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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
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.
Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman (pictured) 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. 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.
Video of Amy Goodman's Arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ
106 Comments so far
Show AllShould be an interesting episode of DN...
It was. Watch it at democracynow.org. Streaming video, or audio only, or transcripts available there.
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"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
www.samsonsworld.blogspot.com
Watch the video footage on today's (09/02/08) Democracy Now--these guys only need SS collar pins and swastika armbands to complete the Gestapo resemblance.
Poet
I just sent an email to "ContactRamseyCounty@co.ramsey.mn.us" suggesting they
must have watched old films of Hitler's SS for training.
The Gestapo and the SS weren't the same, just for information.
Dear CD:
Your really have got to stay on the ball. WE are going to need a faster form of communication if justice is to be born again in this country.
Incidentally, the resident reactionary trolls at the comments on Glenn Greenwald's Salon.com site have already harrumphed about how the video "proves" that Amy was upset and out of control, and clearly disregarded the Nice Policeman's patient and professional orders and warnings to desist. Ergo, she has no one to blame but herself, and it was a righteous bust.
It never fails-- whether it's a journalist getting rousted and busted by local police goons, or foreigners getting blown away by military goons with automatic weapons at checkpoints in US occupied territory (e.g, Iraq), there's always someone who'll piously blame the victim and claim that the real story will exonerate the Goons in Black.
Is this on today's Salon.com? Let me know__I'll never read him again. I just read it. While Greenwald seemed "less enthusiastic than I would like" in his support of her--you are correct in that, it is the frequent GOP on his site that are excusing it. That doesn tmake me distrust Greenwald. I dont like to read the same opinions over and over. But I definitely saw what you were saying. I saw th4e interview withher, too. So, some people say that you should be arrested for "being upset"?? Since when??
Let me clarify, kdelphi, since I guess I didn't make it clear-- it isn't Greewald who's justifying the oppressive police tactics. Far from it! He's been on top of it, and has been reporting on all of the outrageous ("thuggish", as he correctly describes it) police conduct from the weekend's "pre-emptive" rousts forward.
It's the trolls in the comments who are rationalizing and defending police actions, arguing (as with Seattle) that "anarchists" are indeed tearing up the city. Somehow this justifies the huge paramilitary police presence.
I can't access Salon comments from my work computer, but I was able to see a video of a young woman holding up a flower-- just standing there holding up a FLOWER-- amidst a throng of masked Imperial stormtroopers. One finally gives her a full shot of pepper spray as he (or she) marches by.
I guess there was an anarchist bee hovering around that flower. It's a purely evil pig/goon moment.
And wasn't someone complaining about the "anarchists" being masked? Because the latest paramilitary police trend is for the goons to wear face masks, and display neither badge number nor name tags. Profiles in courage.
Thats what I just said--read it again. I sadi thatyou werw correct that it was the people commenting that were taking a completley diff tact on it than I was. I gues I have to say (speaking of free aspeech) "You were absolutely correct in everything you said and I was a fool to go read it for myself and make my own opinion! Sorry!" Dose that fit the response you want?
"Let me know__I'll never read him again."
_____________________________________________
I got all that; the sentence quoted above is what prompted my response.
It SAYS "let me know", and I assumed the "him" you'll never read again meant "Greenwald", so I ventured a polite clarification. I'm not sure what you're snarling about.
Who the hell is Amy Goodman?
someone with different political opinions than yours
Someone with I-N-T-E-L-L-I-G-E-N-C-E (youll have it in homeroom later)and grace. She is a member of the press. I think most vets would be very upset to learn that they bleed and die and there is still no freedom of speech.In fact, the ones I got videso , emails from , were upset about Denver--I can just IMAGINE how they feel now.
No-one important, as she has not been invited to appear with Limbaugh or Hannity.
A Left wing commentator on a par with Bill O'Riley as a Right wing journalist. They are about the same distance from the center.
My own opinion is Goodman isn't as fair or balanced as Rachel Maddow, but she has her moments.
I totally disagree with you on this. Amy Goodman is actually quite objective (maybe not with the stories she runs, but the way she handles them) and unlike Bill O'Riley, has no problem allowing people she disagrees with to have their turn at speaking their mind.
I've seen many debates she's moderated, and she does quite a good job. If asking tough questions means she's the equivalent to Bill O'Riley, you need to go take a journalism course so you can see the differences between the two.
Democracy Now! is an excellent news program, and, although Goodman is quite leftist when giving speeches, she is objective when giving the news. Unlike O'Riley who doesn't even report the news.. just calls people names and labels everyone who disagrees with him as a crazy liberal.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
You have a point! I simply meant that they were equidistant from the political center.
You are quite correct to chastize me for even giving the appearance that their methods or qualities are mutual. She usually is even handed and does not name call...though we can agree she possibly not as objective with the stories she runs..
My apologies for that!
Agreed agreed. Her slant is in the stories she runs, not in how she covers them. And no doubt she is a leftist when she gives speeches espousing her own beliefs. And what speeches she gives! Caught her at Bioneers last year.. great stuff.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
Rachel Maddow fair and balanced? what the hell have you been smoking?
Ah-Ha! See...if she weren't fair an balanced you wouldn't have said that!
TM, c'mon on! I have to say that Amy's passion for her topics sometimes means that she is not fair and balanced, BUT bless her soul she explicates a view on many many topics that the MSM never even intimates. I've been known to cringe during an interview or two but no one can accuse of her tossing softballs. I've even seen Dennis Kucinich soften or deflect questions she asks, but dang it, at least she asks them.
To me, DN is another place to get your information. There are no perfect places to get unbiased news. That's just a silly idea--that that could even exist. But what sets Amy and DN apart is that she reports on stories that NEVER see the light of day any where else and they are often stories that need airing.
BTW, I think some of Amy's finest stories were on the on the Padilla story, particularly when she interviewed the psychiatrist that had interviewed Padilla (8/16/07) and in general, her support of Jeremy Scahill in breaking the Blackwater story. I love the way she persistently insists on us reluctant Americans learning more and more about our legacy in South America.
And truly, Snowwolf, if you want an answer to "who is Amy Goodman" take a look at the instances I reference above.
MollyJ see post to perceptionexperiment above and accept my apology for not being clearer!
What rock are you living under?
Barack Obama was for single payer before he came out against it.
I wish that this was surprising. I bet no network journalists were arrested. Only those newspeople that serve the interests of the people as opposed to the power establishment would ever have anything to fear from law enforcement at a national party convention in ameriKa. What a great satan...er,i mean country.
They didn't arrest Cindy McCain for impersonating Cruella Daville in that hideous yellow dress at the RNC podium? And they arrested a public TV/radio host with a program on 700 stations?
Take heart, ("my friends"), Republicans are getting dumber.
Well, had she questioned a policeman in Iraq or Afghanistan she'd have been shot. I suppose that does still say something good about the usa, you're not nearly at the level of the true barbarian - at home anyway.
These 'riots' that happened at the rnc; how many buildings were burned down? How many dead? Are the hospitals overflowing with injured? Can they really be called riots when the damage and injury figures are so low?
Wow! you mean we have more fredoms that theocratic dictarorships? Great! What is this--the "generation of settling for the less"??
And don't forget our current trend in the direction of theocratic dictatorship. If we fail to protect our freedom now, we will live to see it taken away.
I'm sure the Ramsey County Sheriff's office would like to hear comments about their approach to "law enforcement." The email address is:
ContactRamseyCounty@co.ramsey.mn.us
Thank you! from "wondering what tod o next". Would be there if I could be.
Amy is being interviewed live right now - 12:15pm Tuesday - on Thom Hartmann's Air America Show.
I have to believe AMY and DEMOCRACY NOW were targeted. Where is the OUTRAGE that police do not have badges with their names on them? I thought it was the law.
In a police state there is no law!
Some police marched in formation and sung cadence. With no badges or visible id some might conclude these were actually Army guys in disguise.
Not in St. Paul, surely not!
rosie2731
Bruce Nestor said the timing of the arrests was intended to stop protest activity, "to make people fearful of the protests, but also to discourage people from protesting," he told Amy Goodman.
No wonder they targeted Amy for arrest! She was "dangerous"!
The WAR is ON! Bring it on POLICE STATE! Please do,,,,
I want you fascist NWO Neocon (Republicratshits) Fascist to go all out! I want voter intimidation, I want Constitutional violations of Peoples' Rights. I want you to show yourself,,,,,, I want you to get real violent! I want you to start shooting innocent people (in which it will happen), I want more house-breaking and more intimidation eveywhere,,,,,,
I want the Christian Right to show their evilness, their spitefullness, their self appointed vanity and rightenous...... (they already are in pushing for WAR with Iran)...... and to top it off the Christian Right and the fanatical Christian and Jewish dupes are so freakin ignorant they are going AGAINST all the moral principles they preach..... talk about Hypocrites!
I WANT all HELL to break loose! Because I am going to laugh my ass off, when the people of America start to kick your freakzoids ass! And TRUST me, YOU will LOSE! The Road to Hell will be paved with Neocon Fascists!
THERE IS NO FREAKIN BOOGEYMAN......
WAKE UP MAIN-STREAM MEDIA........ ooops,,, forgot that you all are still in your coma, or should I say "bought out Corporate ASSES!".........
Please pass the word!
And everyone,,, please tell any friends that you have that are policemen, law enforcement etc... THAT they need to start banding together in the lower ranks, learn what the Constitution and our Laws stand for,,,, (if they do not already) and then they need to start making precident judgements such as arresting those WHO issue UNLAWFUL, and UNCONSTITUTIONAL orders.
Coffeelover,,,,,, OMG I need another cup!
PS: The Neocon Fascist Freakzoid Homophopia Right Wing Asses do read these comments!
LOL! LOL!
This just proves the point. The last time Amy got seriously roughed up, was by Indonesia military wielding US made and supplied weapons while the were killing East Timorese “demonstrators” in a grave yard.
What did the pastor say? Ha Yes, “The chickens have come home to roost.”
It gives me no satisfaction to know that Karma is infallible. But I honestly hope America wakes up to see that it is starting to apply at home only what it has enabled abroad for many years.
These police and the authority supporting them is using terror tactics even in the governments own definition of terror. Why are not more Americans asking, “Who is the enemy?”
Exactly -- the chickens have come home to roost. What is happening now proves the adage that whatever a government does to those in other countries, it WILL do to its own citizens. THEY DID AND THEY ARE. WAKE UP, AMERICA.
I keep waiting for the Rove-Limbaugh trolls to explain how this story shows that we shouldn't vote for Obama.
The recent systematic targeting of the free (i.e. non-corporate) press by both federal and state forces is the clearest and most irrefutable proof of the growth of fascism in the uS.
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The Dems were "better" at stiffling free speech in a more humane manner, and ther were fewer protesters. There must be consequenmces for this type of illegal action! Is the DNC saying anything?
Not sure you shouldnt vote for Obama--as a lifelong Dem. (registered anyway--only time I voted otherwise was for Jackson"s Rainbow Coalition), we need to be more pro-active abou this. Now, it seems that THIS SITE is reporting how the ACLU tried to stop the FISA courts from being condyuct4ed in fprivate. Guess what they decided? To pretend that one does not influence the other is absurd.
This Press Release stated:
"Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States."
Oh! if it only it were true! But SnowWolf's reaction is typical. I'm sure only a few USAns out of a thousand have even heard of Amy Goodman or the radio/TV program Democracy Now.
Snow Wolf,
Amy Goodman is a reporter who has risked her life a few times in pursuit of the truth in the most dangerous parts of the world - notably in East Timor - where when witnessing and filming the Santa Cruz massacre. She and co-reporter Alan Nairn were brutally beaten to an inch of her life by the US-supported Indonesian military thugs - the same occupation forces that a few years earlier murdered four Australian journalists in cold blood. She was filming and reporting teh scene of the massacre fully aware that her press badge would not protect her from a violent death in obscurity, as the MSM was completely ignoring the US-supported Indonesian occupation and genocide of the Timorese. This is the very essence of courage.
Please Google her name for more info.
Fair description of Amy's background. The lady has guts.
USAn - Good job !
For anyone in here who gives a dman--PLEASE read the article on the CD site about the Intl Day for Peace and protest against weaponsin space! There is a petition at nonviolence site at nenasili.cz.en. Its at the website. Lets show the world taht we can be a civilized naiton , when we try.
Yes yes yes! Thanks for pointing this out.
The Global Network has some of the best analysis going, and they are an activist organization trying to build a movement to stop the warmongers everywhere and convert economies from war to peace. Practical idealism! www.space4peace.org
I, Ramsey the Rampager, do solemnly swear, or affirm, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
First Amendment to the United States Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Looks like the enemy is domestic... and it ain't a little blonde hair news lady with her own news program.
In any country or government from authoritarian to democratic the state apparatus has the problem of how to deal with an intransigent enemy, its own domestic population. In a dictatorship they use violence. In a democracy they use what in more honest times was called propaganda.
The attack on the independent press was laid out in advance with the pre-emptive raids and the labels of "anarchist" leading to the justification of violence on peaceful protesters and independent media like Democracy Now and Eyewitness Video. Eyewitness Video was very effective in documenting cases of police brutality at the Republican convention in New York City back in 2004. The lessons from the New York convention were learned and were put into practice in St Paul. The attack is largely an information war on what images will be shown. The image war has backfired. The repercussions to the perpetrators these acts of barbarity will be up to us and if we exact a cost from these parties for their actions.