f911 and police at the theatres....

[2Design]

in reading peoples comments both here and on Michael moore site, several have mention police at the theatres, not letting them hand out flyers, not allowing them to talk after the show, making them move on.

does anyone know if this was brought about by the theatres or the patriot act, or the RW or the rethugs.

not just conjecture answers but facts is what I would like to know.

some were told it was because it was R rated but other R rated films did not have people.

This just seems to be a bit over the top. Some states/theatres seemed to have more police.

This might be a job for MM or William Pitt to find out the truth behind this.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. That doesn't sound right. Were there cops in the lobby during The Passion

[eek]

3. scare tactics to keep people away

starting sooner than i would have guessed.

[FloridaPat]

2. Maybe their giving a free sample of what fun the Patriot Act can be.

I don't think I've ever been to or heard about a movie where the police were there. But considering some of the crowds that came to the movie, I can see where the theaters might want to get people out fast. But they do have employees right? I remember employees trying to move people out fast during Star Wars first few days and Star Trek. But never the police!

[mstrsplinter326]

4. Most likely

They expected the solicitation, which is against the law, and the movie theater called to tell the police that they expected such.

[joeybee12]

6. Then why weren't there police at "The Day After Tomorrow"?

Lots of soliciters at this film--mainly environmentalists who hoped they'd get a receptive crowd to the their concern with global warming.

Smacks of intimidation.

[eaprez]

5. There were police when I went

...I went to a large 30 screen theatre at a mall...so there were NO people passing out flyers or anything...the way it was set up they wouldn't have been able to do that....but there were police at the entrance to the stadium where F 9/11 was showing and security folks sitting in the theatre. I heard there were threats made - don't think it was anything specific - just vague. AND since the country is so polarized wouldn't be surprising to have ditto heads be disruptive during a showing. Better to be safe than sorry.

[skooooo]

7. Your explanation is the most plausible...

I don't think cops are there to scare people away! The political situation is getting more volatile, that's all. I'd rather them be there than not, if there are threats.

[Skittles]

8. there have been threats of violence and disruption

I think the police are just doing their jobs

[BigDaddyLove]

21. I agree........

further, rather than paranoid speculation, someone should just walk up to one of the cops and ask why they're there.

Seems simple enough.

[2Design]

24. when you read on moore site they have

some have asked for names and badge numbers. they have gotten very strange responses but none gave their name or badge number...

kinda like when you ask for the name of an obnoxious call center employee, they say they can't give out their name....

some made people move on and when asked for police person name, the police left.

Just want to know if any one has found the real reason they are there.

[BigDaddyLove]

25. What do you think the 'real' reason for their presence is?......

My feeling is that they are there because clearly this film is more often than not going to illicit some pretty powerful emotional responses, and as such could ignite some pretty ugly fireworks; this is less likely to happen if there is a police presence.

Looks like it's worked so far.

[Skittles]

26. there was one at matinee in the large theater I was

he was obviously there to watch on any abnormalties. And in the late night theaters in the Dallas area it is common to always see a cop around at the theaters.

[Tellurian]

12. Yep, there were 2 police outside the theater when I went last night..

They seemed to be monitoring the mood of the crowd more or less after the viewing of F911..

I felt they were there in case a fight broke out.
Our community is very tame. Anyone starting a fight would have been someone from the city and been quickly quelled by the locals.

[Ready4Change]

9. Might be watching for freepers

There were rumours there'd be attempts of disruption?

[Prodemsouth]

10. Alpharetta, Ga. No police at all, all F11 shows SOLD OUT btw.

Standing O, cheers and whistles at the end. I had to go to the ten o'clock showing and it was sold out- people were sitting on the floors, others abandoned the movie that paid to see to go to F11- Loved it- if you have not seen this you are in for ONE HELL OF A RIDE.

[ShaneGR]

11. Keep in mind, many theatres received hundreds of hate emails....

It's understandable if they take precautions to PROTECT their patrons JUST IN CASE.

[bacchant]

13. The cops in the theaters are essentially captive audiences

It would be interesting to see how the film effected them. Were they moved, informed, disgusted? Maybe they'll go back and tell their buddies to go see it.

[Mnemosyne]

20. great point awake! please keep up clear thinking, we need all we can get!!

[Citizen Daryl]

14. Nashville: 7:20 no police, 10:10 police, searching for weapons

[thecrow]

15. There were cops where I went...

but this is normal on a Friday night... except that I went Friday AFTERNOON at 2pm!
The thing that surprised me was not the cop presence at the theatre, but that they posted a cop where you walked into the movie itself!

I managed to pass out about 30 flyers, standing next to the place where people dump their soda cups after the movie... on the INSIDE of the movie before I was stopped by a theatre employee. I didn't say anything, but just stood there and let the people choose to take them or not. The flyers were called "Dude, There's More to the Story" (gotten at http://septembereleventh.org/alerts/index.php )When it was clear I was being stopped, one lady said "give them to me and I'll help you".
People were eager for more when they left the theatre!

The topics on the flyers were questions not posed by the movie, and listed some websites where people could get ore information.

[Frances]

16. With police in so many different parts of the country at the movie,

does that mean that there may have been a coordinated threat against the movie all over the U.S.

Just wondering--I have no info whatsoever.

[janx]

18. Go to Mike's site and read the reactions to F 9/11

There are police in/around the theaters.

I know that one of my local theaters has received threats from right-wingers.

[janx]

17. The movie theaters have received threats from right wingnuts.

The police are there to protect the theaters and movie-goers.

[7th_Sephiroth]

19. there was like 2 cops

here in pensacola th the rave in the lobby (there usually are so it wasent abnormal) but there are tons of RWers here so i'm sure they had one stationed near the theatre entrance (the showing i went to they had it on a screen that you can only get to after going through a maze) i went to the 4:50 show so i dont know about the police presence of the later showings (probably more as if freepers were to attack they would do it later in the afternoon/night)

[undergroundpanther]

22. Cops cruised around

The White Marsh 16 at the Avenue, in Maryland...There were
Two cops at the back theater entrance.In the front entrance there was cop car with two cops parked right by the door. There also was a cop car driving circles around the Avenue. And mall security too.
Lets just say it looked like somebody was paranoid.

[Joanne98]

23. My friend has a sister who is a sheriff

She thinks Bush let 9/11 happen on purpose. We don't know what they think. They may be on our side.

[digno dave]

27. FW, TX Palace theatre Dtown, there was a friendly cop

at the entry t the theatre that 9-11 was showing at..
Soemthing else wierd that that don't normally do at theratres around here...They had an usher re-checking tickets at the enrty of the theatre.

[amazona]

28. there were police at my theater

I assumed they were there in case of disruptors but no disruption occurred that I saw.