Police Taser Counter-Recruitment Protestors in Pittsburgh

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Sun, 21 Aug 2005 06:24:52 -0700 (PDT)

Police Taser Counter-Recruitment Protestors in Pittsburgh

 

 

 

 

Thank you so very much, Deborah, for this info. I will circulate it

widely. Yours is a great local response, and I agree that it is

important for all outraged citizens to jump on every local

jurisdiction that commits such outrageous offenses.

 

But this event only showcases the rising Police State measures

throughout the nation. Try doing a Google search and put in only the

words: taser brutality. My search just yielded 22,100 results!!!

 

The underlying issue, however, isn't only the weapon (which is merely

a tool for the inhumane treatment) but is also the larger issue of

police brutality itself.

 

When counter-recruiters who are breaking no laws are targeted as if

violent criminals? We know we have entered a period of complete

disregard for our rights as citizens under the Bill of Rights of our

Constitution. See

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/funddocs/billeng.htm .

 

Besides local protests of such abuses, if we are victims of such

brutality, we can report such to Amnesty International of the US:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/usa/index.do

 

Another thing we can do is research what is being done in cities such

as San Jose, CA, and duplicate such efforts in our own areas:

http://www.indybay.org/police/

 

To learn more about the use of tasers, visit:

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2005040914414457

 

We have the right to non-violent, legal _expression of our rights for

counter-recruitment and other protests of policies to which we object

of our government. The number of such incidences are likely only to

rise in upcoming months and years as the growing Police State tries

harder to keep an increasingly growing dissatisfied population under

stricter control.

 

Deborah > wrote:

 

I tried calling the Pittsburgh Police Department today. A woman

dispatcher answered, and admited she has been getting phone calls

right and left about this. I told her that Pittsburgh's officers

should hang their heads in shame because they just violated the First

Amendment Rights of a group of UNARMED PEACEFUL demonstrators, and

they should also be charged with assault and battery. They should

also be charged with citing the several people for complaining about

their brutality. In short, the Pittsburg Police Department should be

publically condemned and SUED BIG TIME. I told the dispatcher that

there is footage showing clear proof of brutality, and her employer

will be sued with my blessings. If they want to charge me for

complaining about their conduct, they can just drive all the way from

Pittsburgh to Topeka where I live, and arrest me for complaining, and

I will also sue them for violating my right to express my concerns

about their conduct.

 

We need to flood their police department with letters of

complaint. We need to keep all their phone lines busy with complaints

about this. Also, call the mayor of Pittsburgh (Tom Murphy), and tell

him you are outraged. We need to make sure that any lawsuits being

filed having their needed impact on the SOB Stormtroopers who

conveniently forgot that Americans still have a First Amendment right

that allows them to peacefully assemble and even protest, since

dissent is part of our First Amendment. Bush is probably going to

praise them publically. If he does, Bush needs to be told on no

uncertain terms are we just going to lay down and let his storm

troopers violate or civil liberties. It will be just one more of many

lawsuits that Bush will be fighting if we can ever get him out of office.

 

D @> wrote:

This is unacceptable. Things have gotten out of control. As a

society, we can not allow ourselves to live with Police State

brutality such as this.

 

 

 

david@wrote:For Immediate Release

August 21, 2005

 

Contact: David Meieran, 412-996-4986

Nathan Shaffer, 412-720-9276

 

PITTSBURGH POLICE ATTACK NON-VIOLENT PROTESTORS WITH TASERS,

PEPPER SPRAY AND

K-9 UNITS

 

Counter-Recruitment Demonstration Ends in Five Arrests and Two

Hospitalizations

 

Pittsburgh, PA – The Pittsburgh Police Department displayed an

excessive use of

force at a demonstration yesterday outside a military recruitment

station

located near the University of Pittsburgh. Five were arrested, two

were

hospitalized and several others received injuries as a result of

police

unwarranted use of Tasers, pepper spray, retracting batons and K-9

units. Two

others were issued citations when they complained about police

misconduct.

 

Yesterday's protest marks the first time in the city's history

that police used

Tasers on demonstrators. Dramatic Indymedia video shows police

dragging a young

woman off the sidewalk and Tasering her mercilessly as she lay on

the street

screaming—and this after she was pepper-sprayed directly in the

face. The video

clearly demonstrates that she posed no threat to the police or

anyone else when

she was Tasered, marking a clear violation of the city's official

guidelines

for the use of these controversial weapons. The activist was taken

to UPMC

Presbyterian Hospital for treatment and remains in police custody.

 

Police also used K-9 units to chase away protestors on the

sidewalk. A 68-year

old grandmother was bitten from behind by a police dog and then

arrested and

placed in an unventilated police van in the hot sun where she

remained for 45

minutes before she, too, was finally taken to UPMC Presbyterian

Hospital for

treatment.

 

In addition, police pepper sprayed a four year-old girl, toppled a

man with

Multiple Sclerosis in his motorized wheel chair and clubbed a

number of

protestors with retracting metal batons.

 

At the time of the police attacks activists were peacefully

assembled on the

sidewalk in front of the recruiting station, which had opted to

remain closed

for the day in response to yesterday's call for non-violent direct

action by

Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG). It marked the second time this

month that

POG had pre-emptively shut down military recruitment at that

station, which is

the headquarters for military recruitment in the city. (For more

information

Pittsburgh Organizing Group's counter-recruitment campaign, visit

www.OrganizePittsburgh.org .)

 

POG is alarmed by yesterday's events. In the past two years, more

than 150

people have been killed by Tasers. Amnesty International, the ACLU

and other

groups have called for a moratorium on their use. In response to a

public

outcry to police abuse of Tasers, a number of cities have imposed

restrictions

on Taser use, cancelled orders or pulled them from circulation. The

manufacturer, Taser International, is facing multiple lawsuits.

 

POG is demanding an official investigation into the police conduct at

yesterday's demonstration and an immediate halt to the use of

Tasers by the

Pittsburgh Police Department. Copies of video documentation of

yesterday's

police abuses can be obtained by calling David or Nathan at the

numbers listed

above or by emailing pog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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