My Occupy LA Arrest, by Family Guy writer Patrick Meighan

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

the police aren't infringing on the constitution! lol how ridiculous!

Nonsense. The ACLU and others say that in a lot of instances (not all, but yes in certain towns of the 200 sites) in Occupy they most certainly are.

We are not owned nor controlled by a militarized police. They cannot order us not to protest on public property, to move along, to be quiet. Guess what? It worked for Ghandi, and it worked for Martin Luther King, and it's being used here to draw attention to the movement. And it's certainly worked - the national conversation has changed. But we in America have the right to protest, and to peacefully assemble, and to address our government and ask for redress: "they" cannot make special rules to tell us that 4 or more cannot be on the public sidewalk at the same time, or that we have to leave a public sidewalk after 11:00pm, or that we need a permit to walk into a public building without disruption.

Guess what? This is America, and if someone doesn't like that everyone has the same rights (includings Occupy, Muslims, blacks, and The People of Wal Mart in South Beach, Florida) too bad.

go back and look at everytime the police were called in to remove protesters. it had nothing to do with right to speech or assembly. had everything to do with ignoring no 24 hour stay laws, camping rules, etc, etc

That is factually not true. Many it was just last-minute bullshiat rules suddenly made up to yank people out of there. Several times they yanked them out, then made up charges. They have arrested people who were there but not involved in the protests. They have arrested bystanders. They have arrested journalists doing their jobs.

There are independent legal observers at every Occupy (NY even arrested a bunch of them and forbade them to watch, which got NY into a huge amt of trouble). There are lawyers advising the protesters. Constitutional rights have indeed been violated in some instances.

That is exactly what the lawyers are fighting over in court: defending our rights and liberties. And they are winning so far. Check the court cases involving Occupy.

If you don't stand up for your rights, you won't have any. Congress just this week passed a bill that allows you, an American citizen on American soil, to be detained indefinitely if you are suspected of being a terrorist. Have a cache of food for several months? A few guns? Better watch out!

You'd better pray Obama doesn't sign it. Patriot Act ring a bell?

You think those people being pepper sprayed in Oakland were being treated according to their rights? Hell no! They were NOT.

The people in LA who were denied bail when they had the money in their hands? No - their Constitutional rights were violated. Were they allowed lawyers? No - their Constitutional rights were violated.

And yes, the Lawyers Guild, and the ACLU, is providing tons of free legal service to the Occupy movement, due to the terrible rights abuses of many of the PD departments and the cities.

This, the below, is when the LAPD first moved into Occupy LA. Notice the deliberate and determined destruction of private property - which the city denies (they didn't get all the videos out of there before they started, although they moved the press several blocks away - another Constitution issue that is going through the NYC courts now with OccupyWS and the NYC press)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=qmtBFAk1864

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLNFb...eature=related

i doubt their rights would worry some on here quite so much if they didn't agree with the protest in question! i don't recall certain posters always backing protesters

Baloney. No more so than some here are defending the police because they don't like the protesters. The KKK is a bunch of hate-filled idiots, but yeah, they have the right to demonstrate in this country.

it's a fact that some of them actively seek arrest so that they can help portray cops as attacking innocent protesters and get headlines, and get people bewailing their fate.

Yes, peaceful non-violent, non-resisting protesters are willing to get arrested for minor civil disobedience like refusing to move. They are briefed by legal teams, and some choose to get arrested, and some do not. They should be arrested, booked, fined, etc. Minor misdemeanors.

That does not entitle the police to physically or mentally abuse them or treat them differently, or abuse their constitutional rights.

I've worked with and known and cared about lots of cops, FBI agents, etc., and I have the greatest respect for law enforcement. But when they screw up, they have to be called on it.