LexRides

catamount · townie Joined: 21 Oct 2007 Posts: 163 Location: lex

In case you missed this - two UK students and a professor were arrested while taking pictures at the RNC. They were maced and arrested on charges of felony rioting.

Kentucky Kernel photographer Ed Matthews, left with camera, being sprayed with mace while photographing the protesters at the Republican National Convention.

http://kykernel.com/2008/09/02/two-students-and-kernel-photo-adviser-arrested-at-rnc/

Amoung others that were arrested - two producers and the host, Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/9/3/call_to_action_on_behalf_of_dn_journalists_facing_charges_for_reporting_on_the_republican_national_convention

jkizzle · cutter Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 519 Location: I.L.L.

hopefully we can hear his account of what happened, not the mass media version.

brokebike · cutter Joined: 21 Oct 2007 Posts: 2434 Location: local

funny how the really mind-blowingly oppressive, total disregard for civil rights and overstepping of authority ALWAYS takes place at these RNC events...

Republicans really know how to bring it out, huh?

My theory is, all the overly aggro, "proud to be an American hellyeah!" pro-GOP, trash talk radio listening zombies on the police force literally jump at the chance of working the RNC detail, just because of the likelihood that they'll get to crack a few liberal hippie skulls just for looking "suspicious and out-of-place".

bullshit.
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jkizzle · cutter Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 519 Location: I.L.L.

well, didnt this actually escalate into a real riot? i dont know the details, but i know at least some independent media reported it as rioting. i agree with the GOP shit though... obviously liberals tend to be more action oriented, but GOP events always end up with hundreds of arrests, and I have a hard time believing that even a handful of people are actually guilty of anything.

brokebike · cutter Joined: 21 Oct 2007 Posts: 2434 Location: local

Crowds happen. Protests happen.
Riots just don't "happen". They're incited.
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elzie5000 · cutter Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 1177

This is my favorite thing that happened outside the RNC by far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZv3fsM_3z0

Megaphone guitar solos for democracy!

DHB · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:08 pm Post subject:

Well, it was really only me who got the mace, and we UK journalists were thankfully never fully charged, although one of our friends did get a gross misdemeanor for doing what we all were-- taking pictures. I probably shouldn't talk about it too much since I was "released pending further investigation", which means they get to call me back in at any time to charge me.

I was basically just standing there with my camera up to my face when all of a sudden I get a wash of pepper spray on the back of my neck and in my left eye. I never even knew where it came from until I saw this photo after my 36+ hours in jail.

I was pretty baffled when I saw the photo. At the time it felt like a pretty direct hit with the spray and I wondered if I was accidentally targeted, but after looking at the photo and seeing the cop ignoring the protesters in front of him to shoot at me, a journalist standing 20 ft away, it makes it look obviously intentional. And I wonder why the cop in front of me (you can see his camel bak in the right of the frame) didn't seem to mind me standing there.

I didn't actually get arrested right after this either. I was able to run a few feet away and get some medical attention (there were field medics (who were just people with water bottles of saline and red crosses duct-taped to their shirts) helping people by rinsing their eyes and putting antacid on any affected skin), after which I let the mace wear off. Then, since the protests weren't over I still had more to cover, so I started shooting a group that ended up being corralled by riot cops in a parking lot and mass-arrested, which is where they got Amy Goodman and Matt Rourke, the AP photographer who took the photo of me getting a face full of mace.

Another pretty irritating thing is that they're still holding all our equipment and we can't get it back until Monday the 8th. But it's not just our equipment, it's my keys, wallet, cell phone...everything. If I wasn't able to hang on to my ID and my debit card I would have essentially been living on the street in St Paul until the 8th. But I did manage to get a new key cut for my car and now all three of us are home safe waiting to see what will happen with our gear.

So, if you ever go to the Twin Cities area, try the pepper spray. It comes highly recommended.