This is a gross sign of the times. During the last Republican National Convention, protestors weren’t allowed near the building. This year, those protesting the Democratic National Conventions were relegated to a cage. This year’s RNC removes any ambiguity that we live in a police state. 300 people were arrested on the first day, including journalists.

We are now living in an age where journalists, members of the press, those trying to protect our freedom of information, freedom of the press, are being unlawfully and illegally detained. The message is clear: if your perspective contradicts that of the corporate owned media, if you attempt to provide any objective truth from the ground of these conventions, you will be arrested.

Rule one: Democratic countries don’t illegally arrest members of the press; only totalitarian regimes do this in an attempt to control the flow of information. This is what a police state looks like. It’s looking more and more like this State.

Seriously, what is going on with this country?

ST. PAUL–Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman 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.

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.

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

Now, those who disagree with the government will likely not protest for fear of being arrested. If one is arrested, it impacts their ability to get a job or receive loans for education. If you’re charged with a felon, you can’t even vote. All this seems pretty ideal for the maintenance of a police state. Citizens need to start reacting to this stuff. It’s getting disgusting.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 am and is filed under politics, military/cops. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.