According to The Tennessean
The Occupy Nashville protesters announced at their latest assembly that they'll allow the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee to request an injunction that would stop the nightly arrests by state troopers at Legislative Plaza.
It's time. It's time to start filing for injunctions everywhere:
-- Against police officers using violence to terrorize peaceful protesters.
-- Against police officers covering up their badge numbers.
-- Against police stopping people from filming their illegal (and legal!) activities.
-- Against police interfering with the press.
-- Against cities unnecessarily interfering with the right to peacefully assemble.
-- Against cities trampling on the right to free speech.
The Oakland police had agreed in federal court in 2003 not to do some of the things they ended up doing on Tuesday. It's time to file complaints in Federal court, seeking injunctions against the Oakland police and threatening their leaders with jail time if they continue to violate the agreement.
In 2005, Oakland agreed to implement reforms as a result of lawsuits arising from an April 2003 anti-war demonstration at the Port of Oakland where 58 people were injured with wooden bullets and shot-filled bean bags. Until then, Oakland police had no uniform protocol for handling crowds. The National Lawyers Guild and American Civil Liberties Union worked with the department to craft a new policy that gives the police a comprehensive framework to protect life and property, while upholding freedom of speech.
Under the policy, police are trained to recognize that while some individuals may engage in destruction of property under cover of a crowd, many others do not. Police are supposed to minimize any risk that force and arrests will be directed at innocent people
#Occupy residents are not in the best position to be able to pursue these sorts of legal remedies. The ACLU and sympathetic civil liberty lawyers should be stepping up everywhere to put pressure on cities that are taking actions which are so grossly out of proportion to the 'threat' (I hesitate to even use the word).
So Kudos to the Tennessee ACLU! No when will the ACLU's in the other 49 states and DC step up?
7:01 PM PT: Tell me there is any justification for this?
7:06 PM PT: J* F C*
Keppler, of Louisiana, is in Nashville visiting his son, who is a veteran having served in Afghanistan.
Keppler is disabled and was in a wheelchair last night. He says he was thrown to the ground by troopers during last night's arrest. Today he was at Legislative Plaza using a cane and wearing a knee brace. He says he became disabled after an industrial accident years ago.
"My son fought for my freedom and the freedom of all Americans. I am doing everything I'm doing for him," Keppler said.
http://www.tennessean.com/...
7:37 PM PT: More on the Oakland police crowd control agreement/policy:
The police department policy is clear that verbal criticism or abuse of officers is not grounds for arrest or use of force. Officers are not allowed to use batons to push and jab people in order to get a crowd to move. Nor is it ever permissible to strike people in the head, except in a situation where deadly force would be warranted. And while police may use force to defend themselves against an individual, it is both illegal and a violation of department policy to use force indiscriminately against a crowd. It was not only "glitches" that hurt the police protest response.
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/...
8:15 PM PT: Love it.
OccupyBosInfo OccupyBostonInfoTent
by alyssa011968
#OccupyNashville protesters keep showing up, police keep arresting them, judge keeps releasing them. Stand strong! #occupyboston
Sun Oct 30, 2011 at 8:13 AM PT: From the comments
Update on the Occupy Nashville facebook page this morning ..
The THP did NOT show up to enforce curfew last night. This is a victory for Occupy Nashville!
I spent the afternoon at Legislative Plaza yesterday. It's a very committed group, small, but growing. Yesterday was the largest turnout for a weekend GA, with about 250 people.
Sun Oct 30, 2011 at 9:19 AM PT: More on the ACLU suit
The American Civil Liberties Union is working on a legal strategy to stop nightly arrests of Occupy Nashville protesters on the grounds that the state is violating their First Amendment rights.
The Tennessee chapter of the ACLU will ask the courts to bar enforcement of a newly imposed curfew on Legislative Plaza, where Occupy Nashville protesters have gathered for more than three weeks. A request for an injunction could be filed as soon as Monday.
While the legal teams maneuvered, protesters returned to Legislative Plaza to defy the state’s new curfew, which has led to nearly 50 arrests over two nights and countless man-hours for the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Both nights, a magistrate refused to approve troopers’ warrants and ordered the protesters released.
http://www.tennessean.com/...
Sun Oct 30, 2011 at 9:20 AM PT:
No Occupy Nashville arrests were made on Legislative Plaza on Saturday night or Sunday morning. It was the first time since Thursday, when the state imposed a curfew on Legislative Plaza, that state troopers failed to appear to sweep the Occupy Nashville protesters away to jail.
Tennessean
Sun Oct 30, 2011 at 9:22 AM PT:
Gov. Bill Haslam announced the curfew Thursday for the city's Legislative Plaza and since then about 50 people have been arrested.
"This is sort of a basic, core right to protest," said Hedy Weinberg, state director for the ACLU. "The state cannot change the rules in the middle of the game, which is what's happening, and the state knows that they cannot change the policy and selectively apply it."
UPI