As the Republican National Convention drags on in Minnesota, police and protesters have been clashing. Dozens of arrests have been made, and police have fired tear gas at people who have been protesting peacefully. The other night, a journalist from Democracy Now was arrested when she tried to stop the detentions of two other reporters who were filming the demonstrations.
Now, word has trickled out that a few members of Pagan Cluster, a Pagan-based activist group, have been repeatedly tasered by police and denied medical attention. Despite the fact that the young man in the video doesn't appear to be resisting, he is immediately surrounded by police officers in riot gear, and tasered at least three times, and possibly more. There's a video of the entire incident on the local news channel, although you may want to make sure the kidlets leave the room before you view it.
According to some recent blog updates, it appears that they are no longer in jail, but this all-too-frightening situation in St. Paul is something that bears watching.
Now, word has trickled out that a few members of Pagan Cluster, a Pagan-based activist group, have been repeatedly tasered by police and denied medical attention. Despite the fact that the young man in the video doesn't appear to be resisting, he is immediately surrounded by police officers in riot gear, and tasered at least three times, and possibly more. There's a video of the entire incident on the local news channel, although you may want to make sure the kidlets leave the room before you view it.
According to some recent blog updates, it appears that they are no longer in jail, but this all-too-frightening situation in St. Paul is something that bears watching.
This is the type of stuff that makes Ron Paul look bad, even though he is one of the only real good Republicans… I know he is probably just as disgusted as I am about the whole thing.
That is absolutely apalling. America is supposed to be founded on the constitution, but apparently in the past 8 years, unbeknownst to us, the Bill or Rights lost some of it’s weight.
If you didn’t expect this then you weren’t paying attention. Go Green . . . Green Party, that is. A vote for the Green party is a vote for Mother Earth, and another nail in the coffin of the Republican-Democratic Duopoly.
Thats the trouble to day has it has been for many decades past,police are to serve and protect,but they ignore that part of the job they just go after anyone who doesnt look rich,and when the hype builds they go after any body … its like a pack of wild dogs they have no conscious or feeling toward their fellow man except the ones they work with.Now a days mostly ion larger cities “give a cop a gun and a badge” and they think that its their liscence to kill maim or mutilate to their satisfaction,with out total regard to the laws they are sworn to uphold . In their leiu of “doing” their job they tend to break more laws then uphold!!
That’s beyond wrong! I thought we still had rights in this country!
I would agree that this is distrubing. Why is it now to the point in America that people cannot peaceable assemble?
I do deeply pray to the God and Goddess that the man who was tasered chooses to sue the St. Paul police for police brutality.
This is purely unacceptable.
It’s getting so bad in America that we(as Pagans) are ashamed to be from this country.How sad!
What is this country coming to? This is why some Pagan parents are afraid to send their kids to a public school. People are getting crazier by the day.
I agree with rainingcrow. I’m scared to send my daughter to a public school. I was “torchered”when I was in High School. I’m from the South and it’s getting bad down here. It’s not just that I was Pagan, it’s because I was NOT Christian. Things are really getting bad all over America. These “holy wars” need to end now.
Oh My Goddess! This is the mosy unthinkable thing I ever heard of. What is happening to our country? To our world? To our people? And what can we do to make things better?
This video looks like it should be in another country not ours, it is so bizarre and disturbing – I mean, seriously, how many offices does it take to subdue a man who is not resisting and was just standing there…scary!!
Didn,t something like this happen to a Black man(In LA? Five cops on one guy on the ground? I’m in the UK and it didnt make big news here.) Well, is american police racism changing direction, selecting a more politically correct target?
This is a sad thing to have happened.
I can’t belive this country has fallen as far as it has.
When an officer of the law, sworn to protect the citizens of this country, and to uphold the law can’t be trusted to do what’s right, who can?
Shame I haven’t seen this on the nightly news– then again, I haven’t been able to see the nightly news at all last week. (back-to-school week at office supply stores is equal to Christmas at other retail stores)
I watched a clip from MSNBC’s Countdown where a 60-yr-old retired Denver Post reporter was protesting outside a McCain rally with the sign “McCain = Bush”, and she was nearly arrested on part-taxpayer-funded property. She ended up getting a citation for trespassing.
James Moore, political contributor for the Huffington Post, said on the show that “Republican campaigns would be so much easier to run if we could get this pesky ‘freedom of speech’ thing out of the way.”
I’m now thinking that originally tongue-in-cheek statement is now painfully true.
I really don’t think this has to do with the Republican per say. The entire reason for the police acting as jumpy as they were was because of the anarchist groups that had been destroying everything during the week. That doesn’t mean that it was right that these people were tasered, but try to put yourself in the police’s shoes as well and try not to blame the RNC since it had nothing to do with them really.
not true that the anarchist groups were “destroying everything”. The cops were harassing them from the week before onward. I know the fellow who got tasered. They denied him medical care in jail as well.
Can you say “Da” and “Nyet”? Russian for “yes” and “no”.
I happen to be a republican pagan, they do exist, lol! As far as the rap that anarchist get…we had protests in our local city, and they were here to destroy the city and raise hell, detracting from the issue which was race relations. Pagan doesn’t equal anarchy. Pagan doesn’t equal democrat. Labels are dangerous.
i think now more than ever in this religion based insanity that seems to be sweping the nation we pagans have to stand strong and stand together. i know many of us stay in the closet and thats fine. even if your olny showing your pagan side online. do so! pass along these storys. show everyone you know pagan or not what is going on dont let these incidents be hidden! this is the world wide web make it so we have the most powerfull tool at our desposal! word of mouth or more of keyboard. so make it work dont let this pass! stand strong and stand together!
I am a registered Republican, a practicing student on the Goddess path and over 50 years old. This is nothing new. We saw this in the 1960’s in the “Race Riots” in the south, in the 1990’s in California. This country has always been this way any “outside the norm” group that dares to stand up and say “I have rights, too. Please reconise them.” has problems. Unitl we come to the place that we are truely “All created equal”, nothing is going to change.
This is a seriously disturbing issue. It makes me really not to tell people what my religion is for fear of that happening to me or a family member. Scary that it is now happening in Minnesota, where I thought that nothing like this would ever happen.
This sort of thing also happened on a smaller scale at the DNC. And it actually had nothing to do with protesting. A reporter wanted to get a shot of some Democrats coming out of a meeting with some questionable funders in a public place. Buh-bye. The thing keeping it from being a larger problem there was probably the fact there were fewer protesters all around.
In the last eight years of Republican rule the laws have changed enough to make things like this possible. That it happened on a larger scale at the RNC only emphasizes what Republicans in office have done to destroy our country and its freedoms.
As for thinking about the other side of the tasering incident… just because police are on high alert does not give them the right to do what they did to a peaceful protester or any of the media trying to cover it. The police were in riot gear on horses, ffs! They were well protected from these peaceful demonstrators without weapons or armor. (I come from a family of police officers, so I say this without malice towards police in general who are usually only there to protect and serve the people.)
R
Oh, and Starhawk was there and blogged about it. You should be able to find the link at blog.
(I hope the coding works)
R
Oh, and Starhawk was there and blogged about it. You should be able to find the link at blog.
(I hope the coding works)
R
Didn’t work
http://www.wildhunt.org/blog.html
With all due respect, a vote for the Green Party is a vote for the Republicans. In a perfect world, the Green Party would be competitive. Right now, it just siphons off people with good intentions from the Democrats. We ain’t playin’ in this election, people. This is NOT the time to “make a statement” or some such effort. If you honestly think there is no diff between the Dems and the GOP, research the environmental record of each party. Al Gore’s a Democrat. “Drill baby drill!” is the Republican chant now. If you’re a Green Party member, get out there and demonstrate, write letters, petition your officials, lobby your government, hell, tie yourself to a tree – all are good and worthy efforts. But if you REALLY care about Mother Earth – and not some romantic anarchist self-image – PLEASE: Vote Obama on Nov. 4th.
They were not identified as pagans in the news or anywhere, they were there as protesters, they did not identify themselves until it became politically expedient to do so! They were in the wrong place the wrong time. The idiot morons in the Anachists group were throwing trash cans and benches thru storefronts and had been stopped with molitov coctails. I think the police overreacted, but put the blame where it belongs. With the Anarchists.
This is apalling that this stuff happens in America,Little George and the Republicans are destroying our Constition and Rights,We no longer enjoy the freedoms our forefathers intended. Things have to change!!!
I am a 22 year veteran of the L.A.P.D. and a devout Wiccan. I NEVER believe anything that the media shows about “peaceful protestors.” I’ve responded to shootings at a childrens soccer match when a dad didn’t like the ref. Videos brodcasted can only show what the networks WANT you to see. (Remember LA ‘92 anyone?) With lawsuits and portable video recording equipment being commonplace these days, our rules for engaging riots and protests are alot more strict than ever… be careful of what you read and wary of what you see on TV or vid clips. Not all of us are bad. Would I risk my life for $22,000 a year if I didn’t believe in my job and helping others? I don’t think so.
These were not your usual police. They did not have name badges and they would not identify themselves as the law requires they are supposed to do. The person attacked in the video is an aquaintance of mine and was with the Pagan Cluster and Starhawk, this group attends the DNC/RNC and other conventions and every year and protests peacefully, the violence and the brutality of the police gets worse and worse every year. I am an peace activist and a political professional myself and have been on the receiving end.
We must BREAK the two party duopoly (the Twin Powers) as their agenda is not in accordance with the people. The Democans and Republicrats are one and the same party.
Vote Green!
Vote for the REAL pro-peace party!
Vote for Cynthia McKinney!
“For verily, I say unto thee….,
For though we have hungered for the lost days of The Burnings, our religion shall once again rise like the phoenix from the ashes and strike down the ungodly unbeliever, no matter how peaceful he may be”.
God protect us. No, better yet, let us protect ourselves.
Blessings.
This calls for the ACLU!
What happened to that poor man is horrible, and unfair. However. Not all cops are bad. Yes, the ones we see in the video are seriously over-reacting. And there are ones like that in every city and town in the USA. But there are also some damn good cops who do their jobs for too little pay and too little recognition every day. So, please, don’t lump them all together. There are even Pagans that I’m not proud to associate myself with, so I don’t like to see any group of people criticized for what another of their number does.
Also, several people mentioned religious intolerance. Are we being any different? I hear so many Pagans complain about “those damn Christians”, but in the same breath say we should all work together. Which is it? There are bad apples in every bushel. I know some wonderful true Christians that I’m proud to call my friends. I also know some real jerks who are Christian. I also know some wonderful _____(fill in the blank), and some real jerks who are _____(again, fill in the blank). It doesn’t matter who you are. Color, race, creed, religion, sexual preference, gender, whatever. There are good and bad. Lumping all of “group A” together is a mistake. When did we forget that?
Some people are just jerks. We know that. But let’s try not to be so quick to judge an entire group based on just a few (or few hundred) bad apples. We know as Pagans what it is to be unfairly judged, so let’s not do the same thing.
Blessing on one and all,
WildRose
This is such a smack against the Constitution! Since when are peacefully protesting people attacked by police officers? Clearly, the policemen on the horses were trying to shield what was really happening, along with those with guns trained on the crowds. They remind me of water buffalos protecting their young when threatened.
I will not vote Republican, regardless of who the candidate is, because of this stuff and because it is a party platform to be against abortion, even if doing so could save the life of the mother.
However, just because people are protesting peacefully does not justify their actions. Clearly, their orders were to disperse ANY opposition at all costs, including the use of leathal force. They are nothing more than a bunch of puppets. Had any of them really had a conscience, they wouldn’t be doing what they are doing.
That is one of the most disturbing things I have seen. They mobbed him, held him down, and it looks as though they continued to taser him. Irregardless of shocking him they did NOT need 15 cops to restrain 1 man. Not only as a Pagan am I horrified at this but most importantly, as a HUMAN. That was simply wrong and the department in that area should be held accountable for it’s actions. I don’t know about the Anarchist side of the story, but if they did that they should be held accountable as well.
Goddess, that’s awful. To think I’m only forty-five minutes north of all this makes me shudder.
Why do people have to be so cruel?
What did we do, really?
Why are we so awful to each other?
Sadly, this is the world we now live in. Granted, it was a horrible scene. I agree with the blogger who said the police were jumpy~ yes, they put their lives on the line every day when putting on their uniforms & going to work. MOST of us don’t have that danger in our daily lives (thankfully). I do think in the current world today, you cannot be too careful & from what I saw, the protester was wearing a huge backpack. At any large gatherings, campaigns, concerts, whatever, you are asked to leave these @ home. The authorities (cops) have no idea what is in them (suicide bomber???) & are doing their best to protect the masses.
Sorry we have come to this in our world. I pray for peace & harmony every day! If everyone would help with that affirmation, we would move closer to peace & religious equality!
First I would like to say I’m Wiccan and a Police Officer in a small town. The video is only a portion of what happened. Form what I seen in the portion offered, the action of the officers was, in my opinion, a bit much for one person. I did not see him offering resistance until he was going to the ground and it appeared he was trying to catch himself. Also I didn’t see what the woman did to be taken in to custody. Speaking one’s mind should not warrant an arrest, freedom of speech with in reason. If I have to warn someone more then three times it’s disorderly conduct. Not trying to take either side, what happened prior to the man being grabbed by the officer on the horse. Again I think a little much with the portion of the video I saw.