The Occupy movement claims public space in order to exercise the right of peaceable assembly. Two Occupy Atlanta participants volunteered to stay in Troy Davis/Woodruff Park in order to symbolically demonstrate that right, while the rest of the Occupy participants cleared out of the park and began a march around it.
A large Atlanta police force including motorcycles, mounted police, officers on foot, a SWAT team in riot gear and a helicopter moved in aggressively and faced off with the marchers. Peace was maintained until a policeman on a motorcycle accelerated into a demonstrator. Several people were arrested including three journalists.
The video shows otherwise? Which one of us are you talking to?
once again, another faceless, nameless person who doesn’t have the GUTS to STAND UP AND SPEAK FOR WHAT HE SUPPOSEDLY “believes.”
I’m sorry, but if the people want you to stop, you’ll stop. only the most callous person would ride RIGHT INTO A HUMAN BEING. remember tianamen square? those TANKS stopped dead in their tracks for a single student in the street. and this motorcycle cop can’t decelerate and NOT hit someone?? he CHOSE to speed up into him. there is NO EXCUSE.
guess you don’t know anything about tiananmen square either.
@robertf – I’ll be honest, I find it extremely difficult to keep my comments civil, but as I am a guest in your forum, I’ll do my best. This officer did not ride into the crowd with the intent of causing bodily harm or injury to anyone, nor did he. It is abuntly clear in the videos, the officer is trying to clear a public road to make it passible for the public. What you don’t see are the 5 cops three blocks north who are diverting traffic for the safety of your movement. When the officer approaches the crowd you see several people rush to stand in his way, at which time the officer is forced to STOP. Your claim that he doesn’t decellerate shows your lack of awareness. His next step is to slowly move forward in an attempt to clear the crowd and the “peaceful” protestors actually grab onto the motorcylce. You do not have a right to disrupt our city and I think you’ll find that actions like this will quickly detract from your many statements. Legitimate or not.
I was there on the sidewalk when that incident occurred and the people were standing there in that specific area because that is where the Police and Horse Brigade gathered. Yes, the protesters did one march which I’m not even sure it went all the way around the park, it was about halfway, then ended. After this, people were just gathered on the sidewalks standing around, some singing, most talking about how absurd this all was as big Police Show. Then, all of a sudden the Police marched up for their own March with Horses and Guns included. It was a sight, you should have been there. Now, I was unaware Motorcycles were used as bulldozers to move people out of the street. Interesting tactic that was. Road Rage much?
Sorry andrwatin, but you’re denser than a rock at the center of a black hole. You speculate on what you saw — I saw there, 30 feet in front of the crowd and I saw the cop drive his motorcycle INTO SOMEONE. that is NOT how you clear a street. if that was supposedly their M.O., then why didn’t they do that EVERY TIME? clearly the dude screwed up because he was a foolish ignorant moron. that’s NOT how you operate a vehicle, and the mere fact you think that’s ok invalidates your whole argument. so learn a thing or two, understand the truth of the matter instead of thinking you actually can instigate something. sorry, you’re just a liar.
People of America must understand that you are the victim of feudal capitalist system that tries to keep you in control. I support your struggle that could be the beginning of a change in the state system of the United States. Why should the middle and poorer classes in the U.S. are discriminated against in terms of education, medical treatment, employment, and why should all become victims of a certain class of people getting rich.
Hilarious! My posts are being deleted…so much for freedom of speech.
1) When they stop being abusive, they won’t be deleted, 2) “freedom of speech” is a concept that protects us from censorship by the government. I am not the government. 3) When I post something, comments go to my inbox. I exercise my own discretion about that. If you want to rant unimpeded, go to the Soapbox.
Sara,
Abuse is sometimes in the mind of the beholder. Failure to publish everything that comes in a board that is openly for comment is precisely the sort of thing we get from the ruling class.
You are making a mistake and giving the guy a valid crticism.
I am a supporter of Occupy: a Marxist.
But at the same time I have various criticisms and points of difference. Where is the line between what you call abuse and sharp political difference? For instance I think consensus is a reactionary policy because it makes it possible for one or two people to prevent action.
Will you remove this post because of that sharply stated opinion?
Honest folks who have comprehensible positions welcome open opposition since it identifies opponents and presents an opportunity to explain and develop an opposing point of view.
At this point I am not saying you are dishonest but clearly inexperienced in political diatribe.
Jack Jersawitz
404-892-1238
bigjackjj@yahoo.com
This is about the peoples voice, let hypocrite say what he wants.
In the GA we follow agree-upon precepts that include no targeted profanity and no physical or verbal violence. I see no reason why I should tolerate a lower standard here. And don’t intend to.
in order to have a voice you must be a person first. i see no indication you are human given your lack of information.
http://www.copwatchoea.org/content/officer-motorcycle-rams-occupy-atlanta-protesters
If someone had stood in front of me, obstructing my way with clear hostility, when I was riding my motorcycle, then attempted to knock me over, I would have been perfectly justified defending myself with deadly force, and wouldn’t have hesitated to do so. These police officers are actually showing amazing restraint, despite what occupyatlanta.org is claiming.
That’s astonishingly warped. You do realize that he drove his motorcycle into a large crowd of people, many of whom were facing the other way, right? But that’s ok with you? The authority figure is always right, I guess. Very Stockholm syndrome.
@A I’m curious whether or not you actually watched the video? It appears that multiple people stood in front of this officer with the intent of stopping him from carrying out his job of clearing the street. The officer very slowly accelerated towards the deliquents, at which point one actually took hold of the vehicle. You are attempting to martyr yourselves by these actions, when in fact it just shows the lack of judgement, character and consideration this movement has for others.
I support your right to voice your opinions, but I don’t support you disrupting commerce and draining tax dollars that many haven’t even contributed to!
I won’t spend the time to parse that entire statement for logical inconsistencies, just point out this one: “slowly accelerated.” Acceleration means increasing speed. That is to say, the closer he got to the people, the faster he went. This is, as a friend of mine says, the opposite of right. Then there’s the whole question of how plowing into a group of people was going to do anything to clear the street; what it was MOST likely to do is cause a riot. Which is not what happened, no credit to the APD.
@saraA – I have one question for you. Do you beleive that it is acceptable for any group of people, peaceful or otherwise, to encroach upon the rights of others? I guess my point is that when the “Occupation” decided to block public streets they impeded passage for emergency personel responding to fires, murders, assaults, rapes, injuries etc. Even beyond that, it literally stopped me from dropping my friend off at her house, across from Woodruff Park. Although I clearly don’t sympathize with many of your causes or tactics, I fully support your dedication to stand up for what you believe in and hope you continue to do so. What I’m growing tired of is the lack of consideration and awareness for the rest of us that choose to make our mark in a way other than yours.
I completely agree that the “peace enforcement” ironically was aiming to incite a riot. Unfortunately those bodies which stepped out to stop the roll of the officer on the motorcycle “bucked up” and took the bait.
I agree with the movement. I am happy to see that Americans are finally standing up for that which they believe…but we must remain committed to nonviolence.
The government aims at invoking violence must not be met and materialized. The goal the government’s invoking violence is what will delegitimatize the movement and give it a bad name. It will muddle the point. It will stratify and divide, it will create “us against them”…and that is the last thing we need.
There is no enemy, although you may disagree and have a place to point the finger…the goal is to make a better world for EVERYONE. Even the top 1% will benefit from a more just, fair, loving world. We must meet the system where it is at, and convince EVERYONE that EVERYONE will benefit. We need to adjust the rules of the game so that we are all contenders. This is more about the 100% than the 99%…although it was a great marketing tactic to refer to the majority as 99% for empowerment and inclusiveness reasons.
Remember, this is not about police and civilian disagreement. Look to Phoenix, the Armed Guard is defending the protestors. Police have joined the occupy movement. This involved no violence. Stress the importance of nonviolence. Require or encourage ALL PARTICIPANTS OF THE OCCUPY to have serious conversations about the value of nonviolence, why it has worked in the past; role play situations like this motorcycle incidence to determine (and practice) how one might act faced with a split second decision, suggest options (e.g. sitting down), and determine how committed the GROUP is to nonviolence. This motorcycle situation involves a couple of individuals who have now given the movement a bad name. Do everything in your ability to change that reputation, and prevent it in the future.
Create an air of peaceful inclusiveness, and the whole world will want to join and will then improve. Please.
It wasn’t like he floored it into a crowd of people trying to hurt anyone. He was riding slowly, attempting to break up the crowd.
And yes, when it comes to inciting a physical confrontation with an officer of the law conducting his duties, YES, the authority figure is always right.
What those of you who malign any little bit of force on the part of the police fail to realize is that to have a civilized society, one must have law. For one to have law, there must be a mechanism in place to enforce that law. If citizens are permitted to respond with physical force to law enforcement, that is no law enforcement at all. The law enforcement officer MUST prevail in any physical confrontation. If a criminal is allowed to get away with physically stopping a police officer from performing his duties, then the rule of law dissolves into the rule of whoever can put up the best fight.
I know, I know, you’re thinking “but I’m not doing anything wrong, he shouldn’t be arresting me! He’s violating my rights!” But that’s what the deranged man who swears God told him to murder his family thinks too. And the marijuana dealer. And the investment manager who sold investors some shitty derivatives that he knew were worthless. And that’s what Eric Rudolph thought when he bombed those abortion clinics.
See, in a vast, diverse society, we can’t all agree on what’s right and what’s wrong, and who should be punished, and who shouldn’t be. In fact, I bet even amongst the small subset of the people who read this comment, there will be disagreement on who of the above examples should be punished and who shouldn’t be. So, what we do to fix this is we codify laws, as objectively as possible. I may not think they’re all just, you may not think they’re all just, and because we live in a democratic republic, we work within the boundaries of those laws to change them – making the law a living, changing document – as nearly approximating a statistical ensemble of the wishes of the people as a can be practically achieved. However, at the end of the day, we don’t get to pick which laws are enforced and which aren’t, because even though you really don’t think that law about rabbling around in the middle of the street is important, the guy whose house is burning down awaiting a fire truck to drive down that street to put it out is a pretty damn big fan of that law.
The way those laws are enforced is by the police. When they see you doing something that violates those laws, they have a DUTY to stop you from doing that. Sometimes they may just tell you to cut it out and be on your way. Sometimes they may see fit to punish you for it. Sometimes, they make mistakes, and think you’re breaking the law when you aren’t, or think you’re not breaking the law when you, in fact, are. They’re human. They make mistakes. When they do, you have a vast court system which provides you with numerous opportunities to show that they made a mistake. In fact, you don’t even have to show that they made a mistake, THEY have to show that they DIDN’T make that mistake. Pretty sweet deal, eh?
However, the one thing that can never be allowed to happen in a civilized society is that a suspected criminal prove his innocence by physically confronting a police officer. What you must see is that there is NO rational difference but that of scale between a protestor pushing an officer of the law off of a motorcycle to get him to do as the protestor wishes, and a fugitive suspected of murder shooting the cop that has him cornered so he can flee justice longer. Both are OBLIGATED to submit to the demands of the police, and if he has a grievance, address it in court, where the truth will nearly always prevail.
When the rule of law is supplanted by the rule of force, civilized society is no more.
And no, it’s not Stockholm syndrome. I’m not a captive. I freely submit to the rules and regulations of society – because, let’s face it, I hear the weather in Siberia fucking blows around this time of year.
We do actually have an agreed-upon principle in play here. It’s called the Constitution.
And if you think the truth prevails in court when police are concerned, you simply haven’t been paying attention.
notyour99pct — i sure hope not! i don’t want such ignorant people around me! people like that are the reasons we’re IN this mess!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nXT8lSnPQ – even in COMMUNIST CHINA they knew not to RUN INTO PEOPLE ON THE STREET WHEN THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING. what you are saying is ok is basically violence of the state on the public. so should these tanks run down this man? do you think the massacre after was OK? you probably do, you sick, sick horrible person. may god have mercy on your soul.
Well said “notyour99pct”
Deadly force? Really? If you get hit in a bar fight (as many have been) is deadly force called for then?
It depends. A typical punch or two exchanged between drunk people? Of course not. If someone attempts to commit a violent felony, however – including aggravated assault – the state of Georgia recognizes the right of the citizenry to act to stop that crime using deadly force if need be.
If someone punched me in a bar fight, no, I wouldn’t respond with deadly force, unless I have reasonable suspicion that my life or safety is endangered.
If I were riding my motorcycle at a walking pace, and was accosted by people trying to block my way in a threatening manner, and then one attempted to push me off of the motorcycle, yes, deadly force is permitted by law. And while you may think that’s excessive, I do personally know someone who was killed in a fall from a motorcycle almost exactly like the one that protester was attempting to cause. And I would certainly hope that you agree with me that if someone puts me to a choice of losing my life or taking his, I have every right to defend my own.
The problem with your scenario is that it isn’t what actually happened. In the reality-based community, running a vehicle into a person is considered assault, and if you kill them it’s vehicular homicide. You might be exonerated if they step out in front of you , but the presumption is ALWAYS on the side of the pedestrian…in situations that are not being manipulated.
It’s also a fact that the APD has so far sent THREE of our people to the hospital and that they have a history of violent behavior.
I honestly can’t tell what’s happening there and the slower version just blurs it and distorts the sirens.
The people in front and to the cop’s right – are they pushing on the motorcycle? Were they doing so initially or were they reacting to it coming at them?
Backpack dude was stupid – even if he thought it was the police’s fault, he neither could stop a motorcycle nor not expect to get arrested.
But beyond that, I don’t see it supporting another more detailed than “There were cops, protesters and a motorcycle.” As unreliable as eyewitness accounts can be, it’s the only way to tell.
If you go to east Atlanta cop watch, the video posted there clearly shows how fast the cop was going upon entering the crowd. Yes, people positioned themselves in front of it, and it barely had time to stop. They reacted with anger for such reckless endangerment, and the motivation of people who jumped in front could be interpreted as defending the safety of other protestors. The cop was able to see those who jumped in front approaching, but had they not put their bodies on the line, would the cop have seen another, unaware, person accidentally step out? I don’t think so. View the variety of videos online and this will become obvious.
I am confused as to why the one individual in the backpack is being blamed for this entire incident, when there were at least four people in total who participated in pushing the motorcycle.
What a strange incident…did the backpack dude seek an opportunity to get violent of his own volition, or was he a provocateur hired by the cops/feds? The way he was tackled leads me to believe it was not the latter.
I love you all. United, through peace, WE the people will prevail.
The video shows otherwise. I think you guys are trolls.
Wow, you’re posting this from jail?