BREAKING (Manhattan): Cindy Sheehan either arrested or ushered away as police moved in.
by Five of Diamonds
Published September 19, 2005 at DailyKos.com
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/19/154239/638 (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/19/154239/638)
I witnessed this with my own eyes. Here is my account.
Cindy Sheehan was arrested moments ago in Union Square, Manhattan for allegedly speaking in the square without the proper permit.
Five of Diamonds's diary :: ::
A small group of police began to congregate around 2:00 on the south east corner of Union Square. Cindy and her peace entourage were slightly late to the event, contending with public transportation.
Upon her arrival, applause and cheers filled the crowd awaiting her speech. A few other members of the tour movement spoke. Afterward, about 2:50, Cindy began her speech. It was friendly and empowering. She was grateful for the support and urged everyone to go to Washington DC on the 24th of September for a march on Washington.
At the conclusion of her speech, from my perspective, a few loud and impassioned boos erupted, then I saw a hand come from behind Cindy and grab her shoulder-strap on her backpack. The arm jerked her backwards, with such force as to snap her head forward, and she fell from my view.
The crowd erupted in booing and jeering. The crowd rushed the elevated park where she once stood, not to fight but to witness what was happening. People crowded the police, who had formed a semi-circle around what was happening to Cindy (which I could not witness from my vantage point).
"Nazis," "Gestapo," "free speech," "burn the constitution," "traitors," "you can't have her," could be heard from all sides of the angry crowd. The police stood shoulder-to-shoulder with emotionless looks on their faces. One woman from the tour, I did not see who, urged everyone to that it is a waste of energy to yell at the police, we can't stop it from happening, but what we can do is trumpet this event to the rest of the United States.
Many media cameras were there. One New York Times reporter was also there (at least), and she was moving around the crowd asking questions. Upon the arrest, she inserted herself into the middle of the screaming, recording it all with her mini-recorder.
I'm not sure the details of the permit situation. The announcer said they sought a permit for weeks with no response from the city government.
Spread the word Kossaks! More as it unfolds.
UPDATE: Details prompted by comments There was no violence, no violent rhetoric, and the spirit of the event was positive and strong. She was only there for about 10 minutes before she spoke, and spoke for about 5 minutes. The crowd was respectful and peaceful. Cindy and the other speakers were using a microphone and speakers, which may have caused the problem with the permits. The announcer told the crowd that they had been officially warned before Cindy got there. I'm trying to find out the permit stuff right now. She was speaking at "Camp Casey NYC" in Union Square. It was a planned event, advertised in the newspaper. And from what I heard (Union Square is a noisy place), they tried to get a permit but did not get a response from city government after many messages were left. My view was not the best, so I did not see if it was a cop behind her that jerked her away. The immediate booing and rushing of the "stage" (a large part of the park raised by about 3 steps) made me believe it was the police. I could not see if she resisted or not. Sorry for the bad view...I wish I had more. Watch the wires, this will be out soon.
It appears Cindy was not arrested.
-------------------
Hey watch'a charged with?
-Unauthorized use of a loadspeaker - and they all moved away from me on the bench
-Till I said, "And disorderly conduct." And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of things---
-----------------------------
Rally organizer arrested for unauthorized use of loudspeaker
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:37 a.m. ET Sept. 20, 2005
NEW YORK - Police cut short a speech by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and arrested a rally organizer, saying he hadn’t obtained a permit for use of a loudspeaker.
Sheehan, the grieving mother whose 26-day vigil near President Bush’s Texas ranch sparked anti-war protests around the country, had nearly finished her speech Monday when police intervened.
Supporters ushered her away from the rally at Manhattan’s Union Square park as onlookers yelled at police and chanted “Let her speak!â€
Rally organizer Paul Zulkowitz was charged with unauthorized use of a sound device and disorderly conduct. He was given a court summons and released, said Detective Kevin Czartoryski.
Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq last year, is calling for the immediate return of troops from the region.
Her 25-state tour is set to culminate Saturday with an anti-war march in the nation’s capital. She gained prominence when she staged a 26-day protest near Bush’s ranch outside Crawford, Texas.
Ya know, to me, this looks like a more carefully crafted attempt to stifle Cindys' free speech than one would think... Consider what 'they' did... They snatch her offa the podium and whisk her away in the blink of an eye; yet when push comes to shove, they charge the guy that organized the rally with a petty nonsense charge... Hell, it doesn't matter alot whether the organizer was charged, or, in fact will be let go with a lil slap of the hand.. The end result is the same.... She was denied free expression... Notice the powers that be tried to dance the thin line here, by not charging her with anything.... Hell, she was using that microphone that was not permitted right?? How come she was not charged?? Answer, the obvious... She has developed a following and people are watching the goverments action toward her.... I'm sorta glad I'm heading to New Orleans in a couple days... When anarchy and martial law rear their heads in unison, at least it's easy to see who their players are....................... sal
Sal says:
"I'm sorta glad I'm heading to New Orleans in a couple days... When anarchy and martial law rear their heads in unison, at least it's easy to see who their players are....................... sal"
I hope you are right, but in the similar situation in Iraq, it is not so easy to tell the players apart. Witness the espionage and terrorist violence being conducted by armed forces and spies of UK, US and Israel in Iraq. Who is really doing the "suicide bombings"? Who really WANTS civil war in Iraq, and is willing to promote it with mass violence?
LOL Yeah, Den. I read about the two Brits sprung from an iraqi jail the other day after they were witnessed firing on iraqi police forces while dressed as arabs. The iraqis say the brits were sprung from jail after a britt tank knocked a hole in a wall. The head limeys say much about how the iraqi's cooperated fully and very little about the large number of criminals that also escaped in the melee.
British special ops dressed like arabs and shooting at iraqi national police forces?
lw
yeah lw, and the Brits car was packed with explosives as well. The break-in of the jail could be incriminating, hmmm?
Maybe the Iranians made em do it, yeah that's it! :roll:
Sheehan Arrested During Anti-War Protest
By Jennifer Kerr, Associated Press Writer
Published September 26, 2005 by Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/war_demonstr ... NlYwN0bQ-- (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/war_demonstrations;_ylt=AuWm62rfgZBF5UpSSLhqPzGs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--)
Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who has used her son's death in Iraq to spur the anti-war movement, was arrested Monday while protesting outside the White House.
Sheehan and several dozen other protesters sat down on the sidewalk after marching along the pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests.
Sheehan, 48, was the first taken into custody. She stood up and was led to a police vehicle while protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching."
Sheehan's 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in an ambush in Sadr City, Iraq, last year. She attracted worldwide attention last month with her 26-day vigil outside President Bush's Texas ranch.
Sheehan was among several hundred demonstrators who marched around the White House on Monday and then stopped in front and began singing and chanting "Stop the war now!"
The demonstration is part of a broader anti-war effort on Capitol Hill organized by United for Peace and Justice, an umbrella group. Representatives from anti-war groups were meeting Monday with members of Congress to urge them to work to end the war and bring home the troops.
The protest following a massive demonstration Saturday on the National Mall that drew a crowd of 100,000 or more, the largest such gathering in the capital since the war began in March 2003.
On Sunday, a rally supporting the war drew roughly 500 participants. Speakers included veterans of World War II and the war in Iraq, as well as family members of soldiers killed in Iraq.
"I would like to say to Cindy Sheehan and her supporters don't be a group of unthinking lemmings. It's not pretty," said Mitzy Kenny of Ridgeley, W.Va., whose husband died in Iraq last year. The anti-war demonstrations "can affect the war in a really negative way. It gives the enemy hope."
good for her! gotta keep her in the headlines somehow. what to do for an encore? more bus tours?
oh, and sure enuff, here's the "Iran spin" on the UK SAS in Basra:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=T ... retwar.xml (http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050925-17515500-bc-iraq-secretwar.xml)
Just read this: "Sgt. Scott Fear, spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said they (Cindy Sheehan and her group) would be charged with demonstrating without a permit, which is a misdemeanor."
Charging someone with "demonstrating without a permit" is a bullshit charge. Should be completely unconstitutional.
Demonstrating widdout permit :? -- Gotta be a bogus/unconstitutional charge---- Go get 'em Cindy...... On a sad side note: I went to the Gainesville Fl. demonstration against the war (24th)... No, of course senor didn't have no steeenkin permit..... Neither did the estimated 35-50 people that were there as well.... I was really sort of shocked at such a dismal turnout... I must say, that prolly 80% of the cars that went buy, honked 'fer peace and ending our Iraqi debacle, but still, it was pretty disheartening to see so few peeps turn out..... sal
Shucks, sal, don't sweat the turn out. Most every city had at least that many rallying for the cause, I'm guessing. And there was the national dealio going on in DC that day with an estimated turn out of over 100,000.
Compare that to the 400 or so who showed up on Sunday for the national pro-war rally and therelative difference becomes apparent, imo.
lw
Yeah speaking of that 100,000+ dc war protest, yah notice how little that was covered in the major news networks? the local paper here had a small article about it at the bottom of the first page that estimated a turn out of no more that 15,000.
SO, I wonder which was right? It seems a local DC cop or someone else used to seeing crowds made the estimate of 100,000.
lw
Here's what I found......
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/m ... es_not_war (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/make_levees_not_war)
Make Levees, Not War
Liza Featherstone
If you stayed away from Saturday's antiwar demonstration in Washington, DC, fearing extremist messages and pathetic numbers, you missed out.
Some people did just that, disturbed that United for Peace and Justice had agreed to co-sponsor its rally with Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), a group that attracts criticism wherever it goes, for a lack of political nuance and a bullying attitude toward other organizations. Liberal groups like MoveOn.org did little to promote the event, despite the fact that with President Bush's approval ratings lower than ever, and more than half of Americans opposing the war, it presented a historic opportunity for a vigorous show of dissent.
Luckily, huge numbers of Americans--at least 100,000, maybe more--did seize that opportunity, traveling to the nation's capital from places as divergent as Louisville, Kentucky, and Orange County, California. Marchers included many more African-Americans than a typical DC antiwar march, as well as more people in their 30s and 40s with children. Despite the event's lack of support by any major Democratic Party leaders, clean-cut suburban liberals still proudly affiliated with the Kerry and Dean campaigns were also well represented.............. (Cont. at site posted above.)
lw
the Dems can join up or get out of our way...i say we put a Dem majority back in the congress in '06 to ensure the King's demise, then plan on '08 forcing insurrection within the Dems or simply start a new party and crush them and the re-fascists...something has change, are we going to wait much longer, ya know???
FUCK CORPORATE OWNED MEDIA AND POLITICIANS!!!
there, i feel better :twisted:
saw pics on rense taken from the Washington monument, sure looked like a LOT of folks around the Mall and side streets...
The local media I saw here, didn't report numbers of people at all. They said there were anti-war protesters and anti anti-war protesters (which i'll refer to as the war mongers). They made it sound like an even debate. If there were 100,000 anti-war protester verses 500 war mongers, that really should have been reported.
I've also heard it stated that 100,000 "hippies" showed up. Like that is somehow a deragatory term or something. I wish that were true, but I kind of doubt they were all hippies.
500 was mongers showed up? You must be counting the 100 or so media types there to NOT document the non-event.
lw