National Lawyers' Guild decries police targeting of legal advisers

[rawstory]

Story exclusive to The Raw Story, http://rawstory.com

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CALLS FOR AN EMERGENCY PRESS CONFERENCE REGARDING ARRESTS OF LEGAL OBSERVERS, DELAYS IN PROCESSING ARRESTED PROTESTORS, AND DENIAL ATTORNEY ACCESS TO CLIENTS
Contact: Shonna Carter, RiptideCommunications, Inc.
Phone [phone]

The National Lawyers Guild, New York City Chapter, is holding an emergency press conference on Monday, August 30, 2004, at 10:00 am at the Criminal Courthouse at 100 Center Street regarding arrested protestors being held in jail for up to 34 hours, only to be released on a desk appearance ticket, arrestees being held for as long as 20 hours, only to be released without charges, and the NYPD refusing attorneys who have asked to see their clients. There have also been reports of failure to provide necessary medical attention to those arrestees needing it.

An alarming development has been the targetting by the NYPD of NLG legal observers, clearly identified by neon green hats. Eight legal observers were arrested: Alex Bomstein, Keith Emmer, Mark Feinstein, Josh Kelly, Dave Rankin, Miles Swanson, Mark Taylor, and one unidentified woman. Others have been harassed and even physically assaulted. One legal observer was grabbed from behind by the police while he was on a bicycle, thrown to the ground and arrested. An arresting officer was heard to state: “We got one of their captains.” Police officers were also seen photographing legal observer teams as they left the legal observer office.

Joining the Guild at the press conference will be State Senator Tom Duane and City Councilmembers Charles Barron and Gail Brewer.

Story: http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=269
Press release: http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/106684/index.php

[MissMarple]

1. I think the NYPD is so overwhelmed.

They are not, nor could they reasonably be prepared for this. They are not the bad guys, for the most part they are trying to do their jobs. Eventually it all goes back to leadership. And that is a point that leads us back to our current national dilemma. Let's hope it doesn't become a tragedy.

[rawstory]

2. Yes, but that doesn't mean they should target legal advisers.

Does it? It's one thing for them to arrest protesters, which is just what police do, but to target legal advisers? That's not kosher.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. Hey, if they get upset, that gives them a right to violate people's rights

doesn't it? :shrug:

[Eloriel]

4. I can't think of ANY reason this was moved to the

GD2004 forum from LBN. Ridiculous. I hope you'll officially complain.

And oh, MissMarple, get a clue, hon. This was harrassment, pure and simple, and a very good way to make their other "work" easier.

[NYC]

5. It eliminates witnesses.

[Princess Turandot]

6. A comment on the police..

Perhaps they didn't know they were lawyers. If they were acting with the group arrested, their being attorneys doesn't allow them to break the law.As much as they might want to, no cop is going to arrest someone who is a lawyer unless he is breaking the law, because they wouldn't want the hassle.Personally,I think that if the lawyers were at the demonstration to assure their clients would receive due process after setting a fairly large thing on fire where there were still a fair number of people roaming around, they were aiding and abetting them and should have been arrested.So they spent 20 hours in jail. Boo-hoo.

You can flame me for this all you want, but the NYPD are by and large fairly normal people. I know, because my brother was one. He votes republican, yet his opinions all seem to be fairly reasonable. He refers to two gay men whom he knows are into the kink scene as 'friends', so he isnt homophobic, he isn't a racist: his girlfriend has several grandchildren who are half black and he's thrilled to have them around since his own grandkids are now in California.He lives in Florida, calls Jeb Bush a lying scumbag, and I won't repeat how he feels about Giuliani.He hates the FBI, although that's probably because they look down on cops. He thinks states that let people carry handguns in plain view, such as that think that happened in Virginia are out of their minds, and he thinks any citizen who would actually do that is a moron.(He did name his dog Rambo, but the dog is a shih-tzu.)

So why is he a Republican? I think it's because of all of the times he and other police where called pigs back in the 70's and when people cheered when Black Panthers murdered cops. Many of those cheering were liberal democrats and they've never forgotten that. Most cops are not the Gestapo, but even now, when people clearly did do something illegal and dangerous, the criticisms of some are immediately aimed at the police, even though many of you have been posting for weeks about your fear that these same roaming anarchists, whom I've become convinced are akin to software hackers, were going to show up uninvited and create a major problem.

It's a phenomenom something like the alienation of Vietnam Vets and why they now seem to be supporting Bush, because they think Kerry made them the problem with Vietnam, rather than making the war itself the issue, regardless of whether that is true.And it's a shame, because it's turned off a group of middle of the road people who a few decades back were in many cases blue collar union member democrats.