you won't get away with this

ocelott:

The weekly march at Occupy Denver deteriorated into a full-fledged standoff yesterday, resulting in several confrontations between police and protesters. The primary message of the Occupy Wall Street movement has become overshadowed in the past few weeks, as focus has shifted from demands for economic justice to 1st Amendment rights and outcries against police brutality.

The display of overt police violence at yesterday’s assembly of peaceful protesters was entirely abhorrent. The overwhelming police presence was centered on a handful of tents in a public park. The unnecessary show of force by the Denver Police Department was not only disproportionate and inflammatory, but a vastly excessive expenditure of public funds. We urge Denver’s new Chief of Police, Robert White, to live up to his reputation for being reasonable and holding police officers under his jurisdiction accountable.

We openly condemn the Denver Police Department for using pepper balls, shotgun-propelled beanbag rounds, pepper spray and tear gas on an entirely unarmed and nonviolent group. We have collected scores of unedited photos and videos depicting sheer brutality on the part of police on site: officers choking already restrained protesters, using a stun wand on a female arrestee who was already face down and pinned to the ground by an officer, verbally threatening protesters during the standoff, and recklessly and indiscriminately deploying chemical weapons on unarmed civilians, to name a few.

Police violence has never, and will never stop our movement’s momentum. We will continue to organize and move forward, as have Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Boston, and countless other occupations across the nation and around the globe.

Occupy Denver Press Release

Lt. Matt Murray of the Denver police had this to say about the incident, ““What you saw is more of a responding to a call for help because officers were being assaulted.”

This is a lie. The trouble actually began (and this was caught on camera) when police officers moved in to take down tents. A protestor was standing to close to the police and that’s when the arrests and use of rubber bullets and pepper spray started. 

The press is trying to make it look like this was started by protestors. Yes, there were two protestors who were arrested for assaulting police officers, but this was during the “stand off”. Nonetheless, the use of rubber bullets and pepper spray was completely unnecessary given the circumstances. There was no need to attack hundreds of peaceful protestors.

(via screaminfuschia)