It’s not enough that the police are killing unarmed African-Americans in Ferguson, Missouri. Now they’re arresting journalists like Huffington Post’s Ryan Reilly and Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery for sitting in a McDonald’s to recharge their cell phones while writing up their coverage of the protests and militarized police riots in response to the police killing of Michael Brown.
Read Reilly’s account of his arrest here (“They essentially acted as a military force), and Lowery’s here (“‘My hands are behind my back,’ I said. ‘I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting.’ At which point one officer said: ‘You’re resisting. Stop resisting.'”)
Here’s a statement sent out tonight by HuffPo’s Washington bureau chief Ryan Grim following the arrest, and subsequent release of Reilly and Lowery…
“Ryan was working on his laptop in a McDonald’s near the protests in Ferguson, MO, when police barged in, armed with high-powered weapons, and began clearing the restaurant. Ryan photographed the intrusion, and police demanded his ID in response. Ryan, as is his right, declined to provide it. He proceeded to pack up his belongings, but was subsequently arrested for not packing up fast enough. Both Ryan and Wesley were assaulted.
“Compared to some others who have come into contact with the police department, they came out relatively unscathed, but that in no way excuses the false arrest or the militant aggression toward these journalists. Ryan, who has reported multiple times from Guantanamo Bay, said that the police resembled soldiers more than officers, and treated those inside the McDonald’s as ‘enemy combatants.’ Police militarization has been among the most consequential and unnoticed developments of our time, and it is now beginning to affect press freedom.”
With all due respect to Grim, and I have much, while “police militarization” has, indeed, been among the most consequential developments of our time, it has not gone “unnoticed” and it has been “affect[ing] press freedom” for quite some time. The BRAD BLOG burned quite a few late-night pixels in a whole bunch of stories back in 2011 during the hey-day of the Occupy Movement trying to make exactly that point loud and clear, and again in 2012 when journalists were being arrested for their coverage. (And, certainly, years earlier than that as well.)
At the time, we also noted that the pretend patriots of the “Tea Party” movement didn’t seem to give a damn about any of it, which still rings true today, as we echoed tonight on Twitter while we catching up with the evening’s ongoing madness in #Ferguson…
Just a quick thanks to all those Bundy Ranch "patriots" for coming down to #Ferguson and standing up to Big Govt Tyranny.
— Brad Friedman (@TheBradBlog) August 14, 2014
But I’m certain the “patriots” will be arriving anytime now to help restore liberty to the citizens of Ferguson, unless they’re home polishing their big manly rifles so they can help “protect our American rights and freedoms”…
If you think about it, the Bundy bunch and folks who support them ARE the police force…It is no mistake, or error that the police have recruited from the ranks of our military and then armed by our military…suppression, occupation, and killing is what our military does…hmmm…they are now operating within our borders, under the guise of a police force…who will no longer be constrained by ethics or morals…kinda like the gop/baggers…we are in trouble folks….
I noticed this in New Orleans way after there was no more need (if there ever was) for military policing civilians (Will The Military Become The Police?).
The scary thing was that when the military was sued by those they abused there, the Federal Courts said they were “immune” from liability.
Only when we see the law applied equally to those who hide behind their badges while violating the law as to those who exercise their First Amendment rights will we see justice. But I’ve been waiting since Kent State, and so far, it’s just more of the same, with each generation facing more and more firepower in the hands of those charged with “keeping the peace.”
Something about “when you’re a hammer everything looks like a nail” springs to mind.