appalling conditions for RNC protestors

[BGirl]

Protestors picked up by NYPD at various protests around town are being processed at Pier 57 in the Village. The former bus depot they're keeping people in is filled with oil spills and other toxic conditions; people are suffering chemical burns and breathing problems.

NY1 has been covering it but I don't see it on their web site. So here's something from United for Peace and Justice instead:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2585

I fired off an email to Mayor Bloomberg asking that the protestors be moved to a building better fit for human beings and shortly thereafter he was on TV saying "It's not supposed to be Club Med," and joking around about it. :mad:

Clearly he needs more pressure from the public...

http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

[bilbo]

another link (http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/112151/index.php)

[Echewta]

Its what you do with terrorist. What do you want, sensativity?

[BGirl]

Its what you do with terrorist. What do you want, sensativity?

Okay well, first of all you need to know that people have been arrested for doing things that were perfectly legal until this week. Things like driving the Pants-on-Fire mobile (http://www.pantsonfire.net) around. The Missile Dick Chicks (http://www.missiledickchicks.net/) were arrested today for renting rowboats in Central Park Lake and doing their thing - making a spectacle. I never knew it to be illegal to make a spectacle in NYC...

The artist responsible for Bikes Against Bush (http://www.bikesagainstbush.com/) was also arrested, his bike and gear confiscated, the charge is "making graffiti." Granted, making graffiti is against the law. Adrock used to make graffiti - if he decided to do it this week to express dissention re: the RNC, would you call him a terrorist and condemn him to some time in "Guantanamo on the Hudson"?

And besides, doesn't the Constitution guarantee freedom from cruel and unusual punishment - for everyone? I'm really alarmed at the decline in support for basic human rights in this country as expressed by comments like yours.

[Bob]

every once in a while we get a new person on the forums who doesn't know that half of what echewta says is pure sarcasm. it's not your fault, you haven't had a chance to get to know him. he wasn't serious though, don't worry.

[BGirl]

Whew, thanks!

Sorry to misinterpret you, Echewta. Are you the one who started that thread about hating the Beatles a week or so ago? I almost responded to that too. ;)

But still, it was a good opportunity to point out how NYPD is shutting down all these art projects. (n)

[abdulmohammad]

suffering chemical burns and breathing problems.

good. stay home hippy, that chemical shit will burn through those berkenstocks anyway. BTW sorry about your band Phish breaking up...tough times indeed.

[Bob]

great!

[BGirl]

good. stay home hippy, that chemical shit will burn through those berkenstocks anyway. BTW sorry about your band Phish breaking up...tough times indeed.

I don't own a pair of Birkenstocks nor am I a Phish fan, but thanks for your concern.

[Loppfessor]

You know the worst part of it all?? There was absolutely no way for these poor souls to avoid this situation at all. Well they could've not got arrested but that's a minor detail. People in jails and prisons all over the country have it a lot worse but since they're not protesting President Bush you people probably don't care.

[Scotty-C]

^^ Good point even though I don't think sticking the Bush comment in is needed. I don't have pity for people who intentionally put themselves in harm's way. You have to expect the worst. All this being said I do admire their guts.

[BGirl]

You know the worst part of it all?? There was absolutely no way for these poor souls to avoid this situation at all. Well they could've not got arrested but that's a minor detail. People in jails and prisons all over the country have it a lot worse but since they're not protesting President Bush you people probably don't care.

People care very much - hence, the protests. I'm sure there are protestors organized around that issue alone.

I'll have to ask my sister-in-law, who works for a juvenile rehabilitation system, if they've got kids sleeping in chemical spills. (She works for the prison industry, yuck, but she genuinely believes in rehabilitation and that's exactly the kind of person the prison industry needs.)

Really, I'm not sure I understand your statement... you claim that people don't care about prison conditions in this country, while at the same time mocking the same people for protesting? :confused:

[Loppfessor]

People care very much - hence, the protests. I'm sure there are protestors organized around that issue alone.

I'll have to ask my sister-in-law, who works for a juvenile rehabilitation system, if they've got kids sleeping in chemical spills. (She works for the prison industry, yuck, but she genuinely believes in rehabilitation and that's exactly the kind of person the prison industry needs.)

Really, I'm not sure I understand your statement... you claim that people don't care about prison conditions in this country, while at the same time mocking the same people for protesting? :confused:

Somehow I doubt they got arrested at a prison system-reform protest. Although that would be quite ironic and hilarious.

[BGirl]

Remember what Bush said, "You are either with us or against us"

this set the precedent for their take on dissent, anyone who disagrees is a terrorist, it's that simple!

True. Scary times.

I was just talking to hubby at breakfast about the way the right wing has managed to define our reality by setting the terms of every debate and adding ideas & phrases like "you're either with us or against us" and "evildoers" to the American lexicon.

It's so hard to get some people to consider another perspective, some people just never question authority or their beliefs. And it's even harder to present an alternate vision when the dominating ideology controls all the major media and so, the conversation on every topic.

[BGirl]

Somehow I doubt they got arrested at a prison system-reform protest.

Why would you assume that? There are protestors here for every issue under the sun.

[BGirl]

Okay, Loppfessor, for you:

New York City Rises
The birth of a movement led by people who live the issues
More than 52 New York City community-based organizations led by people of color and poor people marched on Madison Square Garden under the Still We Rise banner as the Republican National Convention began on Monday Aug. 30. “People came out of the shelters, out of the sweatshops, the soup kitchens, and into the streets, with a platform that speaks to all of us as New Yorkers,” says Louie Jones, a New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN) board member who has lived with HIV for 18 years and was formerly homeless.
Instead of each planning a rally around its own issue, NYCAHN, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE), Make the Road by Walking, Mothers on the Move, Housing Works and other groups started working last summer for a united action demanding housing, immigrants’ and welfare rights, healthcare and HIV services, and justice for those in the court and prison system.

http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/113162/index.php

As you may know, many protestors were arrested at this Still We Rise march and taken to Pier 57. Ironic? Sure. Hilarious? No.

[Blighty]

What's the deal with the whole permit thing? Am I right in assuming that you need to get a permit from the government to protest against the government?

[BGirl]

What's the deal with the whole permit thing? Am I right in assuming that you need to get a permit from the government to protest against the government?

Only if you have more than 20 in your group is my understanding.

I'm really not clear on the whole permit situation...

Yesterday morning we participated in the unemployment line demo where 5,000 + people formed a line from Wall Street to Madison Square Garden, holding up pink slips saying "The next pink slip could be yours." There was no permit for this event, but organizers negotiated with NYPD and got their blessing. We were in a single file line and so weren't impeding traffic, etc.

According to a piece on Indymedia that may or may not have been written by an actual cop (I think it was), as many as half of the officers on duty this week don't like Bush, are pulling for the protestors and "feel bad about the mass arrests." I tend to believe it... cops are people too, and they've been protesting too - during their off hours, for better pay. I think the uniform does something to them... I served on a grand jury last spring and the cops came in to testify in their plain clothes most of the time, and most of them seemed like decent people who truly want to serve the public. Then one came swaggering in wearing his full getup: jackboots, nightstick & all... not surprisingly he was an ass. The jurors really grilled him on his testimony, too - we weren't impressed.


Back to your original point, it is a good one. It's a bad feeling, thinking about how those in power are able to silence the opposition. In America! Denying the United for Peace & Justice permit for a rally in Central Park is an outrage.

I read one unconfirmed report that they stopped using Pier 57, I'm looking for confirmation. To everyone writing Bloomberg or taking other action on the issue - THANK YOU!

[BGirl]

Aw, you're welcome. :)

Our protest activities are modest... since we live here and aren't on vacation! We did that and the march on Sunday, and when we're out & about we're wearing our anti-Bush gear (buttons always, but now t-shirts, and I made a little patchwork "STOP BUSH" thingy that's pinned to my bag - it was well photographed at the pink slip demo yesterday, so look for me :) ).

I don't want to overstate my participation this week - so many folks are protesting exhaustively, and many are serving time for it as well.

[Echewta]

Yea blighty, not only do you have to get a permit but then they put you in a Free Speech Zone.

I understand if you are going to have a lot of people that the city needs to know and respond accordingly to ensure safety and continued operation of the city.

Yea, sorry BGirl, though i was serious with my comment it was to be taken in that way :) Protestors are looked at as terrorist by those conventioning.

[BGirl]

Gotcha. (y)

[D_Raay]

http://nyc.indymedia.org/feature/display/114761/index.php
Some pics for you of pier 57.

[robofoo76]

Some times in life, you get what you deserve.

[Blighty]

Some times in life, you get what you deserve.

Certainly. If you disagree with your government you deserve to be locked up. That's one of the basic foundations of a free country right there. Along with the 'you need a permit from the government to speak out against the government' rule. And the 'we're gonna lock you in a cage if you disagree with the government' rule.

[FluxRostrum]

The cops who spent their week in that shit hole of a dentention facility SHOULD be equally pissed... but then these are people who will protect those responsible for Cops not getting the contract they deserve...

Pier 57 Paid for by the RNC (http://fluxview.com/commons/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=118&mode=&order=0&thold=0) :mad:

Photos & Video From Inside Pier 57 (http://www.thememoryhole.org/policestate/pier57/) :eek:

RNC Protest Video & arrest stories (http://www.fluxview.com/commons/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=130&mode=&order=0&thold=0) (!)