Davis Police Called in to Remove Dissidents at City Council Meeting

A Davis City Council Meeting was brought to a standstill Tuesday, when Mayor Ruth Admundson called in police to remove residents angry that they were not being allowed to speak on the issue of a proposal to build a Target superstore to Davis.
Mayor Admundson had originally disallowed citizens who had spoken at previous meetings from adressing the council once again, and were angry when a Target supporter who had done so on several other occasions was allowed to once more. When opponents began lining up to speak against the project, she ordered one of them, Samantha McCarthy, removed, provoking angry comments and heckling from the crowd. When she refused to leave, Admundson called in all on-duty police officers to quell protests and remove McCarthy. She then cut off all public comment.
Outraged members of the community lined up in front of McCarthy, who sat down and did not move, including three members of the Davis Anti-Authoritarians, who blocked police with their bodies and a banner reading, "Target Uses Sweatshops." The four or five officers eventually backed down, and about ten minutes later, McCarthy left of her own free will, when Admundson announced her plans to hold the meeting the next day at four thirty, accusing the mayor of attempting to make the decision "Behind closed doors."
When, eventually, residents sat back down, Admundson was fiercely criticized by Mayor Protem Sue Greenwald, who was angry that Admundson planned to approve the plan to build a Target store on Second Street, without once having an agendized discussion of the proposal.
Greenwald also contested the anaysis of the economic impact to Davis, which was originally done by a company which was found to have had ties to Target. She claimed the newest report was faulty, and that it did not of compare the financial benefits to Davis if the proposal was to go through to an alternative business, but to an empty field. She also disagreed with the Environmental Impact Review.
She was outvoted 4-1 by other members of the council, who approved the EIR, and recommended that the plan go forward. It will be decided by voters during the November election.
Throughout all this, members of the Davis Anti-Authoritarians collective continued to hold their banner behind Target representative, John Dewe's, head. At the end of the meeting, when the issue of sweatshops had still not been brought up by the council, on yelled, "You can ignore the sweatshop issue, but it's not going away," to the departing council, to which Dewes replied, "Old news, guys."
The labor abuses in question are documented in this article by Knowmore.org and this essay by Corporate Watch. These, as well as other abuses, are documented by Coop America here