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In a most disturbing twist of events, it has been reported that not only were journalists and news photographers detained and/or arrested, and preemptive arrests were performed, but it is now being reported that the brutality of the St. Paul police, under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security, was extended to medics on the scene, as well as local residents.

We’ll start as a young protester describes his own torture at the hands of the police, a telling which is too reminiscent of the handling of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

The following is from FireDoglake, and I strongly urge you to read the entire story. It is beyond belief that this could and did happen in The United States of America.

From a fourth-year University of Minnesota medical student:

While much attention has been paid to arrests of prominent journalists & protesters harsh treatment during arrests, in the streets of St Paul many community members feel invisible as they live out the RNC protest repercussions. Undocumented families, refugees have been staying away from their homes in highly patrolled areas near downtown St Paul in fear of encountering police by accident. I visited and documented a gentleman of color who had no prior criminal history, who was detained without cause near central St Paul. During his arrest, while handcuffed he was beat by a police officer. The victim had recently had major surgery, released from hospital less than a week prior. Later, during booking, the same officer punched him repeatedly in the head and neck in front of other officers who looked on without concern. When police realized that this man was severely injured, they drove him one block away from the hospital and let him limp his way to the ER. People of color, those most marginalized in our community, have faced severe consequences because of RNC protests. Police riled up, frustrated with protesters are taking out their anger on those without large wallets, or skin privilege.

There are more stories of abuse of people and abuse of power below the fold.

This was reported by Michael Cavlan, a Registered Nurse at Regions Hospital in St. Paul:

I hear “we need a medic over here” so we responded. Apparently, the police had maced a member of the “Minnesota Peace Team.” These were all people marked in bright green vests, who were working with the police to contain violence. The two that were maced, full in the face were both 70 year old men. For the record, the peace teams had been very successful in de-escalating violence. I ran over and treated one and my buddy treated the other one. While I was doing so, someone from the crowd ran over and said “buddy, get out of here, I heard the cops say ‘get the medic in blue.'” I hightailed out of there, ditching my blue scrubs. Ironically, as I did so a young man has a seizure, fell and hit his head hard right in front of me. I was still a medic, just unmarked now. I and others treated him until an ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital. Again, for the record we were now getting reports that the police were specifically targeting journalists and medics all over. (snip) One young man had apparently just returned from serving in Iraq. I treated him after the police maced him, full in the eyes. He had been simply walking by, going somewhere. As I treated him one of the National Lawyer’s Guild lawyers came by, took his information and a picture. At this time, the wall of police opened up, a commander of some sort pointed at myself and the lawyer, took a picture of us. I thought, “oh sh*t” and myself, my son and the lawyer started to walk away. Then a group of about fifteen bike cops came after us, surrounded me and pushed my son aside. Sean went to get the lawyer to help and they apparently threatened to tase him. Thank God, I did not know this at this time. They detained me, searched me and questioned me. Then they let me go. I took my son home and went home to bed.

And there is this most disturbing report from the Portland Street Medics:

A group of 350 people were being detained and preparing to be arrested on a bridge. The group included some legal observers from the NLG and 12 Street Medics. Medic Dispatch received news that the legal observers in the group had been released prior to the arrest, so the six medics headed out to see if they could negotiate with the police for the release of the medics. [snip] Upon arrival at the scene one of the Portland Medics spoke with an officer and received a phone number for “Watch Command” to begin negotiations. On the first phone call, the medic explained the job of the medics and explained that they were asking for the release of the medics detained on the bridge. The medic gave WC their full legal name and offered to provide proof of credentials as an EMT. WC offered to give the request to the commander at the scene and then call the medics back. After a reasonable amount of time, the medic called WC back to check on the status. WC questioned the location of the medics, and the medic confirmed that they were at the scene of the arrest before ending the phone call to wait for further news. The medic attempted to speak with two officers on scene, but neither would produce a supervisor to do the negotiations. Moments after the second attempt, while the Medic Liaison was making another call to WC, one of the Portland Medics was pulled out of the crowd of observers and drug into the street by four police officers. The medic’s pockets were searched while the medic stated, “I do not consent to this search.” While still searching this medic, the commanding officer led four more officers into the crowd and pulled out the Medic Liaison, who had been on the phone moments before. The first medic was released back into the crowd after their pockets were searched. The second medic was questioned as to why they were carrying a backpack and hip pack. The medic explained their status as an EMT and allowed officers to take their registration card as proof. Officers explained, “You reached your hands in your pockets, and that makes us nervous, so now we have to check what you’re up to.” The medic repeatedly denied consent for the search but officers began opening the medic kits regardless. An officer asked, “Where did you get all this stuff? Did you steal it off the ambulance?” The medic responded, “I’m not going to answer any more of your questions until I speak to my lawyer.” The officer replied, “In that case, you can pick your own shit up off the ground,” and began opening ziplock bags and dumping medical supplies on the ground. During the search, officers repeatedly made threats about possible criminal charges against the medic, including “medical terrorism.” Officers dumped the entire contents of both medical kits on the ground, purposefully stepped on the equipment, read all the aftercare flyers and made threats about “testing the pepper spray” on this medic, and searched the medic’s body and clothing three separate times in an extremely rough and inappropriate manner. After running the medic’s ID through the system, the officers ordered to medic to clean up all the supplies, and accused the medic of littering when a small packet of vitamins was overlooked on the ground. Once the supplies were repacked, the medic was free to go. These police actions were not based on any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. The police were targeting the medics who were attempting to liaise with commanding officers and harassing them in order to reduce their power and prevent further negotiating tactics.

These are only a few stories from the many reported at FireDogLake. Please read the rest as well as the more than two dozen links at the bottom of their story. It is frightening what is becoming of this country.

Journalists, especially photo journalists, were targeted because during the 2004 Republican National Convention, the independent news media group, I-Witness, took footage of the protests and arrests (a precursor to the events in St. Paul), which, when shown in court, proved that the police had doctored film used as evidence, allowing defendants to win tens of millions of dollars in lawsuits.

First [they] came for the terrorists, but I was not a terrorist, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the enemy combatants, but I was not a combatant, so I did not object. Then they came for the protesters resisting “free speech zones” near … campaign rallies, but I was not a protester and so I only voiced my unease.

Contact your elected officials and let them know that this is completely unacceptable. Beit your Congressperson, Senator, or other local officials, we all must let the government know that we, as citizen’s of this great country, will not allow this abuse to take place against other citizens. This cannot be allowed to continue.

UPDATE: Here is the video of the arrest of the man in the original video above.



h/t: nwmuse

UPDATE: Here is a video of the police raiding and detaining I-Witness Journalists at the 2008 RNC.

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