Report by NYU and Fordham law schools found ‘shocking level of impunity’ and department that acted beyond its powers.

The first systematic look at the New York police department’s response to Occupy Wall Street protests paints a damning picture of an out-of-control and aggressive organization that routinely acted beyond its powers.

In a report that followed an eight-month study (pdf), researchers at the law schools of NYU and Fordham accuse the NYPD of deploying unnecessarily aggressive force, obstructing press freedoms and making arbitrary and baseless arrests.

The study, published on Wednesday, found evidence that police made violent late-night raids on peaceful encampments, obstructed independent legal monitors and was opaque about its policies.

The NYPD report is the first of a series to look at how police authorities in five US cities, including Oakland and Boston, have treated the Occupy movement since it began in September 2011. The research concludes that there now is a systematic effort by authorities to suppress protests, even when these are lawful and pose no threat to the public.

Sarah Knuckey, a professor of law at NYU, said: “All the case studies we collected show the police are violating basic rights consistently, and the level of impunity is shocking”.

(Photo) Anaheim protests against police terrorism and brutality

* Note: The only problematic thing about this poster is that it for some reason separates out women for inclusion alongside “children and babies” (not “pregnant women,” or “elderly women,” but simply “women”). Adult women are no more defenseless creatures than men when it comes to police brutality. There’s just a certain paternalism when categorizing all women as “damsels in distress.” 

Last night, Anaheim residents continued their protests over the the police shooting of two men, and seem poised to do so again tonight. Nearly 1,000 people took part in last night’s demonstration, which began when 200 residents attended a city council meeting earlier that evening. A larger crower crowd was denied entrance, and some began throwing rocks and bottles at nearby police cars. The protest then spread through downtown Anaheim, where some demonstrators set fires and smashed windows, damaging City Hall, police headquarters and twenty businesses. 300 police officers in riot gear responded, using pepper balls, rubber pellets and batons to subdue the crowd. In total, 24 arrests were made, including one for assault with a deadly weapon.

The LA Times reports that two Orange County Register reporters were among those injured.

The protests are in response to the police’s shooting of Manuel Diaz, 25, on Saturday afternoon. Anaheim police spokesman Sgt. Bob Dunn reported the shooting occurred after Diaz ran from police, a charge Diaz’s niece doesn’t dispute, according to CBS Los Angeles.

His niece, 16-year-old Daisy Gonzalez, said her uncle likely ran away from officers when they approached him because of his past experience with law enforcement. “He (doesn’t) like cops. He never liked them because all they do is harass and arrest anyone,” Gonzalez said.

Witnesses say Diaz was shot twice, both times from behind.

Crystal Ventura, a 17-year-old who witnessed the shooting, told the Register the man had his back to the officer. She said the man was shot in the buttocks area. The man then went down on his knees, and she said he was struck by another bullet in the head. Another officer handcuffed the man who by then was on the ground and not moving, Ventura said.

“They searched his pockets, and there was a hole in his head, and I saw blood on his face,” she said.

Another witness described a gruesome scene:

Theresa Smith, whose son was killed Dec. 11, 2009, by Anaheim officers at a Walmart store, said she went by the scene of Saturday’s shooting and was astounded by what she saw.

“There were pieces of brain on the … darn grass, in front of all these children, in front of all these people,” Smith said. “This traumatizes people, and these people are angry.”

On Sunday, a second man was shot dead by police, which lead to further demonstrations, during which, according to various reports, police lost control of their K-9 dog, which then attacked protesters

In the end, I think a large part of what it will take to start to change the pervasive reality of rape and sexual assault in our society is if more people speak up about it. Speak up if sexual assault happens to us or someone we know. Speak up to the comedian or the frat boy making light of rape and attempting to “normalize” it. Speak up to the politicians who try to take control of women’s bodies out of women’s hands and put it in the hands of someone else.

Speak about it, post about it, share stories and experiences, online and everywhere. We should help each other and encourage each other and create a wall of defiance against the barbarians in our midst …

Yo Soy 132 - Por la libertad de expresion

AN ELECTED member of Québec’s National Assembly was among 67 people arrested June 5 in Québec City at a protest march against the Québec government’s proposed 75 percent hike to post-secondary tuition fees and the civil liberties-crushing Bill 78.

Amir Khadir is the one elected member of the Québec solidaire party. He represents the Montreal district of Mercier. He and 66 others were arrested for marching in a roadway. They were handcuffed, detained for several hours in a transit bus used as a jail cell, and then issued a fine of $494.

At a press conference in Québec City the morning after the arrests, Khadir came out swinging against the government and its draconian law. He denounced Bill 78 and hailed those who are defying it through acts of civil disobedience. “I am proud of my people” for standing up to the law, he said. He called the government of Premier Jean Charest “corrupt and illegitimate” and said it was “an honor” to stand with protesters in opposition to it.

The march organizers did not seek approval from police eight hours or more in advance, as required by Bill 78. The police declared the march “illegal” under Bill 78 before it stepped into the street. Twenty minutes later, a riot squad of the Québec City police kettled the marchers and commenced the arrests.

(Cartoon) Robocops.

Drones are being bought up by police department for completely non-lethal purposes. I trust it will remain that way as I’m unfamiliar with any abuse of power related to drones.

[Borrowed commentary]: Good account of how collective struggle has been built in Quebec over the past three months. Note in particular the importance of a history of militant unionism in the province. The demonstrations are getting bigger and spreading to more cities. —PG

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MONTREAL - The urge to protest against university tuition hikes might seem foolhardy when students face the possible loss of a school semester, the sacrifice of time spent marching whatever the weather, not to mention the danger of confronting helmeted police, and the increasingly likely possibility of injury and arrest.

Yet they continue to do so, as worried parents fret, pundits fume and the government of Quebec Premier Jean Charest remains set squarely against them.

So why are the students so determined to keep this protest alive?

(Photo set) Tens of Thousands of NATO Protesters Storm Chicago (May 2012) »

Also, see “Marching for a world without war and poverty”

I wonder to whta extent we are going to see a lot more of this now. First of all, with the recent passage of NDAA (i.e., the ‘indefinite detention’ bill) with Obama’s signature, the security-repressive apparatus of the US government has gained a boost of legal cover to increase its attacks on our rights.

Second, with the recent ebb of the Occupy movement, state and federal governments may certainly be seeking to exact vengenace for being made fools of these past several months. More precisely, now that the media attention has faded, the top 1% richest who were the targets of Occupy may now be tapping their connections with the police and intelligence agencies in an effort to kick the activist community when it’s down.

The message would be: “See, this is what happens when you fuck with the 1%. We arrest you in the middle of the nite, throw a bag over your head, and charge you with terrorism!”

It is therefore of the utmost importance that these repressive attacks are opposed as just one more way that the top 1% are trying to dominate our lives and destroy our freedom of speech and protest.

La lucha continua!

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THREE ACTIVISTS who were in Chicago for the demonstrations against the NATO summit were arrested in a midnight raid on May 16 and now face terrorism charges—in a case that civil liberties advocates and antiwar organizations are calling a “frame-up” designed to intimidate those who wish to protest war and austerity.

The three—Brian Church and Brent Vincent Betterly of Florida and Jared Chase of New Hampshire—are charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing material support for terrorism and possession of an explosive or incendiary device. A judge set bail at $1.5 million for each. Two more men were charged with terrorism-related offenses over the weekend, though police are unclear about whether they are trying to connect them to the original three.

Church, Betterly and Chase were staying with other activists in an apartment building in the South Side neighborhood of Bridgeport. Shortly before midnight on May 16, police kicked in the front door, rounded up everyone inside, shackled them and placed bags over their heads before taking them to the Organized Crime Unit.

 … POLICE CLAIM to have recovered materials for making Molotov cocktails, along with a variety of weapons that included, according to breathless accounts in the mainstream media, “ninja throwing stars” and “swords with brass-knuckle handles.”

But as in so many other cases in which the authorities claim to have foiled a “terrorist” plot, the evidence is full of holes—unless, that is, it was provided by undercover informants.

Other people detained during the Bridgeport raid say the police were hauling away equipment to make beer. Plus, it turns out that three of the activists staying in the apartment were undercover officers or informants, and two of them—“Mo” and “Gloves”—were arrested among the nine people taken away by police that night. They and four others were released without charge.

As Sarah Gelsomino of the Peoples Law Office and National Lawyers Guild (NLG) told the Guardian:

We cannot say enough that we believe that these charges are absolutely…trumped-up…Charging these people who are here to peacefully protest against NATO for terrorism, when in reality the police have been terrorizing activists in Chicago, is absolutely outrageous.

Michael Deutsch, also of the NLG and a lawyer for the three, said the arrests were “entrapment to the highest degree” and “a way to stir up prejudice against people exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Though this fact didn’t figure in most of the mainstream media accounts of the “terrorism” case, the same three activists were in a car that was arbitrarily pulled over by police earlier in the week. The three posted video of the encounter—“in an attempt to expose that police misconduct,” Gelsomino said.

One officer can be heard in the video saying, “We’ll come look for you, each and every one of you.”

Protesters against the NATO summit will put forward a different vision for society.

FIFTY HEADS of state are on their way to Chicago for the May 20-21 summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The world’s most powerful military alliance will meet behind barricades and swarms of riot police and National Guard troops to discuss their strategies for continuing and extending the West’s military domination of the world.

Meanwhile, thousands of protesters will march in dissent—though menaced by riot police, sound cannons and other obstacles designed to hamper their First Amendment right to free speech and assembly. For months, the city of Chicago has stoked fears of “a special breed of protester” hell-bent on mayhem and violence.

News reports have been filled with warnings that “regular people” who work in downtown office buildings should avoid business attire so that they don’t become targets of protesters’ anger. But the reality is that the “regular people” of all types are the ones who will be marching. Among the many groups planning to join the permitted mass march on May 20 are teachers, transit workers, students, nurses, religious leaders, Occupy activists, community groups, immigrant rights groups and environmentalists.

The people in Chicago this coming weekend who really ought to be feared are the NATO leaders themselves—especially if your origins are in the Middle East. Among them are war criminals responsible for civilian deaths, torture and the use of chemical weapons, such as white phosphorous in Afghanistan. Unlike th protesters, the war-makers who will gather at the summit have at their disposa the most lethal and sophisticated means of destruction on earth—and they aren’t afraid to use them.

How American capitalists benefit from the very police-state totalitarianism they hypocritically decry in “Communist China.”

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As the Chinese government forges ahead on a multibillion-dollar effort to blanket the country with surveillance cameras, one American company stands to profit: Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mitt Romney.

In December, a Bain-run fund in which a Romney family blind trust has holdings purchased the video surveillance division of a Chinese company that claims to be the largest supplier to the government’s Safe Cities program, a highly advanced monitoring system that allows the authorities to watch over university campuses, hospitals, mosques and movie theaters from centralized command posts.

The Bain-owned company, Uniview Technologies, produces what it calls “infrared antiriot” cameras and software that enable police officials in different jurisdictions to share images in real time through the Internet. Previous projects have included an emergency command center in Tibet that “provides a solid foundation for the maintenance of social stability and the protection of people’s peaceful life,” according to Uniview’s Web site.

Such surveillance systems are often used to combat crime and the manufacturer has no control over whether they are used for other purposes. But human rights advocates say in China they are also used to intimidate and monitor political and religious dissidents. “There are video cameras all over our monastery, and their only purpose is to make us feel fear,” said Loksag, a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Gansu Province. He said the cameras helped the authorities identify and detain nearly 200 monks who participated in a protest at his monastery in 2008.

(Photo) Protest NATO & G8 - Chicago, May 2012!

■ No to War and Austerity!
■ Money out of politics! Represent for the people, not the money!
■ No to NATO/G-8 Warmakers!
■ Jobs, Healthcare, Education, Pensions, Housing & the Environment, Not War!

More labor unrest under the reign of yet another US-backed monarchical dictatorship in the Middle East. And, of course, this particular monarch, the Jordanian King Abdullah II, occupies a special place among the despotic allies of the Obama administration.

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AMMAN — Thousands of teachers from across Jordan rallied outside the Prime Ministry on Tuesday, demanding a “long-promised” increase in their professional allowance among other calls to “restore their dignity”. 

The rally coincided with a nationwide teachers’ strike that left the Kingdom’s schools crippled for the seventh day in a row.

The National Committee for Teachers Association, which estimated the number of teachers taking part in the rally at more than 20,000, had called on educators from all across Jordan to gather outside the Prime Ministry “as yet another escalatory measure against the government’s refusal to grant them their rights”.