Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. — Henry David Thoreau

During the trial of the Trespassive Three who were charged with the dastardly crime of Criminal Trespass for refusing to end a protest at the appointed hour, the State and it’s minions made some pretty ludicrous statements. Many of them were so over the top that they require no rebuttal, simply to be pointed out and laughed at. For instance; if the jury finds these three not guilty, anarchy will reign supreme, the parks will turn into campgrounds and the grass and trees in the parks will die. There were however a few statements that I believe warrant a closer examination.

(more…)

Full Video of Occupy NH “Trespassive Three” Trial

Three heroic activists from Occupy NH stood up for your right to peaceably assemble and speak out and were arrested for it, then convicted by a jury of their “peers”. This is an over five hour trial RAW footage – there are some real gems in here. I hope someone will take the time to make a highlight reel. Don’t miss the exclusive interview with one of the jurors at the end.

Jury Deems ONH Guilty of Trespassing in Public Park

manchesteronheviction1At just about noon today, a Hillsborough County superior court jury returned from approximately an hour of deliberation with a guilty finding against three Occupy New Hampshire activists who did not voluntarily retrieve a citation and were removed via arrest from the temporary intentional community established in Veterans’ Park in Manchester’s downtown. The three were sentenced to ten days of incarceration at the infamous Valley Street jail, which is deferred on the condition that each completes 90 hours of community service and observes one year of good behavior. One occupier who was cited for curfew violation, but did not receive misdemeanor trespassing charges during the eviction responded,

Dislike, but unshocked. We were essentially asking the jury to find you not guilty on constitutional grounds. They are not constitutional law experts, this is an issue for the supreme court, and hopefully we get to challenge it there… (more…)

Dr. David Berman Confronts the Merry Men

T’was two days ago when the Merry Men, which at the time consisted of myself and Keene native Graham, were approached by a mysterious individual wielding a phone as a videocamera. Though he declines to introduce himself, he was prompt in uploading his video to his youtube channel, Dr David Berman/MusicProDave.

Discussion of the cell phone video occupied a good portion of last evening’s episode of Free Talk Live. For a confrontational encounter, I feel surprisingly relieved of responsibility to add much commentary to accompany what was digitally captured. Mr. Berman’s video, my own raw video, and the raw footage from Graham’s flipcam speak for themselves. The best illustration I have found thus far of the experience was uploaded by the Aqua Keene Parking Force, using all three angles and adding some additional videography skills into the mix.

An article about David’s video was published yesterday to Free Keene.

akpf_drdavid

More Raw Released, NATO 3 Update

The Fr33manTVraw channel recently received one of its largest uploads to date. The 82 minute video is the first third of a compilation of raw footage from our group’s first day on the ground for the NATO summit protests. The videos have been released first to the raw channel, and then to Free Concord’s youtube channel as they are edited and narrated to give the footage context. For those looking for the entire journey of the camera, the raw footage includes practically everything filmed. The previous day’s release, Day Zero, is just over nine minutes edited and just under ten raw. Within the coming weeks, a shortened, finished product will publish from the following day. In the meantime, the raw first segment of Day One: Boots on the Ground is live:

nato3mugshotsYesterday truth-out.com posted an update on the NATO 3 case in Illinois, where three travelling protesters still remain caged on state-level charges of domestic terrorism after their apartment was raided by police days before the historic protest weekend.

Occupied Chicago: The NATO Summit Protest Tapes, Day Zero

occapy_tripPresenting Day Zero of Free Concord’s Occupied Chicago series. The series features limited commentary over the raw video taken while traveling to and attending the NATO summit protests last May. This segment takes place in Boston, and begins with the group returning to its starting point eight hours after departure. After finding out that our bus trip would be replaced with a flight from Logan airport, some consumed their goods that were not approved by the TSA. This attracted South Station’s police, who in decriminalized Massachusetts chose not to act against the smokers. Once bus transport for the two or three among us who couldn’t fly is secured, an activist from Acton reads the subway guidelines for the week of the summit in Chicago. The video ends with a preview of Day One’s footage, to be released in the next week.

For previous coverage from this day’s police encounters, see Acton Cop Investigates Young People. For previous coverage of the NATO summit protests, see Pending: Coverage from the NATO Protests in Chicago, NATO 2012 Chicago: Initial Reports and Profiles from Occupy NATO.