SFPD Knows No Shame - Woman Tortured In Front of Crowd (M22)

How many pigs does it take to make a false arrest?

This kind of shit makes me sick. These people have a rapist mentality. Grabbing a woman by her hair and pulling her around? What kind of PIGS are these????

And what the fuck is up with all the corporate media proclaiming how great SFPD acted?

Civil war. Its the only thing to save us now.

This kind of shit makes me sick. These people have a rapist mentality. Grabbing a woman by her hair and pulling her around? What kind of PIGS are these????

And what the fuck is up with all the corporate media proclaiming how great SFPD acted?

Civil war. Its the only thing to save us now.

http://www.newsfrombabylon.com/images/articles/03-2003/mn_chokearrest_zim.jpg

In the first picture your subject is crossing to the right with a crowd (and smiling). In the second picture, she is crossing to the left (defiantly, and alone). In the third picture, she has obviously dropped to the ground (as any good activist has been trained to do), In the rest you can't tell if they are pulling her hair, or if she is just flinging her hair around while resisting, In the last picture there are TWO officers around your subject, the rest are behind her, and facing the other direction.

Listen, I'm sure there are enough cases of actual problems without you guys trying to invent them, or stretch the case in your direction. People are not stupid, and exaggerating your claims does not help swing people to your cause. I thought the real objective here was to protest the war in Iraq (through civil disobedience if necessary) not fighting with the police...

Most of the stuff I see here is just bragging about how big your demonstrations were, and how many cops pissed you off. Where are the discussions about the issues?

SHUT UP!!!
nawww.. dont do that
i just dont like your tone... its lame
who do you support with your comments?
pro-war? pro-cop beatings? pro-? what?
keep that kind of talk and you can make a lot of friends

Shut down San fran look like Thailand's demonstration with Thai miliary regime 10 year ago (15 May 1992). I don't how to help you but I can only translate your against war activities to thai language and post on my anti-war web site. I hope you're everyone safe.

I would agree wiht the person (dude) who stated that you (the person with the photos pf the blonde supposedly being "tortured")are warping the facts,. I am so sorry for you, you obviosuly have tremendous hostility that results in you self righteously crying wolf, the result of which will be that many true cases of injustice will be ignored. ASsomeone who has demonstrated and peacefully resisted many times, this whole "re-created" scenario is really more about YOUR dishonesty and your issues (the "author') then the policemans . It is unfortunate that these kind of things get printed, this whole facade that you have presented makes people like me,( protesters who don;t have a chip on thier shoulder and who don't have a groundless fear/hatred of police (what a thought, maybe they are human too) feel disgusted.)Luckily, it doesn't make us stop protesting the war.

Seems to me that if you want to disrupt and hurt coperate america that it should be done in shopping malls. You people are pissin in your own whisky. I feel sorry my immigrant friends in the city who own small business and are not corporate. Go block entrances to shopping malls and put "the gap" out of business. All you people are doing is making it hard for me to get to guitar center.

The big difference that I see in this revolution is that more of the people pack cameras. Taking control back from corporate funded media. Fewer commercials. Indymedia does for journalism what the Zapruder film did, what the footage of Rodney King and the riots did. Everyone should carry a camera instead of a gun. The documentation of police activities cruel and absurd published beside overtime figures rocks. Thanks you Indymedia.

Do you not believe that actual rape is used as actual punishment upon actual human beings by the actual murderous dictator whose removal you oppose?

Do you think Iraqi expatriates lie when they tell of gang rape in front of relatives, to those merely suspected of the wrong beliefs?

Do you think they all lie? Or how else can you believe that your fantasy is more important than their reality?

Please, stop being manipulated by the stupid and the heartless. We need you to be more human -- to listen more, to think better, to really and effectively care. You can do it. Break from the social pressures. Think, feel, be human.

It's not all about you and meeting people in parades. There are actual people being brutalized by now, and your actions contribute to such real tragedy.

Oppose it, don't support it.

Please. The world needs you. Please.

What about the american backing of suharto, pinochet, and saddam (when he commited the majority of his attrocities). the US didn't have a problem with him torturing people as long as it was in protection of their middle estern interests. Oppose the US interference in world stability. Destabilizing the middle east will just create more terrorists and more 9-11s. This time i won't feel bad, I'll just laugh.

Look guys... i appreciate what you are trying to do in protesting, but you are missing the bigger picture here!! Alot of you guys need to run a google search on Myron Fagan's outline of The Illuminati, Bilderbergers, Bohemian Club, CFR, UN,globalization, The New World Order,etc.
PLEASE HEAR THIS!!!!! Their plan is to cause chaos, and through this chaos to take away our civil liberties and our rights guaranteed to us by our Constitution!!They will use our marches of protest against us, if at all possible, so please BE VERY CAREFUL ... OBEY ALL LAWS!!!! Already in oregon this is happening, laws are being enacted angainst protesters that should have us all crying foul... and this is only the beginning!! Please be careful guys... what you do impacts on all of the rest of us. Freedom of speech in america today is about to be outlawed.. it's true. Don't give them a reason to take it from us... obey all laws. And i would advise everyone to carry a camcord or digital camera while they march or protest, this may at least cause them to think before they act, knowing they are being taped. Just please, no violence or breaking of laws.. be above it, don't fall for the trap!! And please, if you did not recognize the search names i listed... go search it out!!! Also a few web addys to get you started:
http://www.infowars.com
http://www.conspiracyarchive.com
centrexnews.com
http://www.apfn.org
whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.debka.com

K, that should give you a sound base to work from...
Stay Safe!!!
~sojourner

Typical nazi cowards-that's what cops are! To gang on and torture women can only be described as blatant cowardice.

Yes, arrested....for crossing the street on a RED LIGHT (you fucked up by showing that first photo) when told not to by the police and then sitting in the middle of the intersection.

She was also kicking and thrashing after SITTING DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INTERSECTION.


Of course you are merely twisting the truth to suit your needs, Uncle Joe Stalin would be proud!

I guess the "truth" is only important when you can twist it

In regards to the comments titled "How many activists does it take to overstate your case...." by Dude, "I would agree with "Dude"" by L Lewis, & "Your lying" by Funny

: I think you are in denial about what's happening in your streets. Are you actually out on the streets protesting, and thus witness to these events? Or are you armchair news junkies who are taking in all that propaganda the major media/gov't is spewing forth?

The police ARE beating on people without substantial reason. I was one of those peaceful demonstraters who was illegally detained, arrested, and beaten without reason or cause. I have no 'chip on my shoulder' against the cops, as individuals. I do have a problem with them acting inhumanely and there use of violence. They are acting like killing robots now. When I was arrested, there was no order to disperse, there weren't any reasons given nor rights read. You should be heeding these people who are screaming 'wolf' instead of trying to one-up them and make them feel bad about this reality. You may not be affected by these events now, but there is a precedent being set that you will be affected by in the future. You obviously haven't witnessed the police brutality firsthand (which is an regular occurence now).

Your rights are not free. You have to defend them! And I'm not talking about war on people that are half a world away and can't do anything but maim your physical body and/or cause you pain. I'm speaking about defending your rights against our own government.

In the photos, the cops are definitely pulling her hair. YOu can see the way her weight is shifted she is being pulled from the top. Whether she is thrashing is irrelevant. This is one of their techniques I have personally witnessed. She could have been easily pushed to the ground gently and cuffed. She is no threat to them. So why do they choose to use pain to take this peaceful protester?

So what if that young lady crossed the street on a red light. Your argument is worthless, or can you not see the army of cops already blocking the intersection? The lights would not be relevant at that time. And where is it evident she was told not to cross the street?If I am to adhere to the pattern of the police's communications with anyone not wearing a uniform, they wouldn't have said anything at all.

What is the purpose of the police getting violent on this one person? Was she warned they would use pain techniques before they attacked her? Whatever she said to them if they did isn't very significant. She is a small framed young woman who posed no threat to any of these bullies.

If you still think we are crying wolf and are blowing this out of proportion, I feel sorry for you. Keep on protesting and witnessing the world around you, and you will have your chance to be brutalized, too. Peace and love, fellow peaceful anti-war demonstrator

It's true that there had been a warning that anyone in the streets would be arrested, however, the woman was not thrashing about.

She did go limp on a few occasions. She was not violent in anyway, though.

I believe part of the issue was that the handcuffs were too tight and she was in real pain. Here is a picture where they were loosening the handcuffs (which they took an inordinate amount of time to do):

http://www.basetree.com/thumbs/63painfulhandcuffs.jpg

There was quite a large crowd watching from the sidewalk at this point and the police seemed to be behaving at this point. She had been directly stating to the police that the handcuffs were too tight and that her hands were numb.

At this point several people gave her a legal number and asked her to give it to the one other person arrested along with her.

I would also have to say that calling be dragged into the middle of the street--by up to six cops at one point--sitting down is a bit disingenuous.


More pictures:

http://www.basetree.com/thumbs/59crosswalkaction2.jpg

http://www.basetree.com/thumbs/60arrestedincrosswalk.jpg

http://www.basetree.com/thumbs/62handcuffed.jpg

Pain makes you move. Fear of death makes you really move. Death makes you still forever. If we do as were are told there is no promise to you will live. Ask the Jews that survived the camps. They were told if you do as we say you'll be alright. Millions died. Hundreds of thousands died in Kosivo. Native Americans killed by the military. Blacks hung from trees in the south (780 in one summer) "Strange fruit" Billie Holiday sang with a cry in her voice. Who will cry for you when you cross the street on a red light and disappear forever in jail. Locked up for what you thought was no big deal.

In response to "Me" --

Calling someone a stupid airhead in this context is completely innapropriate, and then suggesting that the police brutalize this women shows how much of a sexist stupid *airhead* you are.

I am actually not a leftist (though I may be nut). I just wonder why you chose to call someone an airhead sans evidence.

Obviously she new the police were there. This was rather apparent to all. Also, she most likely knew that she could be arrested.

I am also not entirely sure how you can not respond to my accusation that you wanted the police to brutalize the woman. You said:

"...they should have knocked her in the head, might have put some sense in there..."

It is also more than obvisous that you weren't there (as I was) so I am not sure how you can make such specific comments about what she should and shouldn't have known.

Because of all of this I stand by my comment that you are an airhead.

A 7-year old schoolgirl was tortured today on the playground when another second grader refused to let her hop onto the merry-go-round.

Call Amnesty International immediately.

I am not sure what you argument is Get Real. Are you suggesting that it is OK for the police to pull someone's hair when they are arrested?
I am not sure I understand you Get Real.

Admittedly, things that are a lot worse can and to happen, however, does this make unnecessary force during arrests right?

I should point out that many of the arrests that I saw in San Francisco did not appear to use excessive force, however, some most certainly crossed the line.

Some of the demonstrators crossed the line as well, however, is civil disobedience crossing the line?

Should we all follow the laws like children taking orders from mommy and daddy even when saw laws are obviously wrong?

I am not pretending I completely know the answer to these questions, however, they are valid questions.

Soldiers in the U.S. 3rd Infantry moving north toward Baghdad say they believe they have been attacked by Iraqis wearing American uniforms. And they say they’re worried that some of the uniforms were stolen several weeks ago while the U.S. troops were in Kuwait. I’M TRAVELING with the 2nd Brigade of the Third Infantry, south of Karbala. They say they’ve been attacked by forces who are either wearing stolen 3rd Infantry fatigues, or they have purchased military clothing that looks like U.S. fatigues. The troops here say they had a large load of laundry stolen when they were based in Kuwait several months ago, and they’ve been worried ever since about what happened to it. Top U.S. military officials said they were not aware of the incident. But at the daily Central Command briefing Wednesday in Kuwait, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks reminded reporters that U.S. commanders had said earlier that they believed “this regime would seek to gain U.S. and U.K. uniforms in order to commit atrocities.”

In response to Pampered:

Comparing brutality, in this case, may not serve any purpose. It also smacks of a somewhat distasteful holier than thou attitude.

This, as you point out, is a rather minor incident. However, simply because horror and terror really have no end, this shouldn't be used to minimize any incident of brutality no matter how small.

This was not even close to the worst incident, most of them occurring last Thursday. See: http://www.basetree.com/photography7.html.

In response to Balanced:

Comparing brutality, in this case, may not serve any purpose. It also smacks of a somewhat distasteful holier than thou attitude.

This, as you point out, is a rather minor incident. However, simply because horror and terror really have no end, this shouldn't be used to minimize any incident of brutality no matter how small.

This was not even close to the worst incident, most of them occurring last Thursday. See: http://www.basetree.com/photography7.html.

A few points to "Comparing Brutality"
"Comparing brutality, in this case, may not serve any purpose. It also smacks of a somewhat distasteful holier than thou attitude."
There is nothing wrong taking the words "torture", "rape", and "brutality" as used in this case--words, I might point out that others had already used in this forum to describe this situation--and comparing it to actual examples and actual experiences of torture, rape and brutality. My entire point is that this situation does not fit those characterizations. What I see in these pictures is a woman apparently participating in an act of civil disobedience (you do understand the word "disobedience", don't you?), and subsequently getting arrested for it. In terms of the one word "brutality", do you think this in any way compares to the Rodney King beating case in LA or the Louima case in NYC? I certainly don't. I was horrified by those cases of thuggish, cruel behavior on the part of the police. Here, I see a woman wanting to make a political point by engaging in behavior that will get her arrested, and then her, well, getting arrested.

"This, as you point out, is a rather minor incident. However, simply because horror and terror really have no end, this shouldn't be used to minimize any incident of brutality no matter how small."
Well then, shouldn't you focus on a case in which there *was* brutality, instead of showing one you admit is minor and then expecting me to jump on your bandwagon unthinkingly? Please. If you believe you have good examples of brutality, if you have a point, then don't try to prove it with a non-case. If you're engaging in civil disobedience, if your point is to get arrested, you shouldn't whine any time one of you actually does get arrested.

"This was not even close to the worst incident, most of them occurring last Thursday. See: http://www.basetree.com/photography7.html."
I looked at your link and I can't find a picture on that page that even comes close to proving your point. The one showing people angrily pointing at police while they stand by silent succeeds only in showing me how much abuse the police took that day. Although if you want to talk about cases of brutality during the protests, what about the officer whose leg was broken by a protester, officers attacked by bolts and the crowd that debated pulling a woman from her car (thankfully they didn't).
Brutality can go both ways and your arguments are all the weaker for not admitting that.

I can't say that I agree with the more hyperbolic comments in this discussion. The only reason I started to comment on any of this was in reaction to some comments made about the women being an airhead and that the cops should have "...knocked her in the head". These particular messages seem to have been removed.

I was also responding to this comment from "Funny" that the woman was thrashing and kicking in the middle of the intersection. This did not occur.

My argument isn't that what occurred is equivalent to rape. I am simply stating that the police did cross a line as I saw no particular reason for hair pulling, and I have seen them cross this line several times. I am not suggesting that there is a legal case here, as I am not a lawyer, I am just afraid that things could become worse than they already have.

In addition, I am not suggesting that all of the police were bad or brutal. In fact, most of them have seemed to behave quite well.

Furthermore, I am also not suggesting that all of the protestors were without blame. I do not condone, in anyway, throwing rocks (or worse) at the police. Also, on several occasions I saw protestors shaking cars in intersections (though, calling them protestors is a bit uncharitable to the actual protestors.)

In any case, the woman we are discussing has not been able to speak for herself in this discussion, and I am not going to comment any more until she is able to.

OOooh OOooh BIG TuFF COPS! Wow what tough, brave guys they are beating up on little girls! They're such heroes, we should all love them and respect them for this dangerous work of ganging up on some little Peace Cuties. I'm so impressed they MAKE ME SICK! What sick, scared, viscious, violent, hateful, jerks, cowards, losers and babies so many of them are showing themselves to be!

I find it humorous that the main page linked the photos for this incident as "outside the law". Someone needs to clue the webpage authors in to the law.

I'm being sarcastic of course. The webpage authors clearly know that a lot of the protester's actions clearly violate law. That's why they do it in the first place. It seems to me that the protesters are only interested in violating laws, but not taking responsibility for the fact that they consciously made the decision to... violate laws! It's kind of like the human shields returning from Iraq because things are getting "too rough".

Please keep in mind that the laws of our country do not give people the unfettered right to gather and protest anywhere, anytime, anyhow they please. Cursory research into court cases involving the 1st amendment will quickly turn this up. Yes, this is the law. The other law that the web authors here seem to not bother delving into.

That being said, let's just analyze these photos.

First photo: young "lady" standing off to the side presumably, actually near a group of other protesters. Cops appear to be maintaining an area behind her. Plenty of other protesters in the area with their wits about them, maintaining an acceptable distance from police.

Second photo: Not much else, except for the fact that she has obviously changed directions, or changed location. I think she changed directions. Specifically, she's walking back and forth right in the cops' faces. It looks like the police did move closer to her as she's now within two steps of the police. Note that all the police in this one are stationary; so it's not like they're charging the protesters.

Third photo: since she's standing on the same color pavement, I can only assume the police came out and met her. Unfortunately, I think there is a large time gap between the two photos. There may be some photos in between, but the author... omitted them. No timestamps either so I can't tell. It looks like they've got another person as well.

So what's happened so far. The woman is walking back and forth in front of police that are slowly trying to enforce an area which is the crossing of the street. Suddenly, she's on the ground, with another protester. Ok folks, how did she get to the ground? And where did all the other people from the first photo go? Did the cops, in their effort to expand their area to the crosswalk, ask the young lady to "please, by all means, have a seat"? I doubt it. Did they knock her down by force? No, I don't think so. When the police want you down, you'll go down -- face first. They obviously wanted her standing.

The rest of the stuff is just standard cop stuff. I like the "screaming in pain" title to one of them. Yes. Hair pulling hurts. Thank you for the newsflash.

The last photo I don't know what's going on. I don't know why that many cops are huddled around the situation, unless it's for some sort of psychological effect. It's not like they're doing anything, so maybe they're actually standing there to block photos. The area's well blocked off. Cops do like to operate in force, but that's sort of rediculous.

It appears that our gallant photographer semi-circled around then scene, then backed away during the process. Oh my God, they're torturing this woman *snap picture* This is so terrible *snap picture, stepping back* Somebody do something *snap picture* Oh the humanity! *snap picture*

Now, on the subject of torture and hair pulling. This is not torture. For starters, you're only calling it torture because it's a woman. If that was a man, you guys probably wouldn't even call it brutality. But, being a proponent of equal rights, I think that women are entitled to the same rights, and the same punishments.

What it is called in ... "police parlance" is a come-along. A cop wants you to do something, and you resist, it's time to come along. This young lady resisted, so they grabbed her by a large, blonde handle. This is a common technique for the fact that it causes a lot of pain, but no injury. In addition, what they are doing is light hair pulling. Grabbing it by the middle leaves a LOT of slack, and hurts a lot less. The really painful hair pulling technique involves sinking your fingers on the scalp, and then pulling the hair into your fingers as they curl into a fist. This technique, while many times more painful, still in itself causes no injuries. And you don't pull on hair to hoist them up. You pull on the hair to cause pain, and that in turn makes the person WANT to get up.

Folks, all those cops have batons. There are many, many more painful come-alongs that can be performed with a baton. Or maybe they could have just clubbed her a la Rodney King.

I'm not a cop, nor do I really like cops. I've been studying various cop hold downs and techniques here and there for the past year for the purpose of getting out of them should I get grabbed by one. In general, when the cops come, you are hosed. Mostly because of the way they operate in force -- you can get out of trouble with one cop, but two or more cops on top of you is a losing battle. Especially if they're wearing riot gear and armed. Defend yourself if you have to, but really, don't fight them unless you are really, really prepared to face both the physical and legal consequences.

so.. let me get this strait.. you think that a woman being pulled up by her hair is no big deal? Also being pulled up by the middle/end of your hair is a lot more painful.. i'm a girl with long hair so i'd know.. The police had no right to touch her like that and you don't need 20 police men to make a false arrest thankyou

Do You have more photos of this womans arrest?? if so that would help tell a better story!

What was her name? Did she ever say her name?