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Richmond PD Get Blocked by Angry Crowd
Richmond PD car tries to take away peaceful protesters, but it is blocked by an angry crowd, yelling "LET THEM GO!" ... inset picture is of one clever protester who let all the air out of all the tires on a squad car. It wasn't going anywhere then!! FUCK THE WTO!!
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In one case, many people witnessed an officer actually draw his gun, inside of this large crowd, when the initial arrests were for very small graffiti drawing on the underside of a freeway overpass behind a bush. I don't know what the charge for the later arrests were.
Seriously, any 6th grade class could analyze the situation and see things that the police should have done very differently.
It's quite true that there were only a few police, and after the talks and Art and Revolution, everyone seemed to be fixing to walk home because it was starting to rain. If those two CHPs, who did not appear to be particularly freaked out by the size of the crowd, had just had the sense to write out tickets for those two, who had done the equivalent of littering, everyone would have gone home w/o incident. Running red lights endangers life but they wouldn't think of bringing someone in.
When the backup people came, suddenly there was a minute where they started to get out of control shoving people, quite a lot of it really uncalled for, although #149 might have been there all along.
Ryan needs our support, lets not let him down.
I witnessed (from afar) the police tackle this person (Ryan) to the ground and it was brutal. I did not personally see what he did, but this is what an eyewitness told me:
First of all, the original arrest for graffiti-ing was done NOT by Richmond police, but by a CHP officer (who was 'kind of a cowboy'). Then there was a woman jumping up and down holding a flag, about 7 feet away from the police car where the original arrestee was being held. Officer 149 became enraged at her, stepped over and grabbed the flag out of her hand. Ryan stepped up behind and took the flagpole by the end, then ran off with it. Then he was smashed to the concrete with heavy knees to his head. He did in no way interfere with the prisoner, which is the definition of "lynching" of which he was accused.
Apparently this is all on videotape.
I'm considering legal action against Ofc Sweeney #149, Richmond PD. Any witnesses to his action on Saturday should call my attorney Larry Hildes 510-845-9788.
-Ryan