September 4, 2008
Contact:
Nancy Doyle Brown,
Twin Cities Media Alliance, (612) 374-9380Jen Howard, Free Press, (202) 265-1490, x22 or (703) 517-6273
FRIDAY: Delivery of 50,000 Letters Demanding St. Paul Drop Charges Against Journalists
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- On Friday morning, local advocates and independent journalists will deliver more that 50,000 petitions to St. Paul City Hall calling on Mayor Chris Coleman and local law enforcement officials to drop all charges against journalists arrested while covering protests outside the Republican National Convention.
WHAT: Delivery of 50,000 letters demanding charges against journalists be droppedWHEN: Sept. 5, 10 a.m. CTWHERE: St. Paul City Hall, 15 Kellogg Blvd.WHO: Local advocates and independent journalists from KFAI Community Radio, National Lawyers Guild, Twin Cities Daily Planet, Twin Cities IndyMedia, Twin Cities Media Alliance and The Uptake.
On Monday, local law enforcement officials arrested Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and two producers from her show, Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke and several independent videographers while they were covering protests outside the Republican National Convention. Other independent journalists have also been pepper-sprayed and even held at gunpoint during "pre-emptive" raids aimed at disrupting protesters.
"The targeting and harassment of journalists that we've seen during the RNC sends the message that the Twin Cities don't value the essential role that journalists play in a democracy," said Nancy Doyle Brown of Twin Cities Media Alliance. "From the pre-convention raids to the ongoing harassment and arrests of journalists, these have been dark days for press freedom in the United States. We're bringing Mayor Coleman more than 50,000 letters from people across the nation demanding that all charges pending against these journalists be dropped."
Following the arrests, Free Press, the national media reform organization, circulated a petition demanding that Mayor Coleman and local authorities immediately "free all detained journalists and drop all charges against them" -- garnering more than 50,000 signatures nationwide in less than two days. Their call has been echoed by groups including the Society for Professional Journalists, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Reporters Without Borders and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Watch the video of Goodman's arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ
Watch other journalists being arrested, as recorded by The UpTake: http://theuptake.org/
September 5, 2008
September 4, 2008
Amy Goodman: Police targeted journalists at Republican Convention
Why We Were Falsely Arrested
by Amy Goodman
September 4, 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Government crackdowns on journalists are a true threat to democracy. As the Republican National Convention meets in St. Paul, Minn., this week, police are systematically targeting journalists. I was arrested with my two colleagues, "Democracy Now!" producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, while reporting on the first day of the RNC. I have been wrongly charged with a misdemeanor. My co-workers, who were simply reporting, may be charged with felony riot.
The Democratic and Republican national conventions have become very expensive and protracted acts of political theater, essentially four-day-long advertisements for the major presidential candidates. Outside the fences, they have become major gatherings for grass-roots movements - for people to come, amidst the banners, bunting, flags and confetti, to express the rights enumerated in the Constitution's First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Behind all the patriotic hyperbole that accompanies the conventions, and the thousands of journalists and media workers who arrive to cover the staged events, there are serious violations of the basic right of freedom of the press.
Here on the streets of St. Paul, the press is free to report on the official proceedings of the RNC, but not to report on the police violence and mass arrests directed at those who have come to petition their government, to protest.It was Labor Day, and there was an anti-war march, with a huge turnout, with local families, students, veterans and people from around the country gathered to oppose the war. The protesters greatly outnumbered the Republican delegates.
There was a positive, festive feeling, coupled with a growing anxiety about the course that Hurricane Gustav was taking, and whether New Orleans would be devastated anew. Later in the day, there was a splinter march. The police-clad in full body armor, with helmets, face shields, batons and canisters of pepper spray-charged. They forced marchers, onlookers and working journalists into a nearby parking lot, then surrounded the people and began handcuffing them.
Nicole was videotaping. Her tape of her own violent arrest is chilling. Police in riot gear charged her, yelling, "Get down on your face." You hear her voice, clearly and repeatedly announcing "Press! Press! Where are we supposed to go?" She was trapped between parked cars. The camera drops to the pavement amidst Nicole's screams of pain. Her face was smashed into the pavement, and she was bleeding from the nose, with the heavy officer with a boot or knee on her back. Another officer was pulling on her leg. Sharif was thrown up against the wall and kicked in the chest, and he was bleeding from his arm.I was at the Xcel Center on the convention floor, interviewing delegates. I had just made it to the Minnesota delegation when I got a call on my cell phone with news that Sharif and Nicole were being bloody arrested, in every sense.
Filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films and I raced on foot to the scene. Out of breath, we arrived at the parking lot. I went up to the line of riot police and asked to speak to a commanding officer, saying that they had arrested accredited journalists.Within seconds, they grabbed me, pulled me behind the police line and forcibly twisted my arms behind my back and handcuffed me, the rigid plastic cuffs digging into my wrists.
I saw Sharif, his arm bloody, his credentials hanging from his neck. I repeated we were accredited journalists, whereupon a Secret Service agent came over and ripped my convention credential from my neck. I was taken to the St. Paul police garage where cages were set up for protesters. I was charged with obstruction of a peace officer. Nicole and Sharif were taken to jail, facing riot charges.
The attack on and arrest of me and the "Democracy Now!" producers was not an isolated event. A video group called I-Witness Video was raided two days earlier. Another video documentary group, the Glass Bead Collective, was detained, with its computers and video cameras confiscated. On Wednesday, I-Witness Video was again raided, forced out of its office location. When I asked St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington how reporters are to operate in this atmosphere, he suggested, "By embedding reporters in our mobile field force."
On Monday night, hours after we were arrested, after much public outcry, Nicole, Sharif and I were released. That was our Labor Day. It's all in a day's work.© 2008 Amy Goodman
by Amy Goodman
September 4, 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Government crackdowns on journalists are a true threat to democracy. As the Republican National Convention meets in St. Paul, Minn., this week, police are systematically targeting journalists. I was arrested with my two colleagues, "Democracy Now!" producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, while reporting on the first day of the RNC. I have been wrongly charged with a misdemeanor. My co-workers, who were simply reporting, may be charged with felony riot.
The Democratic and Republican national conventions have become very expensive and protracted acts of political theater, essentially four-day-long advertisements for the major presidential candidates. Outside the fences, they have become major gatherings for grass-roots movements - for people to come, amidst the banners, bunting, flags and confetti, to express the rights enumerated in the Constitution's First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Behind all the patriotic hyperbole that accompanies the conventions, and the thousands of journalists and media workers who arrive to cover the staged events, there are serious violations of the basic right of freedom of the press.
Here on the streets of St. Paul, the press is free to report on the official proceedings of the RNC, but not to report on the police violence and mass arrests directed at those who have come to petition their government, to protest.It was Labor Day, and there was an anti-war march, with a huge turnout, with local families, students, veterans and people from around the country gathered to oppose the war. The protesters greatly outnumbered the Republican delegates.
There was a positive, festive feeling, coupled with a growing anxiety about the course that Hurricane Gustav was taking, and whether New Orleans would be devastated anew. Later in the day, there was a splinter march. The police-clad in full body armor, with helmets, face shields, batons and canisters of pepper spray-charged. They forced marchers, onlookers and working journalists into a nearby parking lot, then surrounded the people and began handcuffing them.
Nicole was videotaping. Her tape of her own violent arrest is chilling. Police in riot gear charged her, yelling, "Get down on your face." You hear her voice, clearly and repeatedly announcing "Press! Press! Where are we supposed to go?" She was trapped between parked cars. The camera drops to the pavement amidst Nicole's screams of pain. Her face was smashed into the pavement, and she was bleeding from the nose, with the heavy officer with a boot or knee on her back. Another officer was pulling on her leg. Sharif was thrown up against the wall and kicked in the chest, and he was bleeding from his arm.I was at the Xcel Center on the convention floor, interviewing delegates. I had just made it to the Minnesota delegation when I got a call on my cell phone with news that Sharif and Nicole were being bloody arrested, in every sense.
Filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films and I raced on foot to the scene. Out of breath, we arrived at the parking lot. I went up to the line of riot police and asked to speak to a commanding officer, saying that they had arrested accredited journalists.Within seconds, they grabbed me, pulled me behind the police line and forcibly twisted my arms behind my back and handcuffed me, the rigid plastic cuffs digging into my wrists.
I saw Sharif, his arm bloody, his credentials hanging from his neck. I repeated we were accredited journalists, whereupon a Secret Service agent came over and ripped my convention credential from my neck. I was taken to the St. Paul police garage where cages were set up for protesters. I was charged with obstruction of a peace officer. Nicole and Sharif were taken to jail, facing riot charges.
The attack on and arrest of me and the "Democracy Now!" producers was not an isolated event. A video group called I-Witness Video was raided two days earlier. Another video documentary group, the Glass Bead Collective, was detained, with its computers and video cameras confiscated. On Wednesday, I-Witness Video was again raided, forced out of its office location. When I asked St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington how reporters are to operate in this atmosphere, he suggested, "By embedding reporters in our mobile field force."
On Monday night, hours after we were arrested, after much public outcry, Nicole, Sharif and I were released. That was our Labor Day. It's all in a day's work.© 2008 Amy Goodman
September 3, 2008
Videos show attacks on street medics and journalists at Republican Convention
Update - Portland Street Medics Arrested at the Republican National Convention
by street.medix@portland-or.net
by street.medix@portland-or.net
AP photo/St Paul Republican Convention
Wednesday, Sep. 3rd, 2008
In between explosions of concussion grenades and teargas clouds in Minneapolis-St. Paul, volunteer Street Medics from all over the country who have assembled there are continuing to provide much needed first aid and medical care to injured and frightened people everywhere in the city where lawful and peaceful assemblies, passersby, journalists and bystanders are getting attacked indiscriminately and without provocation by Police, National Guard and teams of unidentified Federal Agencies without badges or numbers.
Two raw, unedited video items that were just published provide an excellent documentation of the level of unprovoked and indiscriminate violence targeted against peaceful non-violent assemblies, against Street Medics, against legal observers and journalists:
-- Rubber bullets fired directly into a small crowd of peaceful people; Street Medics attacked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OnnUTK7QjI
-- Independent journalist caught in the middle of panic and mayhem during an attack with concussion grenades and teargas against a peaceful march:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6L8J3L-2Kw
Starting at dawn on Tuesday, Portland Street Medics who were arrested while treating injured people at the RNC were being released one by one by the illegitimate authorities who had seized them. One of our colleagues is still in jail and has not yet been charged with anything. All of the arrests of Portland Street Medics are entirely illegal.
We have confirmed information that additional unidentified Street Medics have been seen in jail by other people, but no details about who they are or why they are being held.
The Portland Street Medics who were released are well, except for tiredness. We are not able to communicate with the one of our members who is still in jail to ascertain wellness - our colleague is being held in a situation where legal observers have repeatedly confirmed that people are being denied access to medical care and targeted with selective abuse. {Please see the statement from our lawyers below, titled "Over 300 Protesters, Bystanders, Medics and Media Arrested: Update from Coldsnap Legal Collective".}
All of the arrested Street Medics' personal items, money, medical supplies and tools were confiscated and are still not being released by Police despite repeated requests, even though the items in question are not relevant to any legal proceedings (they are not being held as evidence, nor are they proscribed materials). Seizure of these materials is an illegal tactic to prevent our members from providing first aid and medical care to the people who are now in the streets and parks in Minneapolis-St. Paul. This is in direct violation of the US Constitution which in the Fourth Amendment provides protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. {Please see the Constitutional reference from the Cornell Law School below.}
We are still in need of funds for bail, and for replacing lost medical supplies and tools for our volunteers. If you are able to give, please consider donating through this page (every little bit counts!):
http://www.portland-or.net/street-medics/Donations-Portland-Street-Medics.htmlor, please write to us about making alternative donation arrangements here:street.medix@portland-or.net
Some details
The Portland Street Medics who were arrested include a long-time Queer liberation and radical performance artist; two trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), one of whom is also a Wilderness First Responder; and a Nurse Practitioner in training, who is also an Herbalist with more than fifteen years clinical experience.
It's plainly obvious to everyone that our members, sworn to the primary directive of all healthcare workers to "First, Do No Harm", should have never been arrested and must be allowed and supported to return to their duties immediately without any interference whatsoever.
Contacting the authorities..has proven to be very difficult. As one of our supporters reports here,
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/09/379093.shtml#315129
phone calls to the Ramsey County Jail, the Sheriff, and Mayor Coleman, are being redirected through a maze of sometimes incompetent, sometimes purposefully dysfunctional routes and individuals who are making the process of leaving messages and official complaints nearly impossible.
Still, we are asking people to please call these (new) numbers and to politely ask that:o- all Street Medics be released immediately and allowed to resume duties;o- all people who were arrested and are not being charged, to be released immediately;o- all personal items and medical supplies and tools that were confiscated from Street Medics to be returned immediately so that our teams can provide much needed care for injured and ill people in the streets and first aid stations all over Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Please call these numbers:St. Paul Police chief:651-266-5588
Help line:651-266-9333
Please send letters to:St. Paul Police Department
Chief John Harrington367 Grove Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101
Ramsey County Jail
Sheriff Bob Fletcher425 Grove Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101
Please keep distributing and re-publishing our updates
We really are grateful for all of your letters and phone calls of support. Without your love and care, none of our work would have been possible.
Portland Street Medics
http://portland-or.net/street-medics/
Resources and Related Materials
"Over 300 Protesters, Bystanders, Medics and Media Arrested: Update from Coldsnap Legal Collective"
http://twincities.indymedia.org/2008/sep/over-300-protesters-bystanders-medics-and-media-arrested-update-coldsnap-legal-collective
" US Constitution - Amendment IV:The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
Our previous Communique:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/09/268617.shtml
Tohono O'odham District official orders life saving water tanks removed
Tohono O'odham official orders life saving migrant water tanks removedTohono O'odham Mike Wilson to hold press conference
By Brenda Norrell
SELLS, Ariz. -- A Tohono O'odham district official ordered Mike Wilson, Tohono O'odham, to remove his life saving water tanks in the Baboquivari District, near the US/Mexico border on Saturday. Baboquivari District Chairwoman Veronica Harvey ordered Wilson to halt and banned for life a group of visiting seminary students.
"Who will speak for the dead?" says Wilson, in response to the latest order. This is the latest attempt to halt Wilson's efforts and follows years of his water containers being slashed and vandalized.
Wilson, undaunted, will hold a press conference in Tucson on Thursday. "No one should die for a drink of water," says Wilson. The press conference is at 1 p.m. on Thursday, September 4, 2008 at the First Christian Church, on the corner of East Speedway and North Euclid in Tucson.
A high percentage of the migrants who die each year, die here in the Baboquivari District of the Tohono O'odham Nation. Many of the dead are Indigenous Peoples. An increasing number of the dead are Indian women walking with their children from Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guatemala, struggling to survive as corporations seize their land for industry and NAFTA cripples economies for the poor.
The Arizona Daily Star describes the order to remove the tanks:
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/255748
Reservation ban of water for migrants is reported
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 09.03.2008
A Tohono O'odham tribe member who has been putting water in remote desert areas for the past seven years for the benefit of illegal immigrants says he has been told to stop.
The order was given Saturday morning while Mike Wilson was southwest of Sells on the reservation showing 11 non-tribal guests one of the four water stations he operates, Wilson said.
A Tohono O'odham police officer approached Wilson and said the district chairwoman, Veronica Harvey, had instructed her to tell Wilson to take down the water station and escort his guests off the reservation, Wilson said. He didn't take down the two 55-gallon water barrels but left with his guests, he said.
Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. confirmed Tuesday that Baboquivari District leaders asked Wilson and his guests to leave, but he said he has no knowledge of the request to remove the water station.
Phone calls to Harvey requesting comment were not returned.
The tribe has a standing decision not to allow humanitarian groups to place water on the reservation. Norris, who became chairman after that decision was made, has said the decision falls to the reservation's 11 districts because it's a matter of local concern. He said the same thing about the reported decision to ask Wilson and his guests to leave on Saturday.
"The tribal constitution authorizes each district to govern themselves on issues of local concern," Norris said. "This, in their view, is an issue of local concern."
Wilson gave the following account of Saturday's events:
Early that morning, Wilson and the group were at one of his water stations east of the village of Topawa on Federal Route 10, commonly known as Fresnal Canyon Road. He was talking about the history of his work in maintaining the water stations to eight seminary students from Denver, their professor and two retired Tucson pastors, the Rev. John Fife and the Rev. Gene Lefebvre.
A tribal police officer drove up to the group and told Wilson that she had received a complaint about non-tribal members being in the Baboquivari District. She told him that the Baboquivari District is a restricted district, which means O'odham are required to notify the board and get permission before bringing in any non-tribal guests, the officer said.
Wilson said he had never heard of the rule.
Fife said the officer told them she needed to check on the matter with the district and waited for 15 to 20 minutes before delivering the order to remove the station and to leave. She told the group that the seminary students were banned for life, Fife said.
After Wilson refused to take down the water station, the officer told Wilson that the district would do it. But as of Sunday, all the water stations were still up, Wilson said.
He said he believes he upset Harvey by bringing out such a large group of visitors.
The seminary students and their professor had been in Southern Arizona for about a week studying border issues, Fife said. They went with Wilson to learn more about the illegal-immigrant deaths on the reservation, he said.
Fife, the retired pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church and a leader in the old Sanctuary Movement, doesn't understand why the Baboquivari District kicked the group off or why it asked Wilson to remove the water station.
Fife has spent time on the reservation in his many years involved with border issues, including an internship on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in 1963.
Wilson's four water stations are in the Baboquivari Valley, which is the deadliest corridor for illegal immigrants in the United States.
The corridor had claimed the lives of 229 border crossers from the beginning of fiscal 2000 through November 2007 — more than three times the average number of deaths in other segments of the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, according to the Arizona Daily Star's analysis of 1,156 deaths recorded by the federal agency. Most immigrants died from the heat.
Seventy bodies of illegal immigrants were recovered on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in 2007, and 83 were found from Jan. 1 through June 12 of this year, the latest numbers available.
Wilson has experienced problems with his lifesaving efforts in the past.
From 2001 through 2003, the water jugs he placed in the desert were slashed by vandals on a continuous basis, he said. In September 2003, nearly a quarter of the 4,000 gallon jugs of water were slashed in one rash of vandalism.
Around 2003, he switched from water jugs to 55-gallon water barrels. In 2006, all eight barrels at the four stations were stolen.
"I'm upset that the Tohono O'odham Nation would continue in this — what I consider a crime against humanity," Wilson said. "That they would take down my water stations."
● Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 09.03.2008
A Tohono O'odham tribe member who has been putting water in remote desert areas for the past seven years for the benefit of illegal immigrants says he has been told to stop.
The order was given Saturday morning while Mike Wilson was southwest of Sells on the reservation showing 11 non-tribal guests one of the four water stations he operates, Wilson said.
A Tohono O'odham police officer approached Wilson and said the district chairwoman, Veronica Harvey, had instructed her to tell Wilson to take down the water station and escort his guests off the reservation, Wilson said. He didn't take down the two 55-gallon water barrels but left with his guests, he said.
Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. confirmed Tuesday that Baboquivari District leaders asked Wilson and his guests to leave, but he said he has no knowledge of the request to remove the water station.
Phone calls to Harvey requesting comment were not returned.
The tribe has a standing decision not to allow humanitarian groups to place water on the reservation. Norris, who became chairman after that decision was made, has said the decision falls to the reservation's 11 districts because it's a matter of local concern. He said the same thing about the reported decision to ask Wilson and his guests to leave on Saturday.
"The tribal constitution authorizes each district to govern themselves on issues of local concern," Norris said. "This, in their view, is an issue of local concern."
Wilson gave the following account of Saturday's events:
Early that morning, Wilson and the group were at one of his water stations east of the village of Topawa on Federal Route 10, commonly known as Fresnal Canyon Road. He was talking about the history of his work in maintaining the water stations to eight seminary students from Denver, their professor and two retired Tucson pastors, the Rev. John Fife and the Rev. Gene Lefebvre.
A tribal police officer drove up to the group and told Wilson that she had received a complaint about non-tribal members being in the Baboquivari District. She told him that the Baboquivari District is a restricted district, which means O'odham are required to notify the board and get permission before bringing in any non-tribal guests, the officer said.
Wilson said he had never heard of the rule.
Fife said the officer told them she needed to check on the matter with the district and waited for 15 to 20 minutes before delivering the order to remove the station and to leave. She told the group that the seminary students were banned for life, Fife said.
After Wilson refused to take down the water station, the officer told Wilson that the district would do it. But as of Sunday, all the water stations were still up, Wilson said.
He said he believes he upset Harvey by bringing out such a large group of visitors.
The seminary students and their professor had been in Southern Arizona for about a week studying border issues, Fife said. They went with Wilson to learn more about the illegal-immigrant deaths on the reservation, he said.
Fife, the retired pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church and a leader in the old Sanctuary Movement, doesn't understand why the Baboquivari District kicked the group off or why it asked Wilson to remove the water station.
Fife has spent time on the reservation in his many years involved with border issues, including an internship on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in 1963.
Wilson's four water stations are in the Baboquivari Valley, which is the deadliest corridor for illegal immigrants in the United States.
The corridor had claimed the lives of 229 border crossers from the beginning of fiscal 2000 through November 2007 — more than three times the average number of deaths in other segments of the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, according to the Arizona Daily Star's analysis of 1,156 deaths recorded by the federal agency. Most immigrants died from the heat.
Seventy bodies of illegal immigrants were recovered on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in 2007, and 83 were found from Jan. 1 through June 12 of this year, the latest numbers available.
Wilson has experienced problems with his lifesaving efforts in the past.
From 2001 through 2003, the water jugs he placed in the desert were slashed by vandals on a continuous basis, he said. In September 2003, nearly a quarter of the 4,000 gallon jugs of water were slashed in one rash of vandalism.
Around 2003, he switched from water jugs to 55-gallon water barrels. In 2006, all eight barrels at the four stations were stolen.
"I'm upset that the Tohono O'odham Nation would continue in this — what I consider a crime against humanity," Wilson said. "That they would take down my water stations."
● Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com
(Photo: At the Indigenous Border Summit of the Americas II, Mike Wilson, Tohono O'odham shows the places on the map where migrants have died on Tohono O'odham land, primarily in Baboquivari District. Water jugs, slashed on Tohono O'odham land, are to his left. Photo by Brenda Norrell)
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