Open Letter to Seattle Mayor Paul Schell - Land of the free under attack

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Letter to Seattle Mayor Paul Schell

by dan merkle 3:03am Fri Dec 3 '99

It is time for Mayor Schell to acknoledge that many of his police officers and other law enforcement officers violated civil and criminal laws. It is also time for Police Chief Stamper to resign and for a grand jury investigation to be called. An open letter to Mayor Paul Schell in respone to his email re: the protests.

this is insulting. you have the nerve to call this situation \"fluid\" and to boldly state that you are attempting to keep us informed-with what-certainly not the truth.

i am fed up with the condescending attempt to divert attention from the reality that your police department has violated major civil and criminal laws. these claims will be pursued until the resources have been depleted.

many of us were in the streets and saw first hand how these immature, rambo-style punks reacted to nonviolent citizens. the so-called violent protesters that your henchmen attacked may have broken a few windows of the multi-nationals, but in no way did any of them, let alone the many other law-abiding citizens, deserve this outrageous behavior.

your darth vader soldiers chased people down the streets like wild dogs and fired on people who had their hands in the air, were retreating or merely sitting on the ground. i hope you were weak and were merely following orders from our federal government.

many are shocked at what they saw. fewer of us already knew that this level of indiscriminate violence by our military has been going on in other countries by decades. now we got to see it first hand.

we are outraged and will no longer sit back and let you hide the truth. when the footage from the independent media center and other sources hit the court room there will be no opportunity to deflect the truth with one of your schell mail pieces or empty press conferences.

at least have the dignity to stop the condescending attitude. maybe i have missed it in the papers, but if you don\'t call for a grand jury investigation of your department in the next few days i am sure several of us will do so.

oh, by the way, when your arms are in the air thats supposed to be an international sign of surrender. your police continued to fire. i imagine the defense will be that they didn\'t understand and that they were in danger.

although you may not have been able to control these rabid animals, i would at least hope that you would have the decency to not perpetuate the lies and criminal behavior. i have sent you several emails over the past 6 months about the arrogance and immaturity of your police force. you have failed to take adequate steps and this is the result. i watched 70 of your psychotic officers treat a mentally disable citizen like a terrorist killer 2 years ago on the corner of 2nd and pike. they had several sharp shooters 30 feet from him during the entire 11 hour standoff. the dangerous weapon this poor soul had was a sword. don\'t blame us for the incompetency that permeates this relatively small number of men who believe they are above the law.

trust me, it will be a very interesting new few months.

ciao

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http://216.173.206.96/display.php3?article_id=384

Land of the free under attack

by The Phantom 2:02am Fri Dec 3 '99

Authorities mete out increasingly heavy-handed treatment of non-violent protestors who remain defiantly committed to the peaceful closure of the WTO

Protestors in Seattle continue to press for the complete shut-down of the WTO while police officers from across the State of Washington apply the full force of the law with the support of the National Guard.

At 1am on Friday morning authorities were still threatening to use tear gas and other anti-personnel weapons (many manufactured in the United Kingdom) against groups of non-violent demonstrators who had gathered outside King County Jail house and the Paramount Hotel. In addition, a squat (occupied since Sunday 28 November) was under threat of being raided by heavily-armoured security forces. James, an independent protestor from New York, was passing the building near the downtown area of the city when he and friend started talking to squatters on the roof of the building. "Riot police were getting out" explained James "three or four cops were out and they said 'get the hell out of here asshole', I remember looking back and seeing lights on the building".

In a more sinister twist detainees, speaking through an intermediatory - Karen Coulter - claimed officers subjected them to physical brutality and emotional torture from the point of arrest to incarceration. As she arrived at West Precinct police station officers said "there are no video cameras here - we can hurt you, no one will see you". Later on, at King County Jail - where she was held for a total of about 18 hours - prison staff told her "the protest is over and no one cares about what happens to you". One particularly harrowing experience involved a young woman who testified that she had been dragged, tossed around, crushed, strapped to a chair and - most disturbingly threatened with rape and electrocution - by King County jailers. She was also placed in isolation and was not informed of her rights or the basis of the charges on which she was being detained. When she was finally release police officers dumped her in the police-established 'no-protest zone' during the curfew period as authorities were clearing the streets of people.

Her ordeal, which she is preparing to speak about at a Direct Action Network-sponsored press conference, will reinforce claims by other protestors that the police have treated them badly. She has injuries consistent with her claims. Furthermore, a young man who was arrested with her, was subjected to worse treatment including an episode involving police using latex gloves to try and suffocate him saying that "if you pass out it will make our lives easier".

With Seattle residents increasingly expressing their dissatisfaction at the inability of their police force to maintain a dignified and non-violent approach to the treatment of protestors there is talk that the Mayor, Paul Schell, may be forced to resign. The responsibility for much of the violence which has unfolded in this normally quiet North Western city has been placed at the feet of the police and their support. Seattle 99 has become the rallying call for anti-WTO activists the world over.

-- (general@indymedia.org), December 03, 1999

Answers

I guess it's time to join that militia group. Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.

-- ~***~ (~***~@earth.ebe), December 03, 1999.

...the dangerous weapon this poor soul had was a sword.

Not to belittle this interesting post, but the fact is that "edged weapons" are a growing and truly horrific threat to police officers. Have you ever watched the truly scary police training video Surviving Edged Weapons ? The autopsy shots, the hidden videoptaping of real convicts practicing instant knife kills in the prison yard, the demonstration of knife attacks as faster and more deadly than handgun assaults, the interviews with officers who survived such attacks, or whose partners did not...

I wonder whether the author of this post is ignorant enough to feel comfortable facing somebody armed with an edged weapon ? They are serious business!

That video will keep you awake nights...

-- Count Vronsky (vronsky@anna.lit), December 03, 1999.


"the American people shouldn't fear the potential
of seeing U.S. military forces on the streets of
U.S. cities"
William Cohen

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), December 03, 1999.

Good for you "General"! I've sent two e-mails to the Mayor, Seattle City Council, Seattle Times newspaper, and CBS news. The more people that speak out, the less these officials will be able to hide. Let's bring them to justice!

It's time to stand up and let them know we won't put up with brutality. We will NOT live with tyrany.

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), December 03, 1999.


Can someone please post the email of that great mayor in seattle and that(battle gear ready for war on their neighbors)police dept of seattle.FEAR THE SEATTLE DONUT GOONSQUAD.

-- (UP YOURS SEATTLE PD@deep.com), December 03, 1999.


UP,

Your wish is my command:

U.S. Senators: http://www.senate.gov

Seattle Mayor's Office: mayors.office@ci.seattle.wa.us

Seattle City Council: martha.choe@ci.seattle.wa.us; richard.conlin@ci.seattle.wa.us; sue.donaldson@ci.seattle.wa.us; jan.drago@ci.seattle.wa.us; nick.licata@ci.seattle.wa.us; richard.mciver@ci.seattle.wa.us; margaret.pageler@ci.seattle.wa.us; tina.podlodowski@ci.seattle.wa.us; peter.steinbrueck@ci.seattle.wa.us

SeattleTimes Newspaper: wto@seattletimes.com

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), December 03, 1999.


I just have to say somthing about this.

If you came to my town and acted like these childish punks and started smashing windows and destroying everything in sight, rubber bullets and teargas would be the least of your problems. I feel the SPD have shown great restraint to allow this madness to go on for 3 days now.

Demonstrating is one thing but these animals deserve everythig they get. I would even support the SPD if they traided the rubber bullets for led bullets.

-- DOC (DOC@...), December 03, 1999.


DOC,
Don't step in front of anyone's cross hairs.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), December 03, 1999.

DOC,

Hello. I understand and agree about the looters/vandals. However, many of the people who were assualted were peaceful protestors and innocent bystanders.

Please read the lead article of the Seattle Times, it was very enlightening, the Seattle authorities admit that some innocent people were caught in the mix. They also have a 34 page photo album of scenes that occurred during the protest.

http://www.seattletimes.com

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), December 03, 1999.


For Doc.You are as full of you know what as a Xmas Goose.Seig Heil.

-- Dan Newsome (BOONSTAR1@webtnet.tv), December 03, 1999.


Next thing you know, Mayor Schell will be decoorating "The Men In Black" platoon, tentatively identified as Seattle Police Officers.

Ever notice that Domestic Terrorism only arrived in 1993 (World Trade Center, WACO) with the Clinton Administration. And now in Seattle, we have a Police provoked Police Riot...welcome to Amerika!



-- Z (Z@Z.Z), December 03, 1999.


Police provoked Police Riot...

Talk about getting things bacwards and totally screwed up. You do not even know what went on, the protesters were upset the first day because none of them were getting arrested.

They wanted to get arrested, and the second day the they defied laws on purpose to get arrested.

Seattle closed down freeway ramps, and major dowentown streets to allow the protesters to march. We went out of our way to accomidate them. When they did not get their symbolic arrests, they decided to block streets that were not set aside for them. After literally hours af being asked to move, being talked to and explained to about the necessity to have these streets open for emergency vehecles, which is important, for those streets lead to most of our major Hospitals. The "innocent protesters" and innocent bystanders" (including the media) had been asked for hours and warned for an hour that they would be forced to move. They made the choice to disobay the law and suffered the consiquences. There were protesters who walked from where they stood into the tear gas. They sat down in front of the police to be arrested, went limp so they had to be carried to the paddy wagon. There were some who started shouting "police brutality" at this point and yelled that they were exersizing their right to protest and that those rights were being violated. This is the crap you saw on TV. One big act. They were taken to Sand Point, a park, which was closed as a naval air station about 8 years ago. The protesters refused to get out of the bus. They were having a party in the busses, dancing and singing, it looked like Woodstock. They were finally carried off of the busses and refused to give their names. So fingerprints had to be taken and hunted down to find out who they were so they could be booked. But guess what? People complained that they were "being held" too long without being put in jail. Are you beginning to get the picture here? They actually trained for weeks on how to make the most of protesting, it was a badge of honor to be one who got arrested.

The "protesters" are such martyres aren't they? They are given almost a free reign and repay the city with purposly breaking laws. No they have NO RIGHT to block streets, they could have stayed on the sidewalk, but they even blocked aid cars, because they felt that their right to protest overrode the right of sick people to get to hospitals.

You can make a big mythical story over what happened here in Seattle, and your stupid "open letter" will actually be met by the mayor who helped set up the rally for protesters, and closed streets so they could march and marched with them, but in your stupidity you will be showing anger towards the only mayor in the USA that would probably have done that for them. His only fault is probably for going so far out of his way to support the protesters who's repayment was to destroy the city and whine when they got what they wanted.

They had better not think they can pull their crap in any other city because they will really be met with police brutality.

And they are NOT welcome back here, no matter how "important" their message.

This just confirms how people, especially people here are so willing to jump to conclusions and reality to fit your own agenda.

We have had our fill of extremests, so don't bother being here for the rollover, we will laugh you out of town.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), December 04, 1999.


Cherri

AMEN and thank you. You done said it real good...

-- Valkyrie (anon@please.xnet), December 04, 1999.


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