Yesterday, along with their “prepared statement” – which their spokesbeing read word for word from the exact same handout that’d been given to all the “press” and any other onlookers that asked – the Anarkids handed out this statement about last week’s riot in Minneapolis, produced here word-for-word from the “release”.<\/p>\n
While fisking it is probably not going to be as interesting as finding out who the writer’s English Teachers were over the years, it’s probably worth a look:<\/p>\n
On Friday, August 31, nineteen people were arrested after police brutally attacked cyclists with Tasers, pepper spray, and excessive physical force.\u00a0 The cyclists were part of the monthly Critical Mass bike ride.<\/p>\n
This month’s Critical Mass was a kick-off for the pReNC, a weekend of organizing against the Republican National Convention to be held in St. Paul in 2008.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Interesting.\u00a0 On some of the local discussion forums, lefties are claiming that there is no, was no,\u00a0never has been any connection between the two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 The RNC Welcoming Committe (RNC-WC), a group hosting the pReNC, gave a public speech before the ride exhorting riders to avoid confrontation throughout the weekend.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, bully for them!\u00a0<\/p>\n
But of course,\u00a0in the months\u00a0before <\/em>the ride, they were busy talking about all the mayhem they were going to carry out.\u00a0 Wonder if that “speech” managed to counteract all of that braggadocio?\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the police as a whole use excessive and brutal force in our communities on a daily basis, we feel that yesterday’s police response was highly inconsistent with their usual behavior.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Um – hello?\u00a0 So which is it?\u00a0 If they’re a bunch of jackbooted fascists “on a daily basis”, what’s “inconsistent”?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bikers did not provoke this incident, as they committed no violent or destructive acts.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It’s perhaps not surprising that this contradicts the Strib’s account of the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Unmarked cars filmed and targeted specific people.\u00a0 A State Patrol helicopter accompanied the entire event.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And is it any\u00a0wonder?\u00a0 Given all the threats that these jackbooted little wannabee\u00a0fascists\u00a0have been making, if I were a cop\u00a0I’d <\/em>make sure that there were plenty of\u00a0cameras aimed at the scene, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Three police cars followed throughout the ride, attempting to intimidate the riders by sounding their sirens regularly and driving into the crowd, but issued no official dispersal orders.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Wow. Cops driving into a crowd of bicyclists?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I’m a bicyclist.\u00a0 I know if a cop ran into my bike, I’d have some damage to show for it.\u00a0 Right away!<\/p>\n
Two cruisers – #993 and #998 – drove into the back of the Mass at the corner of La Salle and Grand.\u00a0 Witnesses report that at least one bicyclist was hit by a squad car.\u00a0 At this point, the police began to arrest and pepper spray those who had gathered at the site of the accident.\u00a0 They pointed Tasers at a nonviolent crowd, as if to create a sense of panic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Again – and naturally, and\u00a0not unexpectedly (“HONEST, officer, someone put that crack pipe IN my purse!\u00a0 Really”), this contradicts\u00a0everything I’ve seen in the media on the subject, which reported the cops tried to arrest someone who\u00a0was playing “chicken” in traffic, and were in turn attacked by a crowd of anarkids.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now – take careful note of this next part (emphasis added):<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Nearly twenty squad cars arrived on the scene.\u00a0 Over forty police created a line formation in which they advanced on bikers<\/strong>, arresting, and brutalizing those who fell behind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Huh-whah?<\/p>\n
Anarkids on bikes couldn’t escape a bunch of cops, loaded down with gear, advancing deliberately in a line (per normal riot training)?<\/p>\n
Am I the only one who suspects that they must not have been trying to “get away” all that hard?<\/p>\n
One cyclist was pepper sprayed when she attempted to obey dispersal orders.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“I\u00a0swear to God,\u00a0<\/em>officer – I have no idea <\/em>where that TV came from!\u00a0 Stolen, you say?\u00a0 Someone must have stuffed it into my backseat!”\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 She was then handcuffed and held to the ground as a third officer Tasered her in the neck.\u00a0 Witnesses were also pepper sprayed and one bystander was among those arrested.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I’ll be interested in seeing the video.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Most of the nineteen arrestees were held on “Probable Cause” for Riot charges and their bail was set at $3,000 each.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Let me take a step back here.<\/p>\n
I know that it is entirely <\/em>possible that the police might have overreacted.\u00a0 Nothing about being a conservative involves blindly accepting government’s view of things – indeed, since every actual systemic government infringement of free speech in our society today attacks conservatives rather than liberals, we are right to be vigilant.\u00a0<\/p>\n