Why are Journalists being violently arrested at the Republican National Convention?

Question

ST. PAUL, MN--Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained.

Freedom of the Press is still the law in the US, isn't it? Journalists are supposed to have the right to cover events in the US.

Is this a repeat of the RNC in NYC where everyone is subject to n**i-like violence in the name of Republicans?

https://mn-stpaul.civicplus.com/forms.asp?FID=69

Answer 1

Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained.

HOW CAN YOU MAKE A CALL on what is unlawful detention? And if you are correct that Goodman was 'attempting to free' producers..... was she trying to pick the handcuffs or what? Your protest here is so vague that I'm convinced the law was in the right. Stop whining.

Answer 2

What part of "do not cross this line" don't you understand? Purposely defy police orders, get arrested. That's not Republican or Democrat, that's the law.

Answer 3

Ultimately it's the elected politicians who hire and fire policemen and their commanders.  And as long as the people keep electing pro-police politicians.  Then the police will do whatever it wants.

Real power is not in the law but in those who enforce the law.  Because they are the ones who pick and choose whether, when, and how to enforce the law.

Answer 4

looks like she was defying police orders. From what i see on tv, the streets of St. Paul are loaded with violent manics. The police probably wanted everyone out of there and she wasn't complying.  

Answer 5

Well, the thing is earlier on people were attacking and smashing police cars, plus blocking parking lots, and damaging private property. All of which is fairly illegal and the police are still not very happy about that.

Later on when they're brought to the HQ and found out that they didn't really do anything they won't be charged with anything and released.

But people also have to realize that going onto private property and disrupt the peace isn't a very decent thing to do. Thus why the police act so harshly.

Answer 6

Oh please...give me a break...

Answer 7

It's pretty scary when journalist in America start getting arrested......

Answer 8

Just go to the far left web-sites and look at the dirty tactics they are suggesting Obama supporters do at the RNC convention-----even the DNC promotes dirty tricks----and oh that moveon..org----the worst----with all these crazed suggestions and antics it causes a very real security concern (just what they wanted to do)---therefore in the interest of public-safety it did become necessary to get heavy-handed----they absolutely must do that to keep the convention safe.

Answer 9

they're terrorists man

Answer 10

uh, because she was interfering with police officers doing their jobs after repeated warnings?  if it was me i wouldve given her a baton to the head too.

Answer 11

You answered your own question, It's the Republican National Convention. Intolerance.

Answer 12

Democracy Now? I dont know about you but I've been living in one for 29 years. You immature and childish "PEACE PROTESTORS" are a facsinating breed, you hate war yet when you come to my city (St. Paul) you attack cops, smash windows, crawl under barricades and smash cop cars. That is war! Get a job, leave the Republican convention alone. How many Republicans were arrested at DNC? And the reason is we are a higher class of citizen. Actually, I take that back, keep doing it, people will remember why they need to vote McCain-Palin.

Answer 13

They were arrested at the DNC too.  I know one was arrested because he's doing a report on the Dems and their big money doners.

ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors

Asa Eslocker Was Investigating the Role of Lobbyists and Top Donors at the Convention

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Convention...  

Answer 14

Journalists were areested at the Dnc also. I think ABC?

Answer 15

"Trying to free two producers....etc".  That's called interfering with police.  She needed to be arrested.  There is a vast difference between Freedom of the Press and interjecting yourself into an arrest being made by the police.  What an idiot!  And, please....if you don't think it was played up for "effect", you are very naive.

Journalists are not above the law, you know.

Answer 16

I don't know about what happened at the RNC in NYC was all about, sorry....But a friend sent me this link about all the arrests, house raids, people being 'handled' in rough ways by the police there...Amy Goodman's name is linked in one of the articles....It's rather alarming to say the least....

http://adap2k.blogspot.com/2008/09/prote...

Answer 17

Violent Protesters are.

Answer 18

There will not be freedom as we in the USA as we have always known it due to the republican party. I should know because I am a Republican and now I am ashamed of myself. I say "What have I done". God help me!

Answer 19

Maybe for the same reason they arrested the reporter at the DNC for no reason

ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Convention...

Video here

http://www.theinsider.com/videos/1150741...

I don't think I noticed you posted anything about this

Answer 20

Try this:

Search for 'Democracy Now Journalist Detained'  

Wow, they sure use that word a lot to try to get people's sympathy.

And where is the corroboration?  A neutral story about it might be nice.  Even one from the mainstream media which I really don't consider to be conservative or GOP friendly.

Answer 21

It's n**i Time again at the Republican Convention!!  Oh, that sweet smell of Berlin, 1932!  The republicans show their true n**i colors - fear and cowardess.

Heil Bush!  Heil Cheney!  Sig Heil!

Answer 22

It's scary, they even had the FBI raid the protesters: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2...

Answer 23

Don't tase me bro!

Answer 24

To republicans, all news person who does not work for Fox are liberals, hence criminals that break the law

Answer 25

I believe it is because that's how things are run with republicans

Answer 26

n**i-like violence...?

Boy, that's the pot calling the kettle black.  Take the time to learn what happen during the 1968 DNC in Chicago.

They called it “Czechago.” Nowhere else during that decade was dissension so dramatically opposed as on the streets of Chicago during the turbulent Democratic National Convention in August 1968. The barbed wire-laced jeeps in Grant Park evoked images of Russian tanks in the streets of Prague.

For many it was a watershed event. After the Tet offensive that January many Americans began to shift their opinions of the war in Vietnam; after Chicago ‘68 they began to doubt the ability of American institutions to tolerate active dissension.

Chicago ‘68 was more than just another in a series of antiwar protests, and it was more than just a riot—no matter, whose riot. Chicago ‘68 was a focal point of the decade. On the streets and in the parks of Chicago the social conflicts of the Sixties were on display.

Heads were cracked, tear gas billowed, police lines advanced through demonstrators—and television cameras captured some of the graphic scenes. The eyes of the nation focused on Chicago and we decided who we were, what side we were on, and what we would fight for. Chicago changed minds, Chicago changed politics, Chicago changed the Left, Chicago changed the media, Chicago changed those who were here and those who watched from far away, and Chicago changed Chicago.

What happened in Chicago in August of 1968 changed our political and cultural institutions, and so it shaped our current political and cultural life. If we understand Chicago ‘68 we will understand not only a major event in our history but we will also better understand who we are now.

For the Democratic party, Chicago ‘68 doomed the candidacy of Hubert Humphrey and set off shock waves of reform. For the Left, Chicago ‘68 hastened the demise of SDS and intensified the revolutionary fervor that would spawn street violence and bombings. For the media, Chicago ‘68 created a deep suspicion of the state and its minions. For Chicago, Chicago ‘68 weakened support for the last of the big-city bosses and fanned the flames of political reform.

The resources available on this site include:

A chronology detailing the events of Convention Week and placing them in the context of other events of the late Sixties. Links from the chronology will take you to documents such as FBI memos and material from Rights in Conflict, the official report of the events.

A bibliography of the books, films, and archival sources about Chicago ‘68.

Some related web sites about Chicago ‘68 and its aftermath.

Reflections on the history

Answer 27

Did you even watch the video? Are you so blind by ideology you can't tell see or the truth?

One journalist, disobeyed direct orders from a policeman and was taken into custody. There was no violence. She went peacefully and they did not use force.

Remember the little boy who cried wolf...that's you.

Answer 28

When police are done talking and tell you to go on, you get a lawyer you don't confront them. This is not a hard concept for most people who don't think clever arguments protect them from having to follow the same laws as everyone else. To call this n**i-like violence is to put them in a class of suffering that anyone should be ashamed to falsely claim for themselves or for anyone else.