A city council meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was taken over by citizens Monday night. Protestors demanded Police Chief Gorden and Mayor Berry be fired over the police department's lack of protections and abuse of power. Daily Kos writer Liberaltruthsayer wrote about
one violent incident of police brutality this past weekend, but sadly too many others have ended in fatalities.
To see the 3-minute KRQE news story video, click HERE.
The general public who came to the meeting chanted several times during the protest. One of the chants had this sentiment of: "The people are united. We won't be divided." With signs/megaphones in hand, many protestors lined up to speak and shouted at council members:
“This is no longer your meeting, this is the people’s meeting. This is democracy in action!” said protester David Correia.
Needless to say, some of the council members looked a bit startled. One of the protestors yelled out to them:
"You should be afraid of the police - not us. We are your constituents."
This meeting followed a
10-hour violent protest on Sunday over fatal police shootings in Albuquerque. One recent death was a
homeless camper. Here is a YouTube video of that shooting. Warning -some will find this clip very disturbing. It is not necessary to watch this to grasp the story, but will give an idea why these folks are so angry..
A people's warrant for arrest was handed to Police Chief Eden Gorden who got up and left without acknowledging the warrant. Councilor president Ken Sanchez tried to calm the crowd to no avail. Finally all the councilors left. No one was arrested. A meeting is scheduled for Thursday to discuss the removal of the mayor's power.
Chief Gorden Eden sent out a statement Monday night:
“We understand there are those in our community who have expressed concerns about APD issues related to the Department of Justice report. We are working hard to make proactive improvements now and in conjunction with DOJ recommendations. While we welcome constructive discussions, we do not believe disruption of tonight’s city council meeting was a productive way to meet those goals.”
Here is the Raw Video of Monday's ABQ Council Meeting.
Power to the people - especially to those who can protest without violence or pulling out their guns.