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…)
As you may recall, on 2011-06-15, Tom Ball self-immolated out in front of the Cheshire County “Superior” Court – where many lives have been destroyed.
Recently, Dave Ridley had the opportunity to confront one of the bureaucrats involved with the family courts and did a great job: (You only need to watch the first two minutes. The rest is mostly Ridley walking around.)
Before Robin Hooding hit it big, there were years of various activists performing the good deeds. Here’s a flashback to 2012 in an heretofore unreleased (by chance) video of Jason Short of the Keene Police Department affirming that Robin Hooding is legal and also impressively shows his knowledge that he is supposed to take insults well as a police officer. Some cops are not too good at this, but Short is right, it is supposed to be legal to talk shit to a police officer, at least that’s my understanding as well regarding what courts have upheld. Not that anyone was doing any insulting of anyone else that day – I certainly don’t think that insults build bridges – I’d rather offer hugs.
What you don’t see in the video: Kate continues to the parking garage in hope of saving more motorists from the meter maid. In or near the garage, she reported that Uhas threatened her with arrest for “Disorderly Conduct”, intimidating her since she was all alone with him. 🙁
Me, Dave Ridley, and Darryl join together with some liberty ladies to hold the Fed chairman of Boston accountable as he arrives at a luncheon at St. Anselm’s College in New Hampshire. Here is an edit of the day’s events using all three cameras’ footage:
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…)
green.
