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Wednesday, September 1, 2004 |
Aurora, the young woman whose boyfriend, the French video guy, was arrested last night emailed me the following (used with her permission):
Aurora and Fred (at pier 57...)
New York, August 31, 2004 11:24pm
America the land of the brave and the free, the
so-called leading democracy in the world. What is left
of a democracy when peaceful protesters are simply
good to be rounded up by worked up police officers and
piled up in MTA buses to be transported to undisclosed
location for further interrogation? For days and weeks
the media has been pounding our ears with words such
as anarchists and riots continuously trying to instill
in us this climate of fear that has been so prevalent
in the Bush administration tactics to control the
American people, passing abhorrent and dangerous acts
such as the Patriot Act and gradually curtailing
individual and community rights. Tonight I have come
face to face with the reality of the lies on what
American freedom is about. Working as the cameraman
for a French journalist documenting the growing
alternative grassroots movements in America, Fred has
been immersed in the protests and various creative
events around the city for the past week. Tonight, he
got arrested for filming and being too close to a
group of peaceful "marchers". A journalist identity
card was not enough and he was told was he was doing
was illegal. After hours of standing up with his hands
tightly handcuffed in his back, he was able to contact
me and let me know where he was. I brought him water
but was aggressively told to get the hell out of
there while police officers around were sipping at
their Poland Spring bottles.
I was informally told that he may be detained between
24 to 48 hours but nobody could reassure me as to
whether or not this would impact his ability to stay
in the country under his current status. Because of
course, he is not only a journalist, he is a French
journalist.
But Fred is not the only unlucky soul tonight,
apparently many by-standers were also rounded up as
the police drew fences on one block and decided that
those on one side of the fence were free while the
others inside were indiscriminately under arrest. I
would not (unfortunately) be surprised if tomorrow
they were labeled as anarchists and dangerous
individuals by Fox 5 news or some other equally
ridiculously biased mainstream news source.
I cannot share enough my anger and my fear as I am
home writing these lines. I cannot help but feel
bitterness when I hear the speeches of the republican
convention center around the spread of freedom and
democracy. What does freedom look like in a city that
is overwhelmed by the symptoms of a police state, by
the constant helicopter noises, (a strong reminder of
Sept 11), by the broad presence of armed ìsecurity
agentsî, by the curtailing of peopleís rights because
they simply disagree with the current status quo? ìYou
are with us or with the terroristsî, you are our
friends or our enemies you are either in agreement
with us or you shall stay silent those words keep
bouncing in my head. I am simply bewildered by the
lack of complexity that seems to have pervaded the
American political discourse.
It is my responsibility to share with others what I am
witnessing around me. I am open to any thoughts and
comments.
Aurora
1:03:58 PM 
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Was late in getting to Irving Place and 16th Street for the protest, but in time to catch the arrest buses pull up and filled. There were just two buses with people on them, though the cops commandeered 4-5 buses.
I heard a rumor from someone who said that the cops hadn't arrested enough and they had to crack down and make their quota. Just a rumor, based in no fact, but semi in the realm of possibility. After all if you have thousands of new cable tie handcuffs, 300 new scooters, tens of thousands of police standing around and no arrests it seems kind of foolish. Who is going to explain to the taxpayers that their money was ill spent.
12:19:28 AM
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I was asked by a young woman to take a picture of her boyfriend on the arrest bus. She said he was a French video journalist and was arrested for videoing the arrests. So much for freedom of the press. She assured me that he was not interferring with the police procedures or a member of the protest.
12:11:25 AM
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Cropped picture of French journalist
12:07:34 AM
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© Copyright 2004 East Broadway Ron.
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