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Why am I facing 75 years in prison? (Trump inauguration protesters)

E

emag

Member
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/06/facing-75-years-prison-170629085740479.html

On January 20th, during the inauguration of Donald Trump, the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) violently and indiscriminately attacked scores of protesters, journalists, legal observers, medics, and bystanders in the vicinity of an anti-fascist/anti-capitalist march. The MPD trapped, or "kettled", more than 200 people, arresting them on a single felony riot charge with a boilerplate affidavit.

The march was an act of resistance against both Trump and the system that gives him power. As a part of this march, I was also kettled and arrested alongside scores of others. Nearly six months later, I and more than 200 other people have been re-indicted on eight felonies each. We all currently face the potential of 75 years in federal prison.

Certain memories of the day of my arrest stand most vividly in my mind: zip-ties cutting into my wrist and the taste of pepper spray; losing count of the roaches that crawled over me in my sleep; the constant horror of not knowing where my partner was.

According to a report issued in February by the DC Office of Police Complaints, the MPD unleashed a variety of "less-than-lethal" weapons against protesters - without warning or direct provocation - as a general crowd control tactic. "Less-than-lethal" is a very broad euphemism. Thinking about the violence of the police that day, I remember the footage of an elderly woman brutalised by a river of pepper spray and saved from a phalanx of riot police by a black-clad protester. I recall a fellow arrestee in my cell unit with an eye bulging out of its socket like a tomato - the offspring of pepper spray and contact lenses - and how we had to demand they receive medical attention.
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None of this resistance can be tolerated. The state's main social function is specifically to suppress public outrage, either by redirecting it into preconfigured campaigns or through political repression.

The prosecutor would like to depoliticise the charges we are facing, but the reality is that this case is not about so-called "criminal behaviour": This case is about turning protesters into felons, and the criminalisation of resistance. The state is perfectly willing to permit thousands of people to wear safety pins and pussyhats, march along well-policed parade routes, and powerlessly petition their authorities for change - so long as they do not shatter the illusion of everyday politics or disrupt the constant flow of capital.
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The goal is not to convict people to 75 years in prison. The severity of the threat is intended to extract as many guilty pleas as possible, while sending a clear message to potential protesters that the consequences of opposition will be grave. These pleas are needed to vindicate the state's narrative and legitimise their repression. The intention is to set a legal precedent for mass arrests in the era of constant crisis, so that future social movements can be smothered in the cradle.
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L

Lime

Member
The fascist and the police state with its prison industrial complex is a match made in heaven. Fuck everything this makes me so mad.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
I don't think the author's definition of civil disobedience and the generally-accepted definition match.
TyrantII said:
A decade for exercising your right to assembly and free speech.

The founders wept.
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I highly doubt they would, given these people were protesting the legal transfer of power to a democratically elected president.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Pattycakes said:
What made these protests illegal? What about them warranted the arrests and charges?
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From the linked Al Jazeera article:
The arrests came after Black Bloc anarchists and anti-fascists clashed with police. Officers fired a volley of rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters and launched concussion grenades into the crowd.

By the end of the day, the windows of cafes, restaurants and banks had been broken. The US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia claims that more than $100,000 in damage was inflicted upon property, cars and buildings.

Most of the 230 people arrested were the following day charged with felony rioting - charges that carry a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $25,000. Among them were Wood and other journalists.
Click to expand...
 
B

Beartruck

Member
RoyaleDuke said:
Welcome to the Fascist Orwellian State.
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Also no. Did anyone actually read the article? Same thing happened in NY. ACLU fought it there, and now they're fighting it here too. All of these people still have court cases and trials. If this was Orwellian they would've just shot them in the streets. Its not though, so the best Trump's cronies can do is scare them with a big sentence that will get heavily pared down. Fuck me for not thinking the sky's falling I guess.

Edit: reading Fuchsdh's post, seems they weren't arrested for peaceful protest, they were arrested for smashing shit and fighting cops. I thought it was fishy that he whined about the women's march as ineffective.
 
C

Cmerrill

You don't need to be empathetic towards me.
I'm surprised the death penalty isn't on the table to be honest. Knowing the USA and its love for killing its citizens.
 
I

Impeccable

Member
Beartruck said:
Also no. Did anyone actually read the article? Same thing happened in NY. ACLU fought it there, and now they're fighting it here too. All of these people still have court cases and trials. If this was Orwellian they would've just shot them in the streets. Its not though, so the best Trump's cronies can do is scare them with a big sentence that will get heavily pared down. Fuck me for not thinking the sky's falling I guess.
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Thank God they will get a few years for protesting and be bogging down the legal system for this. Real crimes.
 
L

LinkAndEpona

Banned
They're saying the police are the ones that got violent? Yea ok

It sucks that some of these guys are still in jail though, that's not right.
 
C

Coolluck

Member
Fuchsdh said:
I don't think the author's definition of civil disobedience and the generally-accepted definition match.

I highly doubt they would, given these people were protesting the legal transfer of power to a democratically elected president.
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Seeing how the Electoral College failed would swing it the other way or rather keep it on the same side because it was just a protest.
 
B

belinho

Member
I don't understand how people can say things like "the land of the free" or "leader of the free world" with a straight face, or without a hint of irony, especially when you look at the social stuff going on in America with it's minorities (and even the stuff from 50 years ago, but that's another can of worms altogether).
 
N

Nephtes

Member
Sucks if this was one of the peaceful protestors at one of the peaceful protests on inauguration day...

If memory serves me correctly though, I recall windows being smashed and cars lit on fire at certain "protests" on inauguration day... would that not constitute a riot situation and necessitate arresting people? Was this person one of the people in the group smashing things and burning cars?

Was anyone arrested during the Women's March (also a protest) later in the week?
I think not.

I mean I get it, you don't like the president. Lots of us don't. Why does that dislike for the idiot in chief give some people the idea they have the right to destroy the personal property of innocent people not even connected to Trump?
 
S

Slackbladder

Member
Remember the Police are tools of authority which is why they can not be blindly trusted. Events such as this act as a warning that regardless of what is supposed to happen often it won't and there's little you can do unless you're rich and can mount a defence or a civil rights group take up your case.
You absolutely are not as 'free' as you think you are. One of the great myths of the USA.
 
T

tearsintherain

Member
That article completely fails to mention the violent rampage that occurred that destroyed stores, cars were set on fire, a lot of people got rocks thrown at them, and six cops were injured. Is 75 years penalty harsh for inciting and participating in riots? Maybe. Was everyone charged involved in the violence? Probably not, but thats what trials are for.

Everyone involved was NOT peaceful. There was plenty of violence and damage. You can see pictures and stuff here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ts-expected-trump-becomes-president/96788208/
 
C

Chumly

Member
The scary thing is when you get a handful of people that turn violent then the police go batshit crazy arresting everyone within sight and charging them with the same crimes
 
A

adamsappel

Member
DC police response to protests have always been draconian. Typically they just start arresting people en masse even when it's obvious they have nothing to do with the rally. I used to work downtown on a popular protest route and only avoided arrest in one sweep because I was in a store. They usually just let everybody go without charges a couple hours later. It was intended to be an inconvenience more than punishment.
 
D

daxy

Member
Nephtes said:
Sucks if this was one of the peaceful protestors at one of the peaceful protests on inauguration day...

If memory serves me correctly though, I recall windows being smashed and cars lit on fire at certain "protests" on inauguration day... would that not constitute a riot situation and necessitate arresting people? Was this person one of the people in the group smashing things and burning cars?

Was anyone arrested during the Women's March (also a protest) later in the week?
I think not.

I mean I get it, you don't like the president. Lots of us don't. Why does that dislike for the idiot in chief give some people the idea they have the right to destroy the personal property of innocent people not even connected to Trump?
Click to expand...

tearsintherain said:
That article completely fails to mention the violent rampage that occurred that destroyed stores, cars were set on fire, a lot of people got rocks thrown at them, and six cops were injured. Is 75 years penalty harsh for inciting and participating in riots? Maybe. Was everyone charged involved in the violence? Probably not, but thats what trials are for.

Everyone involved was NOT peaceful. There was plenty of violence and damage. You can see pictures and stuff here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ts-expected-trump-becomes-president/96788208/
Click to expand...

Riots are uncool, but do you not see the problem in indiscriminately arresting people? They cannot legitimately distinguish who exactly did what.

edit: Holy shit. GAF literally does have a defense force for everything.
 
N

Nephtes

Member
tearsintherain said:
That article completely fails to mention the violent rampage that occurred that destroyed stores, cars were set on fire, a lot of people got rocks thrown at them, and six cops were injured. Is 75 years penalty harsh for inciting and participating in riots? Maybe. Was everyone charged involved in the violence? Probably not, but thats what trials are for.

Everyone involved was NOT peaceful. There was plenty of violence and damage. You can see pictures and stuff here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ts-expected-trump-becomes-president/96788208/
Click to expand...


^ this

Let's not pretend it was all sign holding and slogan chanting on inauguration day 2017.


daxy said:
Riots are uncool, but do you not see the problem in indiscriminately arresting people?
Click to expand...

If I'm at a protest, and I see people start breaking things and setting stuff on fire...
I'm out of there before the cops have time to react and arrest anyone.
It's not a protest any longer, it's a riot.
 
C

Chmpocalypse

Blizzard
tearsintherain said:
That article completely fails to mention the violent rampage that occurred that destroyed stores, cars were set on fire, a lot of people got rocks thrown at them, and six cops were injured. Is 75 years penalty harsh for inciting and participating in riots? Maybe. Was everyone charged involved in the violence? Probably not, but thats what trials are for.

Everyone involved was NOT peaceful. There was plenty of violence and damage. You can see pictures and stuff here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ts-expected-trump-becomes-president/96788208/
Click to expand...

Cops get away with literal murder on video, but some protesters allegedly destroy property and suddenly it's time to throw the book at the criminals.

Yeah, that's totally not a sign of an utterly broken system or anything.
 
L

LinkAndEpona

Banned
tearsintherain said:
That article completely fails to mention the violent rampage that occurred that destroyed stores, cars were set on fire, a lot of people got rocks thrown at them, and six cops were injured. Is 75 years penalty harsh for inciting and participating in riots? Maybe. Was everyone charged involved in the violence? Probably not, but thats what trials are for.

Everyone involved was NOT peaceful. There was plenty of violence and damage. You can see pictures and stuff here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ts-expected-trump-becomes-president/96788208/
Click to expand...

Thank you.
 
T

TemplaerDude

Member
tearsintherain said:
That article completely fails to mention the violent rampage that occurred that destroyed stores, cars were set on fire, a lot of people got rocks thrown at them, and six cops were injured. Is 75 years penalty harsh for inciting and participating in riots? Maybe. Was everyone charged involved in the violence? Probably not, but thats what trials are for.

Everyone involved was NOT peaceful. There was plenty of violence and damage. You can see pictures and stuff here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ts-expected-trump-becomes-president/96788208/
Click to expand...

Yeah, this article really kind of sucks.
 
B

bobs...onGaf

Member
tearsintherain said:
That article completely fails to mention the violent rampage that occurred that destroyed stores, cars were set on fire, a lot of people got rocks thrown at them, and six cops were injured. Is 75 years penalty harsh for inciting and participating in riots? Maybe. Was everyone charged involved in the violence? Probably not, but thats what trials are for.

Everyone involved was NOT peaceful. There was plenty of violence and damage. You can see pictures and stuff here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ts-expected-trump-becomes-president/96788208/
Click to expand...

The article references people who seem to be holding a peaceful protest - I may be wrong but the grandmother referenced doesn't sound like she was throwing rocks etc

Sure charge people who cause damage, why are all the peaceful protestors getting dragged into it?
 
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