Who's watching "peaceful" Miami protest on MSNBC right now?

[DoctorMyEyes]

All the while that it's being described as "peaceful" - I'm watching cops in riot gear hitting protesters along the edges of the crowd with sticks, and outright punching some!

WTF???

[Terwilliger]

1. Really!

[DoctorMyEyes]

8. It was surreal!

They've broken away now - Michael Jackson time!

I guess a protest where protesters don't fight back, and just take a whupping is *peaceful*!

The thing is the protesters weren't even FACING the police line! They were all going forward in the street and the police were hitting them from behind and beside as they went by.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

19. this happens at every protest

nothing the least bit unusual.

[montanacowboy]

13. What else would you expect

from Jeb Bush's Florida?

[LizW]

2. Isn't freedom great? (n/t)

[LEW]

3. Sorry I haven't been keeping up

But what are the protests in Miami about?

[MSchreader]

6. Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas

The hemispheric equivalent of NAFTA.

Martin

[Mika]

4. I'm in Miami - watching local TV

Black Block bus en route was "taken down" by the Miami PD.

Cops cleared the way for Miami Mayor (formerly Elian's lawyer in Miami) Manny Diaz's car using pepper spray and battons.

[MSchreader]

5. Oops! Move along citizen! Nothing to see here!

This is how the ruckus in Seattle and other places where "anti-globalization" protests have taken place got started -- when it wasn't the work of agents provocateur, that is.

Martin

[Bozita]

7. Peter Werbe is in that group.

Malloy talked to Peter on the air last night. Peter said the cops were less than professional.

[DoctorMyEyes]

9. Are any DUers there?

Freakin' unbelievable! I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and all the while the talking heads just kept saying that the protest appeared "peaceful" - and didn't make any mention of the police brutality playing out on the screen right over their shoulders!

[TexasMexican]

10. how much longer

till people start getting beat on? :(

[Postman]

11. Would they describe it as "peaceful" if a few cops got their ass kicked?

eom

[DoctorMyEyes]

12. I'm sure they wouldn't!

It was like fucking lambs to slaughter! These people weren't even looking at of facing the cops!

It was just a wide band of protesters proceeding forward while the poor souls on the edges were getting their asses kicked!

There's another thread now, that says protesters are getting violent and police are punching people in the face, "cracking down"

[PaDUer]

14. MSNBC

has been showing clips of this..

[DoctorMyEyes]

17. Now calling the protesters violent!!!?

Even though the clip they ran (briefly before going back to MJ coverage!) clearly showed the police beating people who were not fighting or threatening them!

[bigtree]

15. FTAA Resistance Radio

http://www.ftaaimc.org/en/static/radio_en.shtml

[DoctorMyEyes]

18. This is a good link

thank you so much

[Scurrilous]

16. You'd think the police...

...would be in a better mood considering the vast amounts of lucrative overtime they're racking-up this week protecting the Free Trade swells from the evil protestors. Maybe all that rigorous strutting about in their spiffy new riot gear has put some of Miami's finest in a bit of a funk.

[TexasMexican]

20. Watching CNN

the reporter on the ground says that the police are getting ready to fight.

BTW isnt this kind of stuff pretty wierd.

Did this kind of stuff happen in the 80s?

I remember when I was a kid, I didnt watch much news so I dont remember it, however this kind of armed police fighting crowds of people does seem familiar from dystopian movies such as the running man. Pretty sad that we are living in that future now.

[DoctorMyEyes]

27. Aside from the Seattle WTO protest

I don't think I've seen anything like this since the 1960's


I have a very bad feeling. Very bad....

[Terwilliger]

21. stuff is happening NOW

MSNBC

[newyorican]

22. Something is wrong...

the media *never* cover protests this extensively, and never, NEVER live. The revolution will not be televised, ever. So, something is up with this coverage.

[Terwilliger]

23. they're covering this because they dont want to cover the one in Britain

battles going on NOW in Miami

[Postman]

24. Why don't the reporters "report" from the protest side of the police line?

Aren't they being biased in their reporting by reporting their story from behind the police line? Are they afraid that the so-called "violent protestors" will get them?

Funny how they are always on the "look-out" for those pesky violent protestors who never seem to materialize until the cops start beating "peaceful" protestors in the head, then it becomes a story of "violent protestors"......what a effing joke the state of "news" in the United States..

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. The message has evidently gone out

that it's open season on protesters.

I wouldn't have believed it until I saw what happened in Portland in August 2002, where the cops let loose the pepper spray on people who were just standing there.

[Kitsune]

26. The police have a TANK.

A TANK.

*sigh*

And CNN says only 700-ish protesters...ugh...

Whose streets? Not ours anymore, apparantly....

[TexasMexican]

41. just for accuracy's sake...

I doubt they have a tank, but it wouldnt surprise me if they had an armored vehicle of some sort.

[truth2power]

28. I've been listening to FTAA Resistance radio

(link above) for about the last half hour.

I'm disgusted and appalled at what the police are doing in Miami. people reporting from the scene. Apparently the Steelworkers march allowed to proceed but the police are beating up on the demonstrators and using pepper spray and a few people reported that whatever "gas" the police using wasn't pepper spray but mustard gas. I'm just reporting what I heard on Resistance radio. The police have some sort of tanks. I don't have cable, so have no visual of any of this.

The police are beating the demonstartors indiscriminately, telling them to disperse and one individual reported that the police ordered them to disperse and surrounded them and gave them no egress. This is exactly the tactic the Cincinnati police used several years ago with the protestors against the TABD.

I am sickened by this. Our country has turned into a fascist state, and the Bushes are the people who are promoting it. May they burn in hell!!

[veganwitch]

30. my work computer doesnt have speakers!!!

im dying not being able to hear about it!!!

and by constantly refreshing DU im not getting any work done (is that a bad thing?)

[DoctorMyEyes]

39. try this link instead

the text of the reports from the radio are updated every few minutes.

I'm glad I'm not expected to work today, I haven't been able to tear myself away from this.

http://www.ftaaimc.org/en/index.shtml

[Bertha Venation]

33. mustard gas?

"a few people reported that whatever "gas" the police using wasn't pepper spray but mustard gas" -- Isn't mustard gas lethal? I hope whoever said that is wrong.

This whole thing is freaky beyond belief.

[TexasMexican]

42. ...

I doubt its mustard gas, but I assume that experienced protesters would know pepper spray and tear gas. I wonder if its something new?

[truth2power]

29. Delete

Mods: Please delete this. i hit the post button twice. Sorry.

[Kolesar]

31. Is this a legal march with permits and such?

In that case, this is absolutely horrible. They should play it in London right before coverage of the Bush-Blair Master and poodle show.

[htuttle]

32. Some are, some aren't

I know the AFL-CIO march is permitted, and but some others aren't.

[Kolesar]

35. Attacking permitted marchers would be unconscionable totalitarianism

of course, you know that

[vi5]

34. Can I ask a reaaaally dumb question?

What are the protests in miami about? I have heard absolutely nothing about anything with regard to that either being planned or happening.

[Terwilliger]

38. Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting happening in Miami

corporatism afoot!

[bigtree]

40. FTAA

What is the FTAA?
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is the expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to every country in Central America, South America and the Caribbean, except Cuba. Negotiations began right after the launch of NAFTA in 1994 and are set to be completed in 2005.

Despite growing public opposition throughout the hemisphere, FTAA backers still want to finish negotiating the treaty by the end of 2004, and for it to go into effect by 2005.

[Terwilliger]

36. Check out the IMC update page!!

http://ftaaimc.org/en/

[Kolesar]

37. I am going to an AFL-CIO march vs. the FTAA in a few hours

What should I tell them about Miami?
What should my sign say?

[veganwitch]

43. from the minutebyminute thread

"why do you hate our freedom?"

[DoctorMyEyes]

45. Good Answer!

That's a great sign slogan!

[DoctorMyEyes]

44. I wish I could think of

something for your sign, but I can't.

Please tell anyone who hasn't seen the footage that the protesters are being brutalized and harassed by the police.

The AFL-CIO and specifically the steelworkers have claimed solidarity with the Direct Action protesters and are trying to usher them into the safety of the ampitheatre.

The police say they will arrest anyone still on the street after 12 noon.

on edit:
11-20-2003 11:31: police attack steelworkers
cops knocked down 5-6 steelworkers outside amphitheater, preparing tasers and tear gas. One protester lying on the ground immobile. AFL mediating

11-20-2003 11:31: Cops Pull Guns / Policías toman sus pistolas
Cops are leading into Bayfront Amphithetre. Things "look chaotic" up there. Cops have pulled their guns and pointed them at people. Someone is on the ground with rifles pointed at him. AFL-CIO marshalls trying to talk the police down.

http://www.ftaaimc.org/en/index.shtml

[veganwitch]

46. be careful!!!

11-20-2003 11:45: police have stopped allowing anyone to join the workers march downtown


11-20-2003 11:42: 4 people arrested, badly beaten
A group of direct action folks were standing in the ampitheater waiting to join the legal march when riot cops surrounded them. 4 people were tasered and beaten badly with batons. After this unwarranted brutality, the four people were arrested.



if you are going to go, you better do it sound. and be careful!!!!!!!! sharpie a lawyer's phone number on your arm before you go.

[Kolesar]

47. I should have mentioned...our march is in Cleveland

Thanks for caring.