Any Abuses by the Authorities on 2/10? Here in MI, people went to great lengths to determine that masks were legal, and even cleared it with the local PD (Farmington Hills MI). When I got there, there was a cop (Officer Rodriquez, by name) saying to not wear masks, and indicating he was doing so at the behest of Co$. This would be a great class action lawsuit. Clear violation of constitutional rights, not to mention putting people's lives in jeorpardy.
*gathers my shocked self :shock: from off the floor * youre saying the policeman SAID clearly that you must remove your masks because the freaks wanted that? did you remove your masks? this is ridiculous. even burning at the stake they are arrogant.
Yes, I was right there. An anon, said not to argue with him when I began to. I have no problem with that but we should follow up on suing them (FHPD) over it, or at least publicize it. In the future I don't think its a good idea to be too submissive when we are on firm ground. Yes, people did remove masks, but it was so cold everyone had scarves and such over their faces.
Abuses? Vienna is not sure yet - investigating - somewhere the permit got "lost" at the police. So the demonstration was not allowed and broken up after half an hour by a really slimy higher-level plain-clothes police officer. "Disturbance of public safety - leave within 5min or get arrested." Very overkill considering ten people standing in front of Co$ talking with each other and our handler (even without pickets...) http://forums.enturbulation.org/viewtopic.php?t=1723 All the other official police men there were really great and understanding,
Is the Police Officer a $cientologist? Not to target him or anything but we sh-, wait, we are targeting him if he's a $cientologist. If he deprives us of our rights by abusing his authority, then he should be reprimanded.
London: there were a number of incidents of incidents of police being heavy-handed in getting people to move from one area to another. and they brought out horses which was a bit unnecessary. that aside it was okay I think.
The London police were pretty friendly though, and they were being pretty heavy-handed with $cifags and Britfags alike.
pffft, heavy handed? look at the Atlanta raid if you want heavy handed. you had horses? they had helicopters and battle armor! I shit you not
I thought the London cops were great. They were friendly, they didn't think we were a bunch of mental cases and were fair and proffessional. The horses (apart from the clearing of the enterance to the QV HQ, which WAS a little bit overkill, especially as I was directly in their path LOL) were mainly trying to keep us off the roads for saftey reasons. There was one cop at QV (with a beard) who was a bit pushy but all the cops at TCR seem great.
I know it's been said before but each person at the protest should know their local laws and print them out / take them with to the protests regarding use of masks as well as public assembly regulations. That said, Anonymous protests around the world were some the most peaceful I have ever seen and I think everyone handled themselves admirably. For the most part everything I saw on the law enforcement side was great, there are always a few 'odd apples' in the police force but that's par for the course. After seeing the swat team at Atlanta I thought to myself, great, what a boon to Anonymous in that is made the CoS look absolutely silly. If I were a member of the local voting crew in the Atlanta area I would be writing my government officials on looking into the waste of tax payers money, letting them know that around the world other protests didn't have this extreme of a presence of 'force'. I can't wait for the CoS spin on this one; how the swat team had to be called out to handle a bunch of what they first termed 'script kiddies' who have now subsequently become 'cyber-terrorists' to be feared. ROFL
That was definitely hilarious. They pulled out the stormtroopers on us to brandish their nightsticks along with several dudes with beanbag guns. Worked to their disadvantage though, because not only was it a total waste of money, it also made even more people come gawk at the morons who hired a riot squad for a peaceful group of young people.
Minneapolis cops were cool. They apparently got a kick out of us. Though I believe a couple of them actually walked into the CoS building for reasons we still haven't been able to figure out, and they haven't been too willing to share with us the reasons why. While it's weird, it's not abuse. But yeah, I heard about that display of force in Atlanta. Simultaneously hilarious and pathetic.
The Atlanta riot squad may have been able to treat the whole thing as a good training exercise. Everyone needs to practice deployment and crowd control tactics. It's just this time they faced a herd of cats rather than a pack of dogs. Eventually, though, some shit somewhere is going to go down in the city, preferably when we're nowhere near it, and they will be needed. So, sure, practice your techniques across the street. It certainly made things interesting.
Birmingham Police where absolutly fantastic, couldn't have asked for better. And it is legal in the UK (birmingham at least) to wear masks.
Re: Any Abuses by the Authorities on 2/10? The same thing happened here in New York, I was told. The police were also very indifferent to us and seemed to be glaring at us IMO; might just be my anti-cop paranoia from attending too many Leftover Crack shows. However, they did allow some of us to hand out flyers on the other side of the street. That was cool. And they broke us up JUST IN TIME for Broadway matinees!!! God Forbid those blasted Anonymous mess with our moneypot!
Here in New Mexico, APD just kind of sat back and watched waiting for something interesting to happen. The "Church" hired this fat rent-a-cop, and all she did was walk in and out of the building.
San Diego went perfectly. SDPD was contacted numerous times along with local media prior to the picket and cops were on hand to protect us as much as scientology.
St.Louis also reported that the University Police gave the OK for masks but then asked that they be removed with some lame excuse. I believe the term was 'making us uncomfortable'. However, there may have been masked Anon who were being obnoxious as well. I will look into it.
The police in Columbus were very professional. They responded right away when we called 911 after the the bus accident. And even more surprising was that the person we thought was a PI was actually a plain clothes police officer. Aside from that incident they were completely invisible.
I beg all of you to exhaustively search your state laws and local ordinances to ensure you know ALL of the laws that apply to protests, and specifically masks. Law enforcement in Florida has been consistently lying to Anon about the legality of masks, when they are clearly (through both statute and case law) protected forms of expression/privacy in both Orlando and Clearwater.
The pattern is that even when the law is known, the police will do what they want. They are there to protect power, not rights. They often have become a tool of power, and in this case its Co$. At some point every person must decide how far they want to go to exercise their rights. You only have those you insist on. I would suggest each local ACLU be contacted in advance of the next raid. I have contacted mine, and am waiting to hear from them. I am not holding my breath. In the meantime I have drafted a letter that I will send to the local chief of police. I don't expect that this will necessarily change their actions, but it may form the basis for a lawsuit afterward for damages.
Might I respectfully suggest that we don't want to be threatening the cops with lawsuits if we plan on protesting on a semi-regular basis? Yes, I know, our rights being trampled, etc etc...but realpolitik and priorities trump guy fawkes. Maybe after we move past this phase, or when we're getting a few thousand per protest location we can circle back on this...until then we should be cultivating as positive a relationship with the authorities as is possible.
This. Record everything, keep the recordings safe, if asked by a reporter/someone else why we're recording the police respond "this is as much to keep the police safe as ourselves. We're making sure that we keep our protestors in line thus preventing the police officers from having to take action. Yes, we'll be surprised if we do actually turn up signs of abuse, but in the unlikely event that this does take place it will be recorded as well", and then unleash Project: Shitstorm at a later date or time.
on the police... we work on our own agenda, not theirs (or anyone else's). as such, we deal with them to the extent we need to. we shouldn't piss them off for the sake of it, but we shouldn't grovel to them either. (I find something vaguely ironic about a movement fighting abuse of power being reluctant to confront police abusing their power) I largely agree with subgenius. as a sidenote, we should bear in mind attempts by the CoS to "groom" police officers, sometimes successfully (Clearwater), sometimes less so (London, at least as far as we know.) in areas where they appear to have exceeded their authority, and done so in favour of the CoS, further investigation may be helpful.
I don't thnk there's any real disagreement here. All thoughtful points of view and not inconsistent. Feel the love. (Oh yeah Valentines's Day)
Never said we should meekly roll over, but understand: the cops are the Authority on the ground. You may win in a court in the future, but you will Lose in the present when they haul your ass away, and then you make the rest of us look bad. Print out copies of the relevant laws, try to persuade the cops--but ultimately if they remain resolute in their requests, accede to them. Just get it on video for (much?) later.
The police were great in Manchester, though I was pushed when I was apparently in the way (I couldn't see shit out of my mask so it was kinda scary), but it's nothing I'd hold against them. Most of them seemed to be amused by it all.
Reporting from Seattle. I didn't get to talk to any of the officers and didn't really hear the conversations the SeattleAnon had with them. First officer showed up at pre-meet. We let her know what was going on and she was on her way. Second officer stopped us about 2 blocks from there while we were marching, same situation. 2 officers at Co$ when we arrived. One of them left after we proved our peacefulness and the last one stayed the entire day, making sure we didn't step a foot on their property or touch their fences, etc. Threatened to detain us if we did. He also made sure we weren't in the way of the driveway so cars could get in and out if need be. Suspicious though, because he kept going in and out of the church, talking with Scifags, and they provided food/coffee for him.
A little suspicious but it's probably because the Scilons were kissing his ass and he didn't have a high opinion of people in masks. Just remember to shake the cops hand when you first meet them or something to put them at ease that we're not going to do some dumb, crazy shit and are polite people here to make a point.
As a general rule: police are there to protect power, not rights. Co$ has buildings and everything (power). We are rabble. Don't expect the police to get it. Your mileage may differ.
DC police was great, we really appreciated having them there. They're so used to protests and marches, it was just another day.
A few of the San Diego police took literature and spoke with us, and told us we were some of the most peaceful and amusing protesters they had in years.
SF police were awesome. There was this one older gruff guy that kind of seemed to keep glaring at us, but when we did something particularly amusing I swear to god I could see him trying really hard not to smile. The younger ones were awesome. When we were on the same corner as the resident Co$ a large amount of our time was spent shooting the breeze with them. At one point one of the anons asked if they could go inside the Co$ if they took off their facial coverings and the cop said that while that wouldn't have been a problem if he'd never had the mask on or been a part of the protest he couldn't let him do that now. I was walking by while this happened and I turned to the cop, pointed at my face, flashed him a grin to accompany the one set on my mask and said "But we're friendly!" The cop then said "I know you guys are, but they're not." and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at the doors to the Co$ we were gathered around. Another point the officer said we were model protesters and that by conducting ourselves in a respectful and peaceful manner that people were much more likely to take our message into consideration, unlike 'those Critical Mass guys.' His words, not mine. Another one asked me who Lisa McPherson was and we talked for ten, maybe fifteen minutes about who her story, why we were gathered here on this date in particular, other shady stuff the church had done, etc.
Re: Any Abuses by the Authorities on 2/10? For us here in Northern Ireland (Belfast Specifically, i think. I dont know if any other protests took place) we're unable to wear them the moment they tell us to take them off. Its a federal offense. http://encyclopediadramatica.com/PROJEC ... nty_Antrim We got flak at the first protest. I'll go masked, but i dont mind removing it now that i know the laws this time. Plenty of people went unmasked worldwide. I dont mind joining them.
Re: over megaphone: "I'd like to take this time to thank the Atlanta* Police Department for coming and keeping this peaceful protest running smoothly and without incident. But seriously guys, i don't think all that SWAT gear was necessary. I don't think the scientologists pose THAT much of a threat to us. We appreciate the thorough consideration nonetheless." :-D * = replace your city here if this happens to you. that they were. i remember one asking us to remind him what SP stood for. we tried to elaborate but he said he didn't wanna know TOO much (i don't blame him really.)
Re: Any Abuses by the Authorities on 2/10? The police in Århus, Denmark was absolute gold. They were friendly and interested in why we were protesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tr6S90YnDM - a friendly chat with police, subtitled.
Re: As some of these posters here have mentioned. Keep evidence. Film. Archive. Make it very clear to the lawyer who dares to touch this case that the purpose is to flush out the Scientology plant within the police department. This is to achieve: 1) A simpler victory: Scientology will very unlikely defend the single member who is a cop, should the member (cop) expose Scientology's methods, he automatically becomes SP. This causes (2). 2) Show the world how quick Scientology is to turn its back on its members.
