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03 Sep 04 - 01:24 PM (#1263586) Subject: BS: Protesters Freed. From: dick greenhaus The judicial system may yet provide a way out of the current lynch-mob "patriotic" fervor: (GITMO ON THE HUDSON) JUDGE SLAPS CITY By LAURA ITALIANO, MURRAY WEISS and DAN MANGAN Email Archives Print Reprint September 3, 2004 -- A judge yesterday ordered the release of all convention protesters held for more than 24 hours without being arraigned — and found the city in contempt of court for failing to meet that state-mandated deadline. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge John Cataldo said some protesters had been held 66 hours without being arraigned. Many more were held for 45 to 50 hours. Lawyers claim the arrested protesters were being held longer to keep them quiet for the final day of the Republican convention. "They're telling these protesters that you can't get out until George Bushytail goes home," civil-rights lawyer Daniel Alterman said. After Cataldo's late-afternoon ruling, the trickle of freed detainees began. "I've definitely done the time," said Mikel Stone, 29, of Denver, who vowed to use his freedom to protest the president's speech last night. Stone described his time in the holding pen at Pier 57 as a two-day nightmare. "My throat still hurts and my joints are achy," he said, his pants stained with black residue picked up from the West 15th Street Pier. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement that there had been "exaggerated claims and outright falsehoods" about the conditions at the pier. He said most of the detainees were held there for 90 minutes, and none was there for longer than eight hours. Cataldo's sharp rebuke about the detainees followed days of foot-dragging by city officials. Lawyers had gone to court Wednesday night demanding that the protesters arrested Tuesday be released because they hadn't been quickly arraigned. "I want my kid back. I want democracy back," said Connie Steensna, 54, whose 17-year-old son, Richard Prins, had been held since Tuesday. Steensna said that when she called Central Booking Wednesday, a woman who answered said, "They're holding all of the demonstrators until President Bush leaves town." NYPD spokesman Paul Browne denied that claim, and said arraignments were being held as quickly as possible. In a series of hearings all day yesterday, city lawyers claimed Tuesday's 1,000-plus arrests — the largest ever for a single borough — had made it difficult to arraign people within the 24 hours set by law. But lawyers for the activists scoffed, noting the city had bragged before the convention of being prepared to handle 1,000 arrests per day. They also noted that people who had been arrested for far more serious, non-protest crimes, including robbers, were being arraigned in less than 12 hours. But protesters — and even bystanders such as a startled Canadian tourist scooped up on the steps of the New York Public Library and a delivery boy from a Chinese restaurant ensnared with bicycle protesters — were still being held "40, 50, 60 hours" after their arrests, Alterman angrily told Cataldo. "Some of these stories would be hilarious if not that they had been in jail for two days," added lawyer Elizabeth Fink. Cataldo's patience with the city grew increasingly thin throughout the day, particularly after authorities failed to abide by a timetable he set for 560 protesters to be arraigned by late afternoon. When the city failed to arraign the protesters by that deadline, Cataldo ordered them freed. "These people have already been the victims of the process," the judge said. "I can no longer accept your statements that you are trying to comply." By 1 a.m. today, virtually all were free. The city's administration's top lawyer, Michael Cardozo, tried to stave off a contempt-of-court ruling, saying city officials were trying to comply with the judge's order to release the detainees. "We just can't open all the jails in the city," he said. But Cataldo still found the city in contempt. He'll have a hearing next week to determine the penalty, which could reach $1,000 for each illegally detained protester. Also yesterday, there were several small anti-Bush demonstrations around the city, resulting in 29 arrests. At a mostly peaceful rally near the Madison Square Garden, tempers flared briefly when a group of pro-Bush protesters showed up. Police eliminated the possibility of violence by quickly encircling the pro-Bush troops with metal barriers — effectively creating a protest pen within the protest pen. And the NYPD yesterday unveiled an arsenal of weapons — including Mace, jagged sticks and razors — seized from demonstrators. |
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03 Sep 04 - 02:41 PM (#1263638) Subject: RE: BS: Protesters Freed. From: Stilly River Sage I heard a story similar to this on NPR yesterday. You'd think that NYC government officials would have better sense than to use this tactic to hold onto protestors. Bloomberg kept saying "This isn't Club Med." Who are the New York City Republicans who had enough power to keep everyone under lock and key in such nasty enclosures for so long? It certainly wouldn't have come down from the state's Senatorial representatives! SRS |
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03 Sep 04 - 03:45 PM (#1263670) Subject: RE: BS: Protesters Freed. From: DougR The protestors probably got a good rest after all that walking. DougR |
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03 Sep 04 - 03:49 PM (#1263677) Subject: RE: BS: Protesters Freed. From: Amos You really don't give a shit about civil rights and constitutional liberties, do you Doug? A |
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03 Sep 04 - 04:14 PM (#1263694) Subject: RE: BS: Protesters Freed. From: Bert Let's make Connie Steensna's comment a campaign slogan
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03 Sep 04 - 04:39 PM (#1263709) Subject: RE: BS: Protesters Freed. From: Jeri Of course doesn't give a shit about civil liberties and constitutional rights. He's a Bush weenie. I'd love to be at some of those arraignment hearings. "So tell us what you were doing at the time you were arrested" "Sir, I was standing on the sidewalk holding a sign." Ahhh...obstructing pedestrian traffic and brandishing a weapon... "No sir. People could get me, and I wasn't...what's 'brandishing'?" "It's sort of when...uh. Well, basically you wave it around and threaten people with it." "Ok. Then I wasn't brandishing it. I was just sort of holding it and twirling it around a bit. I didn't aim it at anyone. In all honesty, though, I think somebody might have read it." "AAHA! There's the problem! I'll bet you were shouting, too!" "Yeah. But I was just excercising my Constitutional rights to free speech and public assembly. I was being American." "You didn't get the memo, then? We got rid of those things. Lets face it, if the folks on OUR side have those rights, the Evildoers have them too, and we just can't take those chances anymore." "Could you define 'Evildoer' for me please?" Terrorists are Evildoers. Terrorists don't care much for our government, you don't care much for the Fuh... the President, and he IS our government. Therefore, you must be a terrorist. You ARE the enemy. Come to think of it, I don't believe we have to go through all this legal stuff..." "[Sigh] That's a relief, sir!" "Yes it is! Hey, you folks in the gallery: everyone who can meet up out back at high noon with a registered weapon, raise your hands." |