certainly infringed upon, they want to intimidate folks from protesting at all.  You gotta exercise your rights so jackholes can't take them away unlawfully.

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The police seem way wrong here, but so was the fact "the flyer advertising the event on social media had hinted that organizers would not be enforcing respect for property."

With less than 100 people, it shouldn't have been hard to arrest violent people after they showed they were going to be violent.

I was involved in environmental protests in the '80's where state legislatures had prearranged for our bail in case we were arrested for blocking hazardous waste trucks - which we did not intend to do, just to peacefully protest - and the police who were there just relaxed and kept an eye on us. That should have been the case here.

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Counterpoint to that is did you see the video of people in Compton videoing the shot & bleeding cops laughing and saying they got what’s coming to them.

I wasn’t there and don’t know what happened in NYC other than what the media reported but the hostility & backlash towards LE is only getting worse.   They  can be their own worse enemy and sometimes the media sensationalizes specific events and not the response as a whole.  

Not even sure the mainstream media covered the guys laughing at the bloody cops.  I saw it on one of my industry news feeds.

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5 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Counterpoint to that is did you see the video of people in Compton videoing the shot & bleeding cops laughing and saying they got what’s coming to them.

I wasn’t there and don’t know what happened in NYC other than what the media reported but the hostility & backlash towards LE is only getting worse.   They  can be their own worse enemy and sometimes the media sensationalizes specific events and not the response as a whole.  

Not even sure the mainstream media covered the guys laughing at the bloody cops.  I saw it on one of my industry news feeds.

Misbehavior by one group does not make misbehavior by another ok.  Protests are protests and are protected by law.  Violence is violence and is not.  Some of the protesters are pushing the violence bit too hard.  Some of the police are pushing back too hard.  I don't know what the answer is but the hard line by either side isn't it.

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2 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

Protests are protests and are protected by law.  Violence is violence and is not.

Pretty much how a "normal" society would and should treat it.

I think the problem we are running into in the US is that protests are being treated as de facto violence, and protests are met with force rather than simple observance.  Add in an additional element of agitators and fringe elements bent of creating chaos rather than protesting/supporting, a lazy public willing to paint with broad brushstrokes, and politicians willing to lie for short term political gain and BOOM, you have what we have today.

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Just now, Randomguy said:

Do we really know this?  I would like to see the flyer and figure out whose narrative we are listening to.

Hey - it was "hinted" at, so isn't that plausible enough!  I think we may be asking too much from folks to accept that protesting isn't always terrorism.

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3 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Pretty much how a "normal" society would and should treat it.

I think the problem we are running into in the US is that protests are being treated as de facto violence, and protests are met with force rather than simple observance.  Add in an additional element of agitators and fringe elements bent of creating chaos rather than protesting/supporting, a lazy public willing to paint with broad brushstrokes, and politicians willing to lie for short term political gain and BOOM, you have what we have today.

I agree, all screwed up by assfaces not intent on serving the public, but instead intent on the public serving them.   

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Just now, Razors Edge said:

I think we may be asking too much from folks to accept that protesting isn't always terrorism

That is crazy talk, it certainly is terrorism and should be stamped out!  If they really wanted to have the right to peaceful assembly, they shoulda put it in the constitution or somesuch.

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7 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

This is a blanket statement not supported by ordinance nor the courts that backed up communities right to enforce those public gathering ordinances.

 

It's a blanket statement in that it requires that the law be followed with regard to permits or anything else.  However when communities put unreasonable stumbling blocks in the path of righteous protest that peaceful protest is going on anyway.  The 60's demonstrated that sometimes people are willing to break ordinances and be arrested and that eventually their cause may prove to have been the more correct path.  That is not however rioting and looting but peaceful protest that happens to inconvenience some as necessary.

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