Use of Force Against RNC Protesters ‘Disproportionate,’ Charges Amnesty Int’l
The cleaning crews hadn’t even started their work in St. Paul following the end of the Republican Convention, when the knee-jerk leftists at Amnesty International released their statement accusing police officers of using excessive force against the misfits and miscreants creating havoc outside of the convention center.
Amnesty International is concerned about “allegations of excessive use of force and mass arrests by police at demonstrations in St. Paul, Minnesota during the Republican National Convention (RNC) from September 1-4, 2008,” said the organization in a press release written in London, England,
The human rights organization is calling on the city and county authorities to “ensure that all allegations of ill-treatment and other abuses are impartially investigated, with a review of police tactics and weapons in the policing of demonstrations.”
Amnesty claims its concerns arise from media reports, video and photographic images “which appear to show police officers deploying unnecessary and disproportionate use of non-lethal weapons on non-violent protestors marching through the streets or congregating outside the arena where the Convention was being held.” Of course, the officials at Amnesty International failed to mention what many Americans saw on their TV sets during news coverage of the rowdy protesters, many of whom admitted they were anarchists.
TV audiences saw demonstrators smashing store windows, throwing bottles and debris at outnumbered police officers. The well-trained, well-prepared officers successfully controlled the mobs of people who visibly attempted to bait the officers into using force against them
According to officials from Amnesty, police are reported to have fired rubber bullets and used batons, pepper spray, tear gas canisters and concussion grenades on “peaceful” demonstrators and journalists.
“Amnesty International has also received unconfirmed reports that some of those arrested during the demonstrations may have been ill-treated while held at [the] Ramsey county jail,” states their press release sent from Europe.
Amnesty International claims it is also concerned about reports that “several journalists who were covering the RNC were arbitrarily arrested while filming and reporting on the demonstrations.” Remember, these are the same people working in the news media who claim they’re not in the tank for Obama-Biden.
They include far-left host of the radio program Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman, and two of the program’s producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who were both allegedly subjected to violence during their arrest. Goodman is one of those so-called journalists who have a few listeners thanks to government subsidies for “public radio.”
Amnesty International claims it “recognizes the challenges involved in policing large scale demonstrations and that some protesters may have been involved in acts of violence or obstruction.”
But then in the next sentence they state that “some of the police actions appear to have breached United Nations standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials.”
Memo to Amnesty International: the UN does not possess jurisdiction over US local police forces.
Also, there were protesters in Denver during the Democrat’s convention who claimed they were “victims of police officers,” but Amnesty International failed to investigate those allegations:
“Police violence brought an end to peaceful protests in Denver Monday night. There are numerous reports of unprovoked police attacks on peaceful demonstrators and Pepper spray and peppered bullets were used by police and a number of injuries have been reported. Hundreds of people were penned in near the Civic Center Park and many arrests occurred there during the anticapitalista march. Close to100 people were believed arrested Monday night.” www.dncdisruptions08.org
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he’s the new editor for the House Conservatives Fund’s weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.
He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own website is located at http://jimkouri.us
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he's the former editor for the House Conservatives Fund's weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. To subscribe to Kouri's newsletter write to COPmagazine@aol.com and write "Subscription" on the subject line. | More from Jim Kouri, CPP
Stumble It!
September 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
You’ve got it all wrong Chief Jim. I was there. I saw few acts of physical or property violence, on the part of protesters. Granted, here were a few windows broken, and there were over 20,000 people demonstrating. The amount of broken glass in proportion to demonstrators is miniscule. But a few so-called anarchists out of 20,000 plus participants does not justify the police reaction and aggressive presence. I was told to “fuck off” by several police officers when I requested directions to a bus stop. As a passenger in a vehicle taking me to the airport, we were stopped, separated and detained while cuffed for almost 40 minutes at the direction of Homeland Security before being released. They did not even search the vehicle! Pure harassment! There was not one conviction for violence in the history of any of the three of us during our combined 125+ years of activism.
What we saw in St. Paul during the RNC was an undeclared state of martial law without a federal Declaration of Martial Law either signed as an executive act by the President or authorized by an Act of Congress. Neither occurred, yet local and out of state police were under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security and they had permission to run roughshod over the rights of not only protesters, but civilians, residents, etc.
When you police, either acting on your own or at the behest of your federal puppet string manipulators, begin arresting journalists, and not just the Amy Goodmans, but AP reporters and representatives of other media have also been arrested and/or detained, we get into an area of state sanctioned fascism.
September 7th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
You’ve got it all wrong Chief Jim. I was there. I saw few acts of physical or property violence, on the part of protesters. I did witness numerous incidents of over reaction by police. And I could see snipers trained on us at several points on our marches.
Granted, there were a few windows broken, and there were over 20,000 people demonstrating. The amount of broken glass in proportion to demonstrators is miniscule. But a few so-called anarchists out of 20,000 plus participants does not justify the police reaction and aggressive presence. I was told to “fuck off” by several police officers when I requested directions to a bus stop. As a passenger in a vehicle taking me to the airport, we were stopped, separated and detained while cuffed for almost 40 minutes at the direction of Homeland Security before being released. They did not even search the vehicle! Pure harassment! There was not one conviction for violence in the history of any of the three of us during our combined 125+ years of activism.
What we saw in St. Paul during the RNC was an undeclared state of martial law without a federal Declaration of Martial Law either signed as an executive act by the President or authorized by an Act of Congress. Neither occurred, yet local and out of state police were under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security and they had permission to run roughshod over the rights of not only protesters, but civilians, residents, etc.
When you police, either acting on your own or at the behest of your federal puppet string manipulators, begin arresting journalists, and not just the Amy Goodmans, but AP reporters and representatives of other media have also been arrested and/or detained, we get into an area of state sanctioned fascism.
And, while I’m here, I’ll admit I’ve also got gas cans, gasoline, some kerosene at times, cotton rags, empty glass bottles, a bucket for urine on cold nights, paint, fertilizer and detergents in and around my home and property. At times on the road, I am known to carry a container for gasoline. Am I on some list?