{"id":351,"date":"2007-11-03T12:06:30","date_gmt":"2007-11-03T17:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/03\/cops-try-to-sanitize-view-during-bush-visit\/"},"modified":"2007-11-08T13:08:34","modified_gmt":"2007-11-08T18:08:34","slug":"cops-try-to-sanitize-view-during-bush-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/03\/cops-try-to-sanitize-view-during-bush-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Cops try to sanitize view during Bush visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police Intimidation Threatens Peaceful Protest of Fund-raiser<\/strong>
\nWade Fulmer, Columbia<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Friday, Nov. 2, activists had arrived by 10:30 on the sidewalk across the street from the entrance to the plantation on Garners Ferry\u00a0Road where the Republican barbecue fund-raiser was\u00a0being held. Participants ranged from college students to an 80-year-old WWII veteran, and were citizens or representatives of various peace groups. Activists and protesters were orderly, quiet, and held signs in protest\u00a0of the\u00a0Iraq War,\u00a0to advocate for the care of our\u00a0troops, and to insist that Bush-Graham politicians do not rush to still another war with Iran.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At about 10:45, Columbia police suddenly demanded that all protesters were to move down the hill to the far end of Woodhill Mall, which would take us and signs out of the view of traffic and politicians entering the barbecue. Upon asking an officer why, he said that the order was\u00a0given to officers this morning by their captain. As an organizer of the demonstration, I asked why was such an order given. I reminded\u00a0officers that Columbia\u00a0city police have agreed and cooperated with us for four years in the exercise of\u00a0our right to assemble and protest as long as there is no disturbance or interference with traffic. I asked to speak to the officer in charge. He approached and\u00a0spoke angrily that we must move. He then told me that I had 10 seconds to move to the bottom of the hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Other participants also asked why the denial of our right to protest.\u00a0I asked\u00a0who\u00a0we might speak with to allow our protest to continue. I asked who had made the decision because\u00a0there would be a formal challenge regarding the\u00a0denial of our assembly and any threat made. He\u00a0said that Harold Reaves, interim police chief, had made the decision. I asked to speak to him. The answer was no. I then told him that at a prior demonstration at the Republican presidential candidates debate, Mr. Reaves, who was then\u00a0with\u00a0Homeland Security in Columbia,\u00a0after conversation did agree that we have the right to peacefully demonstrate, and the requirement was\u00a0that we remained on the sidewalk\u00a0across from that\u00a0event without causing disruption.\u00a0So, what\u00a0partisan political\u00a0fund-raiser\u00a0planners\u00a0may have influenced the attempted denial of\u00a0our right\u00a0as citizens to\u00a0protest? We should ask the host of the barbecue.\u00a0I understand that he may be\u00a0a member\u00a0of the Columbia\u00a0City Council, so perhaps\u00a0he might assist us to find an answer.<\/p>\n

After talking with the officer in charge,\u00a0additional police cars arrived blocking\u00a0protesters and our signs from the view of arriving Republican fund-raiser guests. A police van pulled up directly in front of us and the back doors were opened. Participants, including the\u00a0wise WWII\u00a0veteran,\u00a0continued to remind the police that we were rightfully there, in peaceful assembly and protest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the police escalated an unnecessary confrontation,\u00a0two protesters phoned 911, and reported that we were being threatened by\u00a0the police.\u00a0Shortly after, a black car\u00a0with a\u00a0man and woman in formal dress parked\u00a0in front of us. As they were talking beside the car I twice asked to speak to them. They heard my requests, turned away, and went over to talk with\u00a0police.\u00a0We were\u00a0soon informed that our protest with our signs could continue as long as we stayed on the sidewalk. <\/p>\n

The intimidation and threat to violate our right of dissent somehow ended. Although there were a few Bush war supporters with their\u00a0signs and shirts just a few yards from us, they were never challenged by police. I and other protesters thanked the front-line police for their presence and assistance.\u00a0Our peaceful protest with signs against the war and its fundraising politicians continued until 12:30\u00a0without further incident.<\/p>\n

Activist citizens must continue to peacefully assemble and\u00a0exercise our right of dissent, that there shall be accountability for the contrived war and an end to\u00a0the\u00a0bloodshed and mental destruction of\u00a0military,\u00a0loved ones, and families. As a war veteran, I will peacefully protest as long as soldiers and families continue to be betrayed\u00a0to the endless killing in Iraq, as long as warful politicians continue their rush of reckless funding of that killing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I thank all those who gathered today with their dedicated sincerity, courage,\u00a0and perserverance, who stood with determination and gave their voices in\u00a0dissent for\u00a0peace, to bring troops home and care, and to demand there be no more wars committed by liars.\u00a0\u00a0To make us right\u00a0with integrity,\u00a0out the civil war capital politicians’\u00a0hypocrisy. There will be a formal complaint\u00a0regarding\u00a0the\u00a0attempted\u00a0coup of our\u00a0today’s protest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police Intimidation Threatens Peaceful Protest of Fund-raiser Wade Fulmer, Columbia On Friday, Nov. 2, activists had arrived by 10:30 on the sidewalk across the street from the entrance to the plantation on Garners Ferry\u00a0Road where the Republican barbecue fund-raiser was\u00a0being … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-network-newsevents","category-sc-newscommentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}