Update: Police and Occupy DC protesters are offering sharply divergent accounts over the protesters hit by a car during Friday's protest at a Koch brothers event, prompting a march on police headquarters Monday demanding a thorough investigation.
The conservative Washington Times reports:
Protesters say police refused to arrest a Maryland man for striking multiple demonstrators with his car Friday night and did not collect witness statements from at least two of the victims. Police dispute the protesters' account, with Chief [Cathy] Lanier saying demonstrators have become "increasingly confrontational and violent toward uninvolved bystanders and motorists."
A police spokesman over the weekend also remarked that the protesters hit by the car were "drunk diving" on to the car, a seemingly groundless claim not backed up by either videos or eyewitnesses.
Yet two of the protesters hit by the car and eyewitnesses gave their a sharply contrasting version of events before the police showed up for their own news conference on Saturday. They also complained that the police had declined by that point to take the victims' and some eyewitness statements:
Today we proved that there were two hit-and-runs by one driver against people protesting the big corporations that ruined our economy and corrupted our democracy. The statement by Chief [Cathy] Lanier was false and timed to distract from the fact that we proved today that statements given by police to the public about last Friday's two hit-and-run incidents have been consistently false.
There is no evidence to show that protesters directly caused any injuries to anyone. The injuries cited by police were perpetrated by others against peaceful Occupy DC protesters - making today's police statement all the more dishonest.
UPDATE: Protesters from Occupy DC dispute the police's version of events, and launched a protest action Monday over claims that the driver didn't violate any laws when he hit two groups of protesters because he merely went through a "green light." On the Occupy DC website, activists contend:
According to the D.C. police, the driver will not be charged "because he had a green light when his vehicle struck the three on Friday night." To the contrary, there are no traffic lights at all at the scene of the first hit. Above all, a green light does not give anyone the right to drive into a person with their car.
The only green light we see here is the one giving people the right to attack peaceful, non-violent protesters of a system run by the wealthy elite at the expense of true democracy. Last night the police state told us that it is not a crime to attack peaceful protesters with vehicles.
The Associated Press quotes one pedestrian victim challenging the police notion that she and her child jumped on the car that ran them down:
Lt. Christopher Micciche said witnesses told police that the three pedestrians "either ran toward or jumped in front of the moving vehicle." He said one pedestrian jumped on the hood of the car.But the demonstrators said that wasn't true.
Heidi Sippel of Vandalia, Ohio, said that she, her 13-year-old son and her wife Brandy Sippel were taking part in the demonstration when a silver Lexus sped toward them. The driver slowed down, threw up his hands in apparent frustration and then drove forward, hitting them, she said. Brandy Sippel, who is six months pregnant, was grazed by the car's rearview mirror. Heidi Sippel said she and her son were both hit by the front of the car.
"He just threw his hands up and hit the gas," Heidi Sippel said of the driver.
WASHINGTON - District of Columbia authorities say a car drove through a crowd near an Occupy DC protest and struck three people.D.C. fire department spokesman Lon Walls said Saturday morning that the three were transported to two area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. He said none was in critical condition but that some injuries were "fairly serious..."
Fox 5 reported that the vehicle struck two people, kept driving, and then struck a third person. Police said the accident victims were all conscious.
TPM's Josh Marshall and other bloggers updated the story with some local news video of one of the victims:
Car Plows into Crowd of Occupy D.C. Protesters in Northwest: MyFoxDC.com
D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells reported on his twitter feed: "Driver was not let go. Stopped further up and in custody. MPD will test for blood alcohol etc and determine next steps."
Social media, especially twitter and u-stream, featured photos and video of the protests and response to the apparent hit-and run. The driver in this video appears to be let go by police, but Wells and other accounts indicate he was put into custody.
A photo of one of the injured victims was soon uploaded by photographer Craig Hudson.
The Washington Post local news blog reported that about 500 people blocked intersections surrounding the Washington D.C. Convention center, preventing cars from entering and leaving.
In this jerky cell-phone video, you can see about the 23 minute mark, the crowd reaction to the injured protesters and EMS workers arriving to help, then at the 25 minute mark, angry protesters surrounding the car and are being urged to step back by police. At the 35 minute mark, protesters use the "mic check" crowd chant to challenge police procedures, and a bit later, to demand the police arrest the driver.
The #occupydc twitter feed offered a steady stream of news, photos and rumors all night. The group's latest general assembly meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at McPherson Square in Washington, D.C -- and they should have plenty to talk about as they plan their next actions.
In the days ahead, despite the anger, one question is: Will the Occupy DC movement be able to remain non-violent as it has? Or will fringe, extremist elements -- or undercover agents provocateur -- seek to incite violence that could reduce public support for the Occupy Wall Street movement as they did in Oakland? As Salon's Steven Kornacki points out:
Let's try to make sense of this. A new national survey from Quinnipiac University suggests that popularity for the Occupy Wall Street movement is plummeting, with 39 percent of voters now saying they have an unfavorable view of the movement, compared to just 30 percent who have a favorable one. At the same time, a new CNN poll finds that voters agree with OWS by a 2-to-1 margin, 36 to 19 percent.Which one is right?
They both may be, and the explanation (as is often the case) can be found in the wording of the questions... Each question seems to be getting at something different. Quinnipiac's tight wording seems designed to focus respondents on the specific protests they've probably been watching on television and seeing pictures of on newspaper front pages. CNN's seems broader, testing attitudes not just about the literal protests but about the ideas behind them.
Violence linked to the protesters -- even if hyped and distorted by the mainstream media -- could undermine the movement's support. As Michael Moore warned recently on The Rachel Maddow Show, at the 10-minute mark: , "If you see someone trying to incite violence, start with the assumption that that person is... undercover homeland security or a cop or whatever, because this is the history of America, where those in charge have tried to ignite people, incite them to commit acts of violence. I tell them, don't be incited. Just assume right away that person is not part of the Occupy movement if that's what they're calling on people to do."
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The G-20 international conference rejected the tax on Friday, in part because of U.S. -- read Tim Geithner's -- opposition to it.
So the worldwide Occupy movements still appear to be essential for genuine reforms that could rein in the excesses of corporate greed. But Jon Stewart underscored the risk any vandalism and violence could pose, after the Oakland incidents that also featured police violence: "If this thing turns into throwing trashcans at Starbucks, no one will be down with that... You will always be judged by your worst elements":
That being said, I don't see the outcome they hope for by blockading drivers. I admit the driver overreacted by driving into protesters, but can anyone admit that protesters inserting themselves into harms way and blockading drivers is a poor choice of demonstration tactics? What were they attempting to accomplish? An overnight slumber party for protesters and drivers?
Also, how is it ok to physically smack a persons car with your hands when they have the right of way? Come on, somebody has to admit that THAT was going overboard. Remove the emotion and look at this tactic. It was not honorable for either the driver or the protester. It is indicative of the pressure cooker that OCCUPY is becoming.
I admire the platitudes they represent, but I wish they would make more coherent demands. I get more useful information about the OCCUPY movement from comments in posts then I do from their official spokespeople.
So when things get out of hand at an OWS rally, provacateur are involved. When they went wrong at a tea party rally, they were crazy tea partiers.
And this article, on HuffPo just a few days ago seems to indicate the protestors were at fault, so which is it? A matter where some protestors stepped into traffic that had the right of way? Or some sort of nefarious plot to mow down some innocent protestors? It can only be one way or the other.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/05/occupy-dc-car-drives-through-crowd_n_1077487.html
Something is terribly wrong when the police stop protecting & start treating citizens like the enemy. There are too many separate incidences of policemen all across the country, despite being unprovoked, caught on tape attacking peaceful protesters and/or citizens to be a coincidence. A growing sense of unease sweeping the nation is further validated when police choose to ignore eyewitness accounts that contradict the status quo.
For the first time in 60 years, Iam unnerved by what is taking place in America.
When you try to take away an individualÂs right, you are opening a door, What will come through that door is unknown; but you opened that door. if you don;tr want to find out what may happen, don't open that door. After... all bets are off.
In Britain we've seen this tactic used by Scotland Yard and MI5 Britains internal intelligence and security agency to infiltrate a variety of protest groups and discredit political opponents.
The establishment' that includes the major corporations- Wall street investment banks, and their political arm want these protestors to go away and since the demos continue - They may resort to new tactic to discredit the protestors.
Moore is correct. This is not paranoid its reality given the sinister non democratic forces who control the American govt.
40+ years later, people still claim to have been there, and generations not born at the time of the concert know the songs performed on its stage.
Wouldn't be a bad legacy for the hundreds of Occupy rallies.
FYI, the music at Woodtsock sucked, and it showed the rapid decline of the underground from the high water mark of Monterey. What caused the decline? The difference between people trying to expand their consciouness, act ethically, LEARN... and people following the pack, unable to think for themselves, taking drugs to be taking drugs, following incoherent political philosophies blindly... sounds like OWS?
People who have a false ideal about 'Woodtstock' either weren't there/ didn't live through this era, or are drugged out delusional burnouts. Woodstock was a bunch of people getting high for three days listening to - for the most part - horribly-performed music by stars who heliocoptered in and left immediately after.
So Occupy Wall Street wants to prove that they're socially responsible by blaming any wrongdoing by the movement on a secret society of highly-trained Koch brothers-hired Blackwater mercenaries being paid ridiculous amounts of money to get hit by cars?
Wait ... 30% favorable "plummeted" from *what*? We need a contrast number for the claim to even be meaningful. Did a previous Quinnipiac poll using the same wording find a higher level of support? If so, what level of support? If not, then where is the "plummeting" rhetoric coming from?
I've heard lots of pundits talk about how violence turns off "Middle America," but I've seen no real *evidence* to support that claim. If anyone else has some, please share it.
There are people out to make this protest something it isn't, that being a protest using vandalism to leave a message. There is some video of Occupy Wall-streeters trying to stop vandals with masks on, from destroying property.
The protestors for the most part, have been peacefull. There are some masked thugs out to ruin the peaceful protests that need to be outed though.