Miami crowd control would do tyrant proud

[benfranklin1776]

"Miami police Chief John Timoney must be mighty proud of the social order he maintained during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit a couple of weeks ago in Miami - sort of the way Saddam Hussein was proud of quieting dissension in his country.

Timoney has a well-deserved reputation for using paramilitary tactics to turn any city where large protests are planned into a place where the Constitution has taken a holiday. During the FTAA meeting on Nov. 20, Timoney dispatched 2,500 police officers in full riot gear against a crowd estimated at 8,000 people, mostly union members and retirees.

The result was a show of force that would have made a Latin American dictator blush.

* * * *

[] The scene was a "massive police state," according to the president of the United Steelworkers of America, who has demanded a congressional investigation. Congress gave Miami $8.5-million for security during the FTAA meetings - funds slipped inside the $87-billion measure for Iraq. The steelworkers called it money for "homeland repression."

The National Lawyers Guild, a liberal legal organization, said the day was punctuated by "indiscriminate, excessive force against hundreds of nonviolent protesters with weapons including pepper spray, tear gas, and concussion grenades and rubber bullets."

* * * * *

When men like Timoney and Ashcroft are on the A-list of the nation's law enforcers, free speech doesn't stand a chance. It is open season on dissent. A vignette reported by the Miami Herald says it all: During the FTAA action, Timoney came upon a protester who was pinned against a car being arrested; without knowing anything about the circumstances, he pointed a finger at the demonstrator's face and said, "You're bad. F-- you!" People exercising their First Amendment rights are now considered the enemy."

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/30/Columns/Miami_crowd_control_w.shtml


So as other countries in the world such as those in Eastern Europe and Latin America which have lived under brutally repressive dicatorships for years are taking tentative steps towards becoming freer and more open societies we are regressing rapidly in the reverse direction. This manner of wanton abuse of the citizenry exercising their first amendment rights threatens to become the established norm not the rare exception. Rubber bullets in the back at point blank range? Doesn't sound much like the behavior of officials of a free open democracy to me. Another huge rightward lurch towards neofascism.

[JohnyCanuck]

1. Jailhouse Crock

It was nearly dark when another group of young people, walking south, met us on the sidewalk. "Don't go to the Convergence Center," a girl advised us. "They're evacuating. They're taking people out on buses." Well, we had to go in that direction anyway, so we crossed to the east side of the avenue. At least we'd be on the opposite side of the street from the center. We weren't the only ones trekking north; other clusters of people were in front of us and behind us.

Suddenly a Miami-Dade Police Department squad car came hurtling south down Miami Avenue, doors wide open. The car swerved across the oncoming lane, climbed the curb, and screeched to a halt on the swale in front of us.

"Get down!" four officers shouted as they leaped from the car. "Get on the ground!"

We dropped to the ground.

Throughout the day I'd witnessed police provoke protesters. I'd seen young people cuffed and lined up along the street, but I thought they must have done something bad to be detained. Surely the police would see that we were doing nothing wrong and let us go. Surely they would recognize my role as a working member of the press.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2003-11-27/feature.html/1/index.html

Welcome to the USSA folks.

[T Bone]

2. Funds from the $87 billion for Iraq used for repression here

That says it all.

I heard this on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman on Pacifica Radio last week. Now of the portion that was designated for this I wonder how much of THAT got raked off into Jebbie's and Florida slush funds of one sort or another ?

Things like this make the Bush *residency look like a thinly veiled Dictatorship*.

[Say_What]

3. AI: USA: Allegations of excessive use of force and ill-treatment of prote

<clips>

Amnesty International called today for a full and independent inquiry into allegations of excessive use of force by police during demonstrations in Miami on 20th November. The organization has also received dozens of reports of ill-treatment of those detained during the demonstration.

Police are reported to have fired rubber bullets and used batons, pepper spray, tear gas canisters and concussion grenades on crowds demonstrating against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations, leaving some people hospitalized and dozens more treated for injuries. Scores of people, including journalists and observers, were arrested during the demonstration, some reportedly subjected to ill-treatment in detention. Amnesty International is currently gathering more information on the reported violations.

"The level of force used by police does not appear to have been at all justified." Amnesty International said, noting reports that only a small minority of demonstrators had engaged in acts of violence.

Miami Police Chief John Timoney today issued a letter to the media stating that his department would be undertaking a comprehensive review of the FTAA security operation and would produce a public report.

<http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/usa/document.do?id=80256DD400782B8480256DEA005EF025>

[tom_paine]

4. It DID do a tyrant proud.

Imperial Amerika IS a dictatorship, and the only reason it is even "thinly-veiled" is because it is not nearly finished transition from what it was to what it is becoming.

[meow2u3]

5. Timoney pulled the same unconstitutional $#!t in Philly...

during the Rethuglican National Convention! Between people having to post $1M bail for a misdemeanor and shooting rubber bullets at point-blank range--with the intent to kill liberals--this fascist pig deserves a one-way ticket to prison, where he'll be so badly roughed up that he'll never forget the lesson!