Via The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/15nJN)
Judge Strips Power from Oakland Police
Decisions must now go through court monitors, as department steps closer to federal takeover”:
“A federal judge has granted significant decision-making powers to the monitors charged with overseeing court-ordered reforms at the Oakland Police Department, a move that brings the department one step closer to a federal takeover.
“In an order issued late Tuesday, Judge Thelton Henderson wrote that he was in ‘disbelief’ that the department had yet to finish the reforms, adding that the department remains ‘woefully behind its peers around the state and nation,’ and that ‘words and promises are not enough.’”
“If the department has not finished implementing the reforms by July, Henderson said he would consider the possibility of receivership proceedings, during which he could decide whether to place the department under federal authority.”
Other Oakland News:
- Weekend of Action: #OO Move-In Day and Rise Up Festival, 1/28-29
- Oakland Police Chief Lied to Discredit Occupy Oakland. (Daily Kos 1/14/12)
SFPD Brutality picked up by NBC news
Police Encounter With Occupy Wall Street West Protesters — Alleged Violence
The above MSM coverage is based on citizen journalism of #J20 Occupy Wall Street West in San Francisco such as this:
@pfailblog SFPD Attacks Innocent Protesters; Officer M. Ali #619 Breaks My Cam
@punkboyinsf http://www.ustream.tv/occupysf
More from Occupy Wall Street West #J20
While earlier MSM coverage of OWSWest sensationalized black bloc destruction, it completely ignored the wonder of the black blob (video by jaspergregory)
Tightening the Screws: Rahm Emanuel passes “Sit Down, Shut Up” in Chicago
Obama's former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel passes draconian protest-squashing measure in Chicago
“Critics say the “sit down and shut up” ordinance, as it has been called, seeks to chill protest and civil liberties in Chicago through measures including mandatory $1 million liability insurance for protests, a heightened police presence and more difficulty getting a permit. . . .
“When the ordinance was first introduced, it was said to be only a measure for the NATO/G8 conference to be held in Chicago in May, but it was later revealed that the ordinance change is expected to be permanent.”
Sets a chilling precedent:
Chicago Independent Media Center reports that the ordinance, as it stood the day before the vote, contains the following:
- Virtually every street protest in the downtown would be designated a “large parade,” requiring $1 million liability insurance and for organizers to “agree to reimburse the city for any damage to the public way or to city property arising out of or caused by the parade”;
- Large parade or not, organizers would be required to provide the city with “a description of any recording equipment, sound amplification equipment, banners, signs, or other attention-getting devices to be used in connection with the parade” at least a week in advance of the march;
- Every contingent in the march and the order in which they would appear would have to be registered at least a week in advance with the City; and,
- Demonstration organizers would be required to have one marshal for every 100 participants.
- Under a wholly new section of the municipal code (10-8-334), even gatherings on sidewalks, with no presence in the streets, would now be subject to demands that they get permits, giving the City extraordinary latitude to dictate what union and other pickets occur or get shut down by police action.
- Allow the police Superintendent to deputize FBI, DHS, ATF, and DOJ employees as Chicago police officers.
That last point means Mayor Emanuel can have his own personal army, when the time comes.
Police Tech: “Why do Police douse Protestors with Colored Water?”
Via Foreign Policy
In what appears to be a growing trend around the globe, police are spraying crowds with semi-permanent dye.
As Egypt prepares to mark the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution on Wednesday, with activists mapping out protest routes and the ruling military council partially lifting the country’s emergency laws and releasing prisoners in apparent goodwill gestures, Al-Masry Al-Youm is reporting something rather odd. Anonymous security sources tell the Egyptian newspaper that security forces are planning to use batons, loudspeakers, and “colored chemicals that will stain one’s skin for six months” against “those perceived to be violating the law . . .”
“. . . It is a sign of the uncertainty of the moment—the unresolved play of cultural, economic, and political forces currently unfolding before us . . .“
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