zlacker

>>void_n+(OP)
Note that Minneapolis state police have claimed that the reporters were released from jail the following morning after confirming themselves as media, which CNN responded by saying they had identified themselves before their arrest and it was only through the Goverers interference that their reporters were released the following morning.

>>TeaDru+S2
I mean, it happened live on air, they were clearly identified as CNN and willing to comply with police orders - making the police's claim laughable.

I wonder what those officers were thinking, arresting a reporter on live camera.

>>myrion+h3
My first hunch is the arresting officers were scrubs, brought in from other jurisdictions to staff up in response to the riots.

In the after math of the 1999 WTO riots, many of the worst abuses were committed by LEOs brought in from the outlying areas. Scrubs who didn't have the same training as the locals (and state patrol). Nor have any kind of personal regard for the city and its people.

Even so, at the time, I was really struck by the comparison between our SPD and DC Metro. DC has more crowds, riots, protests, disturbances, etc. DC Metro has a lot more experience, training, professionalism. And it shows.

From my personal experiences in Seattle, there's no way I'd risk protesting in and around the Twin Cities, and risk some noobs shooting me.

(I'd like to believe I'd never riot.)

>>specia+MA
The outside officers were also acting on direct orders from the FBI and not SPD or the city mayor in the case of the WTO riots. Having been in said riots where idiots dressed in black started smashing things, thus drawing in the FBI (and there's been numerous accusations over the years that the Black Bloc groups were also under FBI direction). Getting whacked by a baton while I was filming was not fun but I got whacked because the officer missed his actual target who was standing slightly behind me and had been busy throwing bricks and then dodging in behind other people.