[CIMC-work] [Fwd: [Imc-chicago] free speech]

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 16:06:08 +0000

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From: "Malachi" <malachi@savagesound.com>
To: <IMC-Chicago@lists.indymedia.org>
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Subject: [Imc-chicago] free speech
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Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 05:46:41 -0600

I was a participant in the protest on Thursday in downtown Chicago, which
resulted in my arrest and detention overnight in a jail at 111th and the
Calumet Expressway, without being charged, read my rights, or being able to
make a phone call to an attorney. I was peacefully expressing my objections
to the invasion of Iraq, and was not breaking any law.

The policy of the City of Chicago is best described as extreme overkill -
there were more arrests than at the infamous Democratic Convention of 1968.
This approach is unnecessary and ineffective (not to mention expensive). All
the demonstrators wanted was to walk around with their signs shouting
slogans and tie up traffic a little. If the police would have worked with
the impromptu leaders, they could have lead the march down the block and up
State Street, back down Michigan Avenue, over to the starting place, and
everyone would have gotten tired and gone home. They could have easily
protected personal property and prevented things from getting out of hand
without being oppressive. A few friendly traffic cops would have been much
more effective than the hundreds of goons on overtime.

Every step of the way, the intimidation factor was as heavy-handed as
possible. For example, I overheard a riot squad member tell a middle-aged
mother with a four year old that "we're going to be using tear-gas, you'd
better get your kid out of here." This was about 5:30 PM, before the march
had even left the Federal Building Plaza The block was already ringed by the
black uniformed goon squad, with no names on their uniforms, wearing
ridiculous "Empire Strikes Back" body armor, tightly controlling all
entrances and exits to the plaza. Officers on horseback pressed tightly up
against the crowd, then shouted at pedestrians not to get close to the
horses to avoid getting kicked. At this point I saw several generally older
people leave the protest.

It was apparent to me that the riot squad was there to provoke a
confrontation - there was a lot of unnecessary pushing by baton wielding
goons, and giving orders - "get over there" only to be told "get back over
there". There is no justification for their presence unless there is
rioting, so they were bound and determined that violence would happen one
way or another. Everything I saw went one way, much to the misfortune of the
people I was detained with. When your hands are tightly restrained behind
you by a heavy-duty nylon ty-wrap, you are not in a position to defend
yourself, much less attack 3 or 4 policemen in body armor. Yet there are 3,
preferably 4 officers shoving you toward the paddywagons, screaming at you
"Stop resisting, stop resisting" and if you stumble, they are on you with
the batons. Several of the people in the back of the squad-rol had serious
welts on their torsos, and I could see through the window that towards the
end of the night they were working people over pretty good before they
stuffed them in the wagons.

I was held with 27 other guys in the back of the squad-rol from 7:30 to
10:30 PM, most of us with extremely painful restraints. For a while the heat
was blasting, then all ventilation was shut off. One person with severely
purple hands passed out and we all shouted for a doctor. It was several
minutes before anyone responded. They took him out and re-cuffed him and
pushed him back in. At 10:30 we were driven to a police station on the far
south side, with a stop at Dunkin' Donuts on the way. I'm serious. We waited
at the police station parking lot until 12:45 before we were removed from
the wagon. In the station, the same 28 guys were put in one cell, where we
remained for the rest of the night. After several hours, they confiscated
our IDs and filled out arrest reports. When we asked if we were under
arrest, we were told "What do you think?" When we asked what the charges
were, we were told it hadn't been decided. When we asked for phone calls,
they responded with taunting. None of us was given copies of our arrest
reports. I was released with a handful of others at 8 AM and told to leave
the area immediately. More than half remained. When I asked for directions
to the train station, I was told "I don't know." Of course, I lost a day of
work.

For those of you not familiar with Chicago geography, the police station
where we were held is on the far-far-far south side, near the city limits.
It is closer to Indiana than to downtown Chicago.

One of the crowd call-and-response chants sticks out in my mind: "What does
democracy look like? - This is what democracy looks like!" One of my
cellmates said that as the police riot took shape at the top of the Miracle
Mile, he started responding with "This is what a police state looks like!"
Seconds later he was grabbed and beaten and thrown in the back of the wagon
with the rest of us. I guess freedom of speech is OK, as long as you say the
right things.

Malachi Ritscher - Chicago - 3/21/03

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