The fourth Occupy New England regional convergence was held this past weekend at the University of New Hampshire’s main campus in Durham. The gathering brought together dedicated activists from around the Northeast to spend time workshopping, networking, and strategizing. In a twist of fate, riot police would descend upon the surrounding area as outdoor presentations on street medic effectiveness and bullhorn mastery occurred on the campus green.
Presidential candidate Vermin Supreme was about midway through a session on de-escalating tense situations when chants of ‘UNH, UNH’ were audible from down the street directly across from the audience. Moments later, riot police appeared to be blocking the road off as students poured out of the area, many bearing cell phones in a manner suggesting that they were video recording. I wandered down for a closer look, and was surprised to see multiple officers carrying paintball guns, and others holding large canisters of pepper spray, most wearing helmets with face shields, gloves, and other protective gear (short of physical riot shields). Students were compliant with requests to stay out of the area, but were clearly agitated by what had previously occurred, several students reporting to have been hit and bruised by rubber bullets (likely pepperballs). From across the road, Vermin’s voice amplified through his bullhorn, reminding everyone to stay calm, that this was only a test, and to ignore the man with the megaphone. The mood lightened lightly as the police froze momentarily and onlookers responded with laughter and applause. (more…)
This is not an uncommon scene – police harassing people who may have been drinking. What is uncommon is Antonio Buehler and the rest of the Peaceful Streets Project who come on the scene and wield cameras and questions.
The whole video has some excellent exchanges, but the embedded video will skip you to a highlight where a cop actually admits he is a thug:
Ultimately, Buehler and friends are able to help the lady that owns the car escape the clutches of the uniformed gang, but not before the gang members jacks her car and arrests her friend.
Peaceful Streets’ activists are doing good work. (more…)
The New Hampshire legislature never passed a law stating that Merry Man Graham Colson was banned in the Keene Common known commonly as Central Square. Despite this, Graham was issued a ‘No Tresapassing’ order from the square, which he believes is because he was riding a skateboard there. In an order issued by KPD’s Jason Short on May 10 2012, Graham is explicitly banned from ‘the common referred to as Central Square Keene NH 03431’. Aside from this ban, Graham has been neither charged nor convicted of a crime related to the town common. Last Thursday, he was arrested on a warrant while in the downtown for allegedly having been in the common on the previous day.
On April 22, Graham and I took an adventure into legal land to accomplish two tasks. First, we travelled to the Keene police department to obtain a copy of the original order, which was refused when originally issued last year. Then we crossed town to drop off a discovery request with the district court clerk at city hall, and the prosecutor’s office at the county courthouse. Demonstrating how common violations of petty rules on the common are, during the drive we observe a youth casually longboarding through the square. (more…)
The trial of Rich Paul continues into its third day. While the public waits on the full video, here is audio of the first day’s proceedings courtesy Free Concord:
Today outside of day one of the historic trial of Rich Paul for cannabis distribution, myself, Pete Eyre, and Ademo Freeman had the opportunity to interview FBI Special Agent Phil Christiana. Earlier in the day, on the witness stand, Phil admitted to working for the joint terrorism task force, and was very reluctant to reveal any information about his asking Rich Paul to wear a wire. When asked directly why he was investigating the Keene Activist Center, he stated that he could not speak about the KAC. Coincidentally (or not) two weeks after Rich’s arrest, city bureaucrats obtained a search warrant to inspect for smoke detectors and evidence of a ‘lodging house’.
Phil Christiana
As he exited the courthouse following his testimony today, the three of us asked Phil about his investigations into peaceful people in the Keene area. According to him, Rich’s case is the only time he has worked with the NH Drug Task Force, receiving approximately six calls for service from local and state agencies per year. His responses were brief and slick. When Kim Kossick, Rich’s public defender, inquired why Christiana offered to drop charges if Rich would wiretap others at the Keene Activist Center, the agent responded that he was not at liberty to discuss an investigation relative to the KAC. Christiana has had an interest in finding informants within the New Hampshire liberty movement for a few years. He approached Dave Ridley in 2005 but ceased interacting with him once informed that everything he relayed to Ridley would be shared publicly. According to Dave:
My experience with him was that he was more or less polite and professional…but creepy. He came to the same Keene house when I lived there, to learn more about Russell Kanning’s plans for civil disobedience at Manchester Airport’s TSA checkpoint. (more…)
The April 14 2013 edition of Peace News Now was visually illustrated by Free Concord’s Garret Ean. In Sunday’s program, you’ll hear about the latest on Bitcoin, police accountability issues in Salisbury, NC, and how a recently declassified NSA document might reveal evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Check out episode #95 of the daily newscast produced by superactivist Derrick J Freeman below:
green.
