Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez (Democracy Now)
(Democracy Now, Aug. 14, 2014) Armed with military-grade weaponry from war on Iraq, Missouri police crack down on protests over Michael Brown shooting
The Missouri town of Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, looks like a war zone as police fire tear gas, stun grenades, and smoke bombs at civilians.
They claim to be attempting to break up a fifth night of protests over the police shooting of unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown, [who was apparently executed by police, shot in the back in revenge after an altercation]. At least 10 people were arrested on Wednesday, including St. Louis Alderman Antonio French, who has been posting video online of the protests and who appeared on Democracy Now! earlier this week.
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| All-white jury acquits cop of video beating |
An earlier protest faced a heavy Caucasian police response, with police in riot gear stationed by a massive armed vehicle in the street -- using weapons left over from the U.S. war on Iraq. Journalists from The Washington Post and Huffington Post were roughed up and arrested last night then released without charges [once they learned their lesson that police will not tolerate anyone exposing their crimes in a time of "crisis"].
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| Our racism kills; protests ensue |
They were detained while filing reports from a McDonald’s restaurant. Ferguson police have refused to release the name of the officer who shot unarmed teen Brown, citing fears for his safety. But the name is known in the community and has been reported without confirmation. He executed the teen in broad daylight in front of witnesses who know his name.]
They have also requested demonstrators to limit their protests to "daytime hours." [Apparently this would save on police overtime costs.] DN! goes to St. Louis to speak with a very reticent Patricia Bynes, Democratic committeewoman of Ferguson township. Bynes has been out in the streets of Ferguson every night documenting the protests on Twitter.
Protests coming to Los Angeles
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| L.A. skyline pre-climate chaos (buzzfeed) |
The killings and beating of African and Latin American youth continues throughout the U.S., particularly in Los Angeles, where police severely brutalized another unarmed mentally ill man, this time in Compton. On account of this, and in unity with Ferguson, citizens will march on the LAPD on Sunday.
Barry Montgomery, 29, was arrested in July after [police claim] he attempted to punch an LA County Sheriff’s Dept. deputy, according to the agency. But family members and the president of the Compton branch of the NAACP gave a much different account: Montgomery was playing basketball alone around 9:25 pm at Enterprise Park when he was approached by deputies, handcuffed, dragged from the court and into a bathroom, where he was severely beaten....Montgomery suffered a fractured eye socket, broken nose, and fractured ribs in the 25-minute beating, Simpson Gibson said. He was hospitalized... (as reported by L.A.'s new right wing newspaper, The L.A. Register, which brags "refreshingly not liberal").
- The Killing of Michael Brown: Missouri police shooting of unarmed black teen sparks days of protests
- VIDEO: All-white jury acquits Houston ex-police officer in videotaped beating of black teen Chad Holley
- CODEPINK to join memorial at Franklin Square commemorating anniversary of Egypt’s Rab’a Massacre (Aug. 13, 2014)
Civil liberties advocates and government whistleblowers call for immediate resignation of CIA Director John Brennan (Aug. 1)
