Amy Goodman Violently Arrested Today at RNC

Story from Democracy Now site:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Democracy Now Site

September 1, 2008

Contact:
Dennis Moynihan
Mike Burke

ST. 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: [phone] or e-mailed at [e-mail]
Ramsey County Jail: 651-266-9350

Comments

[eahce]

1984

[AnnArky]

1968

[Chavez08]

< On steroids.

[phlashba]

EXACTLY! Just like the one the other day with a big cigar in his mouth....What a bunch of bully COWARDS.........I would bet everything I have that they are "good" Republicans and christians too!

[bev]

I was in downtown St Paul with my daughter, daughters-in-law and granchildren marching in a peaceful protest . There were thousands marching and most of them looked just like us. It was scary! St. Paul looks like a police state with hundreds of police in riot gear, with clubs and gas masks. We did not feel safe BECAUSE of their presence. So, what does that tell you?

[Darkdonnie]

Wrong place, wrong time! Bad judgement!

[jahzilla]

the same could be said of the past 8 years . . . as well as for those who choose to speak with out exhibiting any semblance or either "cause and effect" overview ability . . . or one iota of knowledge, relative to the crap they spew. I pity those who MUST contend with, on a regular basis, such voices of ignorance. Bush truly IS representative of his constituency and those who have chosen such a benchmark of "leadership" as their ultimate deferral, can get their lazy butts out of the way. The intellectual depth for half of this nation, in failing to grasp the precepts drawn from remarkable character, sacrifice and honor, fought and died for by our founding fathers and mothers, is not only appalling, it is foretelling of a nation more easily led by their fears, than bolstered through the application of resounding courage necessary in protecting our Constitution from the vile scourge of disaffected complacency.

Amy Goodman has been, within that same vein of courage, a remarkable champion for upholding the Constitution so many take for granted . . . especially for those who will never know (or choose to know) why she is not the problem, but part of the answer.

[Darkdonnie]

Oh c’mon she is a far left reporter! (Oxymoron)
By getting @rrested she becomes the story!
When no one is listening that is what she does!
Check her past! She has “No corporate sponsorship” So what!
She is pushing her agenda like everyone else, not what a reporter should be doing.

[Darkdonnie]

Do the crime, do the time!

[abouttime]

An over-used phrase to rationalize the illegal police state brutality of citizens using there constitutional right and human right to peacefully assemble in order to protect others from illegal arrest and incarceration prior to prosecution and indictment according to due process of law.

"Do the crime, do the time!" is pointless in a world where selective arrests are made where crimminal acts are carried out by government officials (police) against those whose journalistic duty is to monitor the crimminal acts commited by the police and others. The certain goals of the government conspiracy to scare protesters and keep them afraid is to prevent the public from wittnessing brutality agaist law-abiding citizens.
Apparently "Do the crime, do the time!" does not apply to police whose directive by 'higher-ups" is to quell The Peoples most fundamental and neccessary rights guarenteeing liberty and justice for all.

The whole world is watching!

[Darkdonnie]

Do you KNOW not feel that they were not breaking the law?
Do you KNOW not feel that she was not interfering with the arrest?

[CyrusBeaucephus]

Good lets incarcerate Bush

[protagonia]

Republican are officially the Bad Guys.

[Darkdonnie]

Which one?

[protagonia]

That should have been "Republicans".

Any help on the little details is always appreciated.

Thanks Donnie.

[arunachala]

so much for freedom and democracy...oh yeah, and freedom of the press, naw, never heard of it. i don't know how you can dislike amy goodman, she's one of the few and rare examples of independent journalism and stands up for what she believes in without getting fired, but in this case got arrested.

[CL696]

The officers are there to maintain control. Attempt to remove the control and you will be arrested.

[Olbereilyman]

Oh, the humanity.... Dont they know who they are dealing with... the whole world is weeping.

[mredder4]

"Conspiracy to riot"?

Seem to me that rioting is one of those things that you either DO or DON'T DO. And it's pretty easy, for any being of sentient intelligence, to distinguish between rioting and not rioting. I mean, I'm not rioting right now. Does that mean I could be charged with "conspiracy to riot" because I've been typing about it? Thinking about it? Reading about it?

[Ouroboros]

POLICE STATE.

[SouthernYankeeBelle]

Well I tried to send a e-mail to Pawlenty's office but they wouldn't take it.

[JohnKelly]

There are always cowards who defend brutality by the police no matter what level of violence they use. They have never been assaulted by those in power and found what a demoralizing experience it is to realize that your government uses the police as a violent political tool against it citizens.

When the police use poor judgment, and let their anger take over, they are no longer doing the people's work.

I have seen first hand a young black man get kicked, beaten unconscious and dragged face down over concrete steps by the Seattle police. His crime? He called them pigs and flipped them off. Wait until you see how many people think the police are within their rights to nearly kill someone for being stupid and angry.

Good police work requires heroic levels of restraint. Plenty of cops are not that heroic. Some are.

John

[Phil123]

Then you should view the video above for an excellent example of nonviolent and professional police work.

When Goodman defies the police and walks across their barrier, they calmly (and as gently as possible) take her into custody, and close ranks again to prevent the crowd from becoming too riled. No one but Goodman raised their voice or lost their temper.

[abouttime]

You are not watching the video's of police arresting peaceful protesters and journalists that were acquited in 2004 because of videos taken by monitors of protest groups who were brutalized and arrested, but were then used as evidence of the illegal police mis-conduct in court that eventually showed an "excellent example of [VIOLENT] and [ILLEGAL] professional police work."

Amy Goodman and her fellow journalists were brutalized and violated by the police. They have the evidence and I have seen it in video and eye-witness testimony.

Thank you Amy for protecting us all from a system going awry!

We shall overcome!

[gloriar8]

I agree with you. I saw something similar happen in florida. It is something you never forget when one human being brutalizes another like that.

[ilpostino]

I was not there but from what I see of the video, police showed restraint and acted as professionally as they could under the circumstances.

Did they do the right thing or what is right? They did the right thing. Was it right? No of course not. You cannot justify "arresting" an unarmed middle aged woman, cuffing her and escorting her to a paddy wagon, then jail, for wishing to **talk** with her fellow journalists who themselves were being arrested for doing their job. This was wrong, I don't care how much restraint was used.

And yes, we do live in a POLICE STATE. make no mistake about it. Ask any Amercian law enforcement or corrections industry professional if they have seen any decrease in their operating budget in the past few years. More than likely, they have seen their budgets go UP,UP, UP. FBI hq in Charlotte are getting ready to build 3 new buildings. Police forces across the country have the best equipment, vehicles and gadgets that money can buy. Law enforcement and corrections are GROWTH industries. Don't tell me this is not a POLICE STATE.

You don't need to get all bloodied and brutalized to justify this is a police state. Travel outside this country and visit any western industrialized country. Heck, go to Canada. Not far...and you will notice a significant relaxation of authoritarianism and control. Almost immediately as you drive across the border.

[hf201]

"Violent" arrest"...did somebody post the wrong video? If that's violent, I guess I need to get a lawyer and file suits against my high school baseball and basketball coaches, my third-grade teacher, both my parents, my brother, and God knows how many of my friends because apparently, unbeknownst by me, I've been violently manhandled my whole life. Or, just maybe, the problem is melodramatic posturing by pseudo-journalists who want to be the story more than they want to inform the public. Let me think....

[JohnKelly]

There was more to it than what is in the video. But even if that were all there was... if your mother were treated that way by anyone, you would see it differently.

The police are being used to intimidate and stifle dissent as they always are at these demonstrations.

If they treated the people who stand on overpasses waving flags and yelling "support the troops" the same way, there would be hell to pay. And rightly so. There is a distinct bias against people who support peace.

The police are wrong when they cross the line between protecting and serving, to punishing, no matter whom they abuse... anti choice demonstrators or anti war demonstrators. Freedom of speech needs to be protected. The rights of citizens to protest their government is one of the most important rights we have. The police should not be allowed to intimidate, attack, or threaten citizens who are causing no harm.

Those who escalate the level of violence are nearly always wrong. When the police chase people for blocks and beat them with sticks, they are wrong, when they shoot an unarmed man on his own porch, they are wrong. When they beat up motorists, skateboarders, they are wrong. When they suffer verbal abuse and turn the other cheek, they are doing their job right.

Amy Goodman is a serious journalist. If this happened to any of the mock jounalist-­entertaine­rs on the networks or cable, there would be a huge outcry against it.

John

[omechengineeru]

Seriously? your calling Amy Goodman a pseudo-jou­rnalist?!!­!!! I dare you to name one individual that embodies true journalism more than Amy Goodman. It dang sure isn't anyone on these tv "news" shows. Anderson Cooper doesn't even hold a candle to Mrs. Goodman.

[unclesmedley]

As much as it pains me to agree... hf201 is right. Chicago '68 was not all CSNY songs and groovy face paint. And you still don't get to instruct cops in riot gear about you moral superiority. This whole fiasco is just a kabuki dance depicting a tired old story. Confronting belligerence with petulance is an unlikely strategy, and just because it gets you on YouTube doesn't mean that it helps your cause.

[SouthernYankeeBelle]

I guess you don't know Amy. She is a well respected reporter and has her own show on the Link station. His show is like the old news shows when we use to watch them. Her show is very informative about a lot of issues. Even giving us more international new than we get on our regular news shows. She has been a guest on cable shows to. She isn't the type of person that goes and looks for trouble. Before you judge her you should tune into her show. You would get a education because our regular news shows aren't giving you the facts. Open your eyes.

[enlighteninglad]

Why bother? They (trolls that will read your post) will never allow truth to get in their heads. They have to believe that its all the lefts fault. Everything. Remember, Clinton started the Civil War and Amy Goodman caused W Ws 1 AND 2.

[janwar]

In the video I saw Amy Goodman raise her hands as she was speaking to the police - this in itself is a recognizable sign that there is no harm or violence intended. On the other hand, the police reached out and drew Amy towards him, placing his hands on her body without provacation, unless you are one who believes that "speaking" is an arrestable offense in a land where the founding fathers insisted that all had the right to speak against tryanny. If you truly believe that it is "OK" for anyone to place their hands on your body in a gesture of agression without your permission or invitation, you are a unique and superior human being. I salute your restraint in not speaking out against your coaches - as a baseball and soccer coach of 2nd grade girls it never occurred to me to touch my team in any other manner than necessary to instruct them in the sport; I salute your restraint for not speaking out against your third-grade teacher - I did not know that teachers have the right to "touch" students in any manner, especially without aspersions being cast of "untoward behavior"; yes, you are a far superior speciman of the human race than I.

[Phil123]

And where was the violence?

[minerva117]

As a Minnesotan, I must say I'm deeply ashamed! Only in W's America. What a sad day!

[Phil123]

You should be proud of your local police for their professionalism.

[mathme]

Suspicion of rioting?! Conspiracy to riot?! These are some of the most insane sounding charges I have ever heard. It's frightening that there are laws that can be broken by doing absolutely nothing.

[POLINUT]

I've followed Amy Goodman's work for decades. To have this happen in America is typical (in my personal experience with law enforcement), but nonetheless disturbing. Who is protecting our citizens and our rights??? CERTAINLY not the violence happy police!