Amy Goodman Violently Arrested Today at RNC
Story from Democracy Now site:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 1, 2008
Contact:
Dennis Moynihan
Mike BurkeST. PAUL, MN--Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here.
Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.
Ramsey County Sherrif Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.
Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman's office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).
Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amenmdent rights of these journalists.
During the demonstration in which they were arrested law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force. Several dozen others were also arrested during this action.
Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation's leading independent news outlet.
Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.
THIS IS FROM ALLISON KILKENNY'S
UPDATE:
Goodman was arrested along with Democracy Now producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. As of 9:15 PM EST, the Ramsey County jail has charged Goodman with "conspiracy to riot" and released her, but is still detaining Kouddous and Salazar. No charges have been pressed against them.
Laurie, the phone operator at the County Jail says she "hopes charges will be presented within the hour." As of right now, Kouddous and Salazar are being held without charges.9:50 PM EST: Kouddous and Salazar are still being held without charges. Laurie, the operator, now expects a few hours to expire before they are officially charged with a crime. She claims the slow process is due to an unusually high number of arrests coupled with many detainees using pseudonyms. More than 100 people were arrested along with Goodman and her producers.
Early reports indicate Kouddous and Salazar were originally arrested on suspicion of rioting .
11:00PM EST: The Ramsey County Jail redirected me to something called the "Joint Information Center." Under a little pressure, the operator finally revealed his name (Sgt. William Palmer,) though he asked for my name (had me spell it twice) and asked for my phone number in exchange. Friendly stuff.
Palmer informed me that Kouddous and Salazar will be held in jail overnight until they are taken to court tomorrow. No one knows what they are being charged with, but Palmer attributes their arrest to "suspicious behavior."
Kouddous and Salazar are still being held without any formal charges.
11:33PM: Kouddous and Salazar have been released. Sgt. William Palmer called me back and said they have been released with "Pending complaints," which essentially means they were not charged while in custody, but may yet be charged with some felony at a later date.
12:00AM: Democracy Now! has posted this update:
Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar Released After Illegal Arrest at RNC
Goodman Charged with Obstruction; Felony Riot Charges Pending Against Kouddous and Salazar
ST. PAUL--Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar have all been released from police custody in St. Paul following their illegal arrest by Minneapolis Police on Monday afternoon.
All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar's violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, "I'm Press! Press!," resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman's arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested.
On Tuesday, Democracy Now! will broadcast video of these arrests, as well as the broader police action. These will also be available on: www.democracynow.org
Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on suspicion of rioting, a felony. While the three have been released, they all still face charges stemming from their unlawful arrest. Kouddous and Salazar face pending charges of suspicion of felony riot, while Goodman has been officially charged with obstruction of a legal process and interference with a "peace officer."
Democracy Now! forcefully rejects all of these charges as false and an attempt at intimidation of these journalists. We demand that the charges be immediately and completely dropped.
Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities' law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of these journalists.
During the demonstration in which the Democracy Now! team was arrested, law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force against protesters and journalists. Several dozen demonstrators were also arrested during this action, including a photographer for the Associated Press.
Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and the subsequent criminal charges and threat of charges are a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists.
Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.
Mayor Chris Coleman can be contacted at: 651-266-8510 or e-mailed at: https://mn-stpaul.civicplus.com/forms.asp?FID=69
Governor Tim Pawlenty can be reached at: (651) 296-3391 or e-mailed at tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us
Ramsey County Jail: 651-266-9350
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In March 2007 a group of 25 MoveOn members were on a corner at the US Capitol with licenses to protest the war. We mad sure that no corner exceeded 25, the max. A police captain told us we were there illegally. I said we had a permit. We were protesting peacefully. He said, "I'm not here for debating society crap. I will arrest you."
Behind him was an officer with a machine gun. Behind him was the Capitol of the United States.
I am most startled by the blindness of many posts here that see no problem with "the peaceable arrest" of journalists doing their job. The problem is not with the policemen it’s with us who seem not to understand what’s happening. Remember:
"First they came for the Communists but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists but I was not one of them, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews but I was not Jewish so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."
We better call the State's Governor and vote these execrable men and women out of office in November or we will have no rights for which to protest.
We tried to vote out the Repubic Gov. Diebold counting machines would have none of it.
Thank you for being a witness for truth!
You are to be commended for making sure the abuses of government are chronicled. Your strength in truth is greater than the fear they presume will silence the peacemakers into ignorance and complicity.
We shall... overcome!
While I never expect the police to know anyone outside the few celebrities they encounter every day on Entertainment Tonight you would think that they'd take a minute to find out who they're arresting. Amy Goodman is a respected and credentialed news reporter. It was unnecessary to treat anyone like this much less Ms. Goodman who posed no physical harm to anyone and who was there to get a story.
This needs to be front and center, all the time on the Website!! WTF is going on in this country?? Don't the sponsors like it??
The 1% Solution is now applied to domestic news gathering.
How interesting that yesterdays demo & march, where over 20,000 people dedicated to peace and justice were led by several dozen Iraq Veterans Against the War followed by at least 300 Veterans For Peace, entirely escaped notice by mainstream media.
How sad this image is not broadcast around the world so that people can see there is a sizable contingent of America's military veterans who oppose this war. In fact, many of us are already opposed tot he next war!
We are not "anti-war activists" although many of us are. What gets us here is the fact that we are veterans opposed to militarism as tools of social, economic and foreign policy!
Your so far from the rights of an American, it scary. You condone authority's abuses as if the State is, over our rights, they are not and will never be, that is why true believers in the rights, given to the people, will win out, this Nation is by the people for the people and they the Police will get away with this today and make thugs believe we won over those liberals, but in the end you, your comment and your Police thugs will be proven out as just a bunch of usurpers of Americans right's.
This story is just so awful and sad. What a terrible commentary about our "free" society.
I've seen worse in 1968, and that time it was the Democrats doing it. Both parties when they feel threatened have attacked the press and it seems like there is no opposition to it. Inspite of the extreme importance of the press to the preservation of our democracy there are no laws that define or protect the press. Reporters do not have the legal right of priviledged communication that both lawyers and doctors have irrespective of the fact that their job is more important to the functioning of the country. Reporters have no union or professional association that defends their rights. They are blocked from the exercise of reporting by administrations that both lie to the press and criminilize "leaks" that cause reporters to go to jail for the crime of reporting the truth to the people.
Most important is the fact that the people, who are the source of the reporters committment to risk their lives to inform, care nothing about the fate of the reporters themselves. Low pay, dangerous working conditions, zero job security, and ultimate poverty in old age draw fewer and fewer people into the profession which seems like the ultimate plan of those in power. But even if the demise of journalism is just a effect of the invisible hande of the markets the fact remains that America will not endure without the press. It is the live blood of our future and it is dripping away.
Blackwater is on the streets of St Paul while hired GOP operatives create an image of violent demonstrations to depict progressives as terrorists. This is a set up if there ever was one. They arrested the journalists who began to get too close to the truth of the set up.
North Korean crackdowns.
East German raids
Communist Russian silencing of protestors.
Junta-led repealing of the freedom of the press.
Targeted assaults.
These people were on a Republican list of persons to target with fraudulent arrests
Between the events Amy and her producers recounted on the Hartmann show today on AAR, & which are posted on the Democracy Now website and Youth Radio and this sham of an RNC, really makes me fear that they have already decided to cancel the election and just declare m a r t i a l law. Rep Keith Ellison is checking into this as well.This smacks of a total f a s c i s t crackdown to come. I implore everyone to check this out! People who were witnesses need to blog this & post video documentation all over the Web so the truth is shown!What the hell is going on here?
This is not America!
People, get used to it, this is only the beginning. Welcome to Orwell's 1984.
The fact that anyone condones this type of police behavior simply reinforces how uninformed and uneducated our society has become. I have family members who are state troopers and they are appalled and embarrassed by these actions - this is not how law enforcement officials serve the common good, nor protect the People.
I will never set foot in the state of Minnesota again, nor will many of my friends and family. If it's true that federal officials are involved in this type of criminality against U.S. citizens, I can only hope that the ACLU and others file a class action lawsuit against our federal government, as well as the Twin City officials who have looked the other way, so all Americans have an opportunity to participate in ensuring that these actions are promptly and judiciously prosecuted.
Shame on the corporate-owned media for not giving these atrocities the attention they deserve. If you don't speak out now, the day may come when there's no one to speak for you. It is clearly time for all of us to work together to make sure that the GOP is eliminated from the political landscape - that it becomes nothing more than a historical footnote.
This will continue to happen and it will continue to be swept under the rug.
Just like 4 years ago in NY. Do some research on that convention and tons of illegal arrests that took place. At one point after these people had been arrested, not charged and held in unsanitary areas a federal judge ordered their release. They then defied the judge and continued to hold people with out charges!
That was a well documented situation that got zero coverage.
Cops dressed and ready for combat arresting a middle-aged lady. What tough guys, what defenders of freedom and liberty. Time to put the old Phil Ochs' tunes on the record player. Except for rasing a few bucks through traffic citations, cops are completely useless.
Rybak's police thugs should be jailed along with Rybak. How can any mayor establish such an abuse of police power. The protestor should march on the mayor's office and demand their rights. Rybak should be arrested for abuse of power.
Looks like they've been watching Chicago 1968 for crowd control.
I really wish she wasn't 100 percent wrong. But she was. when a policeman says 'go stand on the sidewalk' you go stand on the sidewalk -if you don't like that -then you leave and try to get the law changed later -thats the system we have -OR you don't follow the rules and you get arrested -she is lucky she didn't hurt, because she resisted arrest as well. Once the policeman says" you're under arrest "-that's it -game over. She was warned and did not comply ,I'm a democrat and I wish there was evidence that she was in the right ,but I don't see any here.
AND by the way she was not "VIOLENTLY ARRESTED" as the headline indicates -this whole thing was
VIOLENTLY exaggerated and over reported.
what's going on around here anyway? we keep making the other side look good by trying to focus on the negative.
OMG! Have you seen her arrest? She was simply asking a question! Are we not allowed to ask questions now? How anyone can condone just behavior from those sworn to serve and protect is beyond me! Isn't being able to question authority one of the rights our soldiers die for?
Our forfeathers are rolling in their graves and you are making excuses! And yes it was violent and unnessecary! A complete assault on the freedom of press and any true patriot should be up in arms!
lets try this again -the policeman asked her to get back onto the sidewalk several times and she did not comply -failure to comply - the police officer warned that she would be arrested.
she still didnt comply -I think her statement was -'no you dont understand ' -here is the point
the police officer is in charge -not her. Its not violating her rights -she does not have the right to do as she pleases wherever she pleases - the police would not have had a problem if she went to the sidewalk as directed and said what she wanted to there .AND midwest momma -no you are not allowed to ask a question when ordered by a police officer.Yo
I am not making excuses - she did not follow the rules - there are rules everywhere, even for the press -this is not the united states of do what you want . The people who assemble aren't the ones who decide if that assembly is peaceable or lawful -the law decides -so parking lots and traffic and entry lines and crosswalks and ambulances keep moving so EVERYONES rights are protected.
You may be surprised to find out how limited your
I guess we're all getting tired of "Free Speech Zones" and the completing destruction of the 4th estate. She had press credentials which means they should've gotten someone of authority to speak her. The police arrested REPORTERS while doing their jobs. If this doesn't scare the hell out of every resident of St. Paul they're dumbing than lemming.
Perhaps your heart is in the right place, but it is obvious to me that you don't understand the law concerning peaceful protest and press freedoms. There is no doubt in my mind that this is going to end up reflecting very poorly on the mayor and the police chief. At the very least, the charges will be dropped. There is a good possibility that the officers involved will be punished.
Uh, no. One has the Constitutional RIGHT to peaceably assemble. And, as a journalist, the protection of the First Amendment. Remember that, a FREE press. Those things do not disappear just because a policeman says they do.
Now, in a police state, your assertions are correct.
In this case, however, the cops were there to get rid of Amy. Typical procedure. Make the illegal arrest, let the arrested go when it comes to trial. In the short term, it keeps them off the street, out of the demonstrations. Can't have demonstrations, though; makes the powers that be look not so sterling.
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