Conyers: Cindy & 370 being held on buses past midnight!

[paineinthearse]

This is an outrage! Help with transportation home/ to hotels.

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000255.htm

Blogged by JC on 09.26.05 @ 07:26 PM ET

Cindy Sheehan and 370 protestors arrested, some being held for hours on buses

Cindy Sheehan was arrested along with 370 other protestors today in front of the White House. The president would like to keep Cindy quiet and he clearly wasn't interested in reading the 200,000 letters asking him questions about the war. In the spirit of non-violent civil disobedience, Cindy and the others waited for answers until the police took them away.

We have heard from those arrested and they are being held in buses and vans at the Anacostia Park Police Station. They have been cuffed in these vehicles for hours and have been told that they should expect to be held there past midnight. Park Police officials have confirmed that there will be no efforts to transport any of these people once they are released. Those who are released after the subway has closed (around 11:45pm), will be stranded out there. Cabs can seldom be found at this part of the city.

Some of my volunteers have reached out to people in the DC area and organizations in town for the rally to see if arrangements can be made to pick up those who are released too late to get public transportation home.

The Park Police Station is located at 1901 Anacostia Drive SE, Washington, DC.

[crispini]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Let's hear from the DC Du'ers!

[texpatriot2004]

2. kick and recommend. n/t

[MelissaB]

3. ditto!

:kick:

[amber dog democrat]

4. again , ditto

:kick:

[Mr_Spock]

5. Are these morons looking for a fight?

We could probably bring 3000 people next time.

Arrest and harass 3000 people and next time ...

[Seansky]

6. same here

[Melissa G]

7. Nasty!! Nasty!!! Let's get those folks some rides.!!!

[karlrschneider]

8. Kicking for some help but is that really such a bad neighborhood?

I haven't been to DC in a while but don't recall it being all that awful down there...hope it all works out though!

[paineinthearse]

10. "is that really such a bad neighborhood?"

That's not the point!

These peaceful people were arrested several hours before sunset for demonstrating without a permit. They are being held in uncomfortable conditions, handcuffed in buses.

Is this America or Nazi Germany, 1937?

[FreedomAngel82]

40. Aren't permits unconstiutional?

Last time I looked I thought they were?

[kimchi]

11. I don't think it is a bad place,

but no gov't employees are working at the moment, and few sightseers, so that's probably why there are few cabs. But you can call one.

[MADem]

29. I would not want to be strolling around there at this hour without

transport.

But that is not the point, really. The deliberate detention of these individuals past normal hours suggests harassment.

They oughta sit their asses down in the station and wait on daylight. Maybe sing a few peace songs, like the old days....

[karlrschneider]

46. I was thinking of alternatives. My buddy and I roamed all around DC

a few years ago even in the "awful" areas. Met up with a bunch of black guys who befriended us & we all went bar hopping most all night...never had a moment of problem. (We are both -very- white)

We had a great time with these guys. I'm just sayin'...I think the "danger" aspect is somewhat overblown, we weren't worried at all really.

[kath]

56. I think the point might not be danger, so much as the fact that once the

subway closes down (midnight seems ridiculous - in Chicago it runs all night, or at least it used to) there is virtually NO transportation for them to get home or to hotels.

[karlrschneider]

58. Yes, and I realize I'm not an unaccompanied lady there.

I should have been more empathetic. Hope it all works out.

[MADem]

74. I have friends who live down that way

...and they watch their six after dark. Try getting a cab to go down there after midnight, or get a pizza delivered. It is a challenge.

I am not impugning the many good folks who live over that way, it only takes a few bad actors, along with some desperate addicts, to screw shit up. The big issue is the drugs, you get some clown who needs some cash and he will clunk you over the head to get your stuff to go buy drugs.

[Penndems]

54. There are some areas in D.C., particularly in Northeast and

Southeast Washington, that you don't want to be in once the sun goes down. There are pockets of Northeast/Southeast that are home to retired Federal employees and middle-class families who are long-time residents.

And then there are others where there's drug-dealing, carjackings, drive-by shootings, murders, rapes and robberies.

[Rex]

9. Conyers

There is hope.

[dogindia]

12. can we order private car services like here in new york when one needs a

ride. It seems like we could some how help these folks get to where there need to. But we need to keep in touch. These car services in New York will take credit cards. Lets keep up with this. Is there a way to find out when they will be released?

kick

[NYC]

13. I hope someone who can provide transportation

will see this thread.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

14. google map over here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1901+Anacostia+Drive+S.+E.,+Washington,+D.+C.+20020&spn=0.031547,0.059442&t=h&hl=en

[henslee]

15. kick.,

[spuddonna]

16. I was wondering what fresh hell these numnuts would devise...

Does anyone know if what they are doing is against standard booking proceedures? Could a lawsuit be filed?

[Lerkfish]

65. do they even have access to restrooms?

I mean, if they're handcuffed on buses, I would imagine their restroom priveleges are nil.

fascists.

[Liberty Belle]

76. Portapotties were brought in after 2 hours.

[Pam-Moby]

17. Kick, please help Cindy.

[AuntiBush]

55. God Is, Pam

She's scared the "devil" out of them, or they'd not be doing their best to silence her and the 350 supporters!

The WORLD really is WATCHING now! A disgrace. This adm is a total sham and disgrace to our country!

[dogindia]

18. yahoo taxi serices listings

http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?&&city=Washington&state=DC&zip=20020&uzip=20020&country=us&msa=8840&cs=5&ed=QqmIdK1o2Tzegbps5FrfGlUINt5Fv0quS4P1AKjFAGXO&stp=y&stx=8014796

[dogindia]

19. yahoo limo services listings

http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?&&city=Washington&state=DC&zip=20020&uzip=20020&country=us&msa=8840&cs=5&ed=QqmIdK1o2Tzegbps5FrfGlUINt5Fv0quS4P1AKjFAGXO&stp=y&stx=8014795

[LittleClarkie]

20. What are the chances Cindy had a chance to post to Kos today

is she one of the ones being held?

[Garbo 2004]

35. Apparently she blogged on the Huffington Post about her arrest.

So I'm figuring she's been released.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cindy-sheehan/my-first-time_b_7923.html

[LittleClarkie]

38. Ah

Yep, that's exactly what she blogged at DailyKos as well.

[paineinthearse]

21. Cross-posted to the DC group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=148x1969

[goodhue]

22. kick

[dogindia]

23. it is 10 oclock now. I wonder what we can do. Probably need someone in D

C but I would pay for some transport if we knew how to do it and when.

[dogindia]

25. Do we need someone to go down to the station?

[bloom]

24. Have the police all gone to the dark side?

Do any of them have any sense, any morals, any decency.

@#$%& %^$#& ^%$*^% #%^$% :grr:

[rstlne]

26. Cindy posted at kos a little after 7pm

She didn't mention being on a bus...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/26/19444/3681

[Garbo 2004]

36. And she blogged at the HuffingtonPost too:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cindy-sheehan/my-first-time_b_7923.html

[tlsmith1963]

27. I Figured the Neocons Would Pull This

Which is why it is so important that we get rid of them. I know I have annoyed people with my stand on ANSWER, but I am trying to find a solution that will get rid of these jerks once & for all! I'm tired of the neocons' lack of humanity. Their coldness is just *sick*. I guess you could say I'm desperate to get rid of them. I fear that if we don't get rid of the neocons, this country will collapse. They are running America into the ground. I have never been so scared in my life! I really feel that my country might actually *end*, that democracy will completely die. So even if we disagree on ANSWER, I want the neocons gone as much as the rest of you do. I hate how they screw anyone over that disagrees with them. It's just not right. It has to stop.

Tammy

[G_j]

28. 41 arrested this morning at the Pentagon

making 411 arrested for non-violent civil disobedience.
was it reported?

duh... of course not :argh:

[MADem]

30. Hmmm...411--INFORMATION PLEASE!!!

You'd think the media would find a fucking meme!

[brettdale]

31. KEEP KICKED!

KICKED!

[brettdale]

32. SEND TO ALL MEDIA

Send this to all media. Im suprise that this is the only thread on DU about this story.

I kinda thought people would be going nuts over this.

[paineinthearse]

37. This is a Conyers post, what do you expect?

Generally his blog-based posts don't draw much attention. This is the most ever, for which I am grateful.

"How can this be?" you say? See for yourself. Go to the Conyers group - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=340 - click any link to past posts and see the scant replies.

[dogindia]

33. Does anyone know how to get in touch with Cindy's people or others that

might have been arrested?

[brettdale]

41. has anyone emailed the MSM

I have.

[Liberty Belle]

77. I've interviewed two by phone, both released in the wee hours.

They did not feel mistreated, though the hours were long. Cops gave them pizza, some joked around with them, and most of those arrested managed to slip out of their handcuffs within 15 minutes. My friend said local activists arranged shuttles to take them back to their hotels.

I suspect the long wait for booking was more a matter of cops being overwhelmed by the large number arrested than anything else.

My source said the National Park Service officers told her this was the largest number of people arrested for civil disobedience in Washington ever. Can anyone verify?

[brettdale]

34. If I was in D.C

I would be marching right to that Police station.

[paineinthearse]

39. First hand report

Megamonkey says it will take all night to process everyone.

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=148&topic_id=1969&mesg_id=1976

[Nikki Stone 1]

42. They're playing dirty

:kick:

[brettdale]

43. They are repugs

They always play dirty!

[paineinthearse]

44. Who is the Mayor of DC

Rethug? Dem?

Is there a citizens review board?

What pressure can be brought to process all more quickly?

[Penndems]

48. D.C. Mayor is Anthony Williams, who's a Democrat

Here's his website:
http://dc.gov/mayor/index.shtm

[paineinthearse]

53. I hope he gets off his ass and gives additional resources to the station

so everyone is processed quickly.

[Penndems]

57. He'd better, or else he could find the D.C. cops being slapped

with another lawsuit.

Tony Williams is a "hands off" kind of mayor. He's no doubt leaving everything up to Chief Charles Ramsey.

Off topic: Chief Ramsey had his cruiser stolen right in front of his house a few months back, with all of his equipment still inside of it. A lot of folks thought that was indicative of the ineptitude of the MPD.

If you ever drive to D.C. and your vehicle is stolen, don't expect the D.C. cops to get on the case and hunt it down. Grand theft auto is pretty much the lowest of their priorities.

[KansDem]

70. "Chief Ramsey had his cruiser stolen right in front of his house..."

"...with all of his equipment still inside of it"

I suppose that includes shotgun, ammo, possibly tasers and other guns? :eyes:

[Penndems]

71. Yep - every bit of his equipment

n/t

[brettdale]

45. kick

kick

[Penndems]

47. Why in the world were they taken to the Anacostia Station?

The Third District Station services the area around the White House. It's up on V Street, N.W., just a few blocks away. This doesn't make sense to me. Who, I wonder, gave them the order to take 300+ people way across town to the Seventh District? Something's rotten here.

I sense another lawsuit will be pending against the D.C. cops. They've got one against them already filed by the ACLU on behalf of protesters from the last World Bank demonstration.

[goclark]

49. Is the 3rd District in a White Area? nt

[Penndems]

51. The main MPD headquarters is on Indiana Avenue, N.W.

Just a hop, skip and a jump from the White House. If they wanted to book the protesters, why in heaven's name did they take them to the Seventh District, about 20 minutes away? This just doesn't make sense to me. I'd like to know who gave the order to have them transported to Anacostia.

The Seventh District houses some of the most violent offenders in the city. These people were arrested for protesting without a permit. I'm absolutely dumbfounded, outraged and appalled that they've been taken to a precinct, and booked and jailed with hardened criminals, especially when the station that serves the area around the White House is just a few blocks from Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.







(on edit: typo)

[Penndems]

52. It's actually a racially mixed area

Used to be predominately African-American, but there's been a great deal of gentrification of those neighborhoods within the past few years.

[skooooo]

50. Here's another demo. on the pentagon from 1967 (film)

http://www.archive.org/details/1967-10-24_Anti-War_Demonstrators_Storm_Pentagon

[Nothing Without Hope]

59. Every day I am more convinced that the Administration is TRYING to

incite protests that they can hype or plant moles in to make them violent. One more step to martial law.

They want to shut up Cindy Sheehan, yes, but they REALLY want an "enabling act" to declare wider martial law. He'll paint these people as causing "civil unrest" and giving aid to the "enemy" in Iraq.

[texpatriot2004]

60. I wonder about that too. n/t

[Waya]

72. Exactly....

....and with Shrub chomping at the bit to give the US Military broader powers for Law Enforcement - using Katrina and Rita as an excuse, we will be seeing Military humvees and tanks in the streets of DC and elsewhere to keep 'Law and Order' during protests.
Say hello to Tianaman Square if Shrub gets his way........

[nadinbrzezinski]

61. This IS a classic

ah memories.... not of being arrested but of the accounts of peoople who were in the 60s

[redacted]

62. Where is the press coverage of the police booking situation

with the 370 still not yet released tonight? Haven't seen a thing.

[texpatriot2004]

63. Anyone know if they all got out okay? Did they get a ride or rides

out of there tonight?

[paineinthearse]

64. Ask Petula Dvorak of WaPo

This is all I can find at WaPo. Story ends with the arrests. Call Petula and ask for an update.

I wonder if a certain "raw" news organization is working this story??????

===========

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092600143.html?sub=AR

White House Sidewalk Protest Leads to Arrest of About 370

By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 27, 2005; B01

About 370 antiwar demonstrators were arrested yesterday after planting themselves on the sidewalk in front of the White House, a protest that stretched out for nearly five hours as police removed them in stages to avoid a backlog at a processing center. The demonstrators, who had stayed in Washington after Saturday's antiwar rally and march past the White House, were carted away in Metro buses and police vans. Fingerprinting and booking continued late into the evening at a U.S. Park Police operations facility in Anacostia.

Those arrested were charged with demonstrating without a permit, a misdemeanor that carries a $50 fine and -- like a traffic ticket -- can be paid by mail or challenged later in court, said Sgt. Scott Fear, a Park Police spokesman. In an action that they had planned several weeks ago and discussed with police, the demonstrators went to the White House gate on Pennsylvania Avenue NW about 12:30 p.m. and tried to deliver to President Bush the names of all the soldiers and civilians killed in Iraq. When the president did not meet with them, they sat down for their protest.

With bullhorns and hoarse voices, they yelled at the executive mansion, asking whether the president was peeking from behind a curtain or hearing them at all. "You are a coward! You didn't meet us in Crawford; come meet us now," said Beatriz Saldivar of Fort Worth, whose nephew, Army Sgt. Daniel Torres, was killed in action nearly eight months ago during his second tour in Iraq. In August, Saldivar had joined antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan during a protest outside the president's Texas ranch, when Sheehan had asked to talk with Bush about the death of her son, Casey Sheehan, in Iraq.

Cindy Sheehan, who was among the demonstrators yesterday, was the first to be taken into police custody. She smiled at the crowd when police lifted her from the sidewalk and escorted her to a van. At his daily news briefing yesterday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush is "very much aware" of the past few days of protests and "recognizes that there are differences of opinion" on the Iraq war.

more.......

[paineinthearse]

66. Just checked http://www.washingtonpost.com/ - nothing new

Correct me if wrong.

[redacted]

67. KICK for updates

[paineinthearse]

69. Nothing new in the parallel DC thread since 11PM last night

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=148&topic_id=1969&mesg_id=1969

I've asked for an update.

[paineinthearse]

73. Is this thread locked?

No posts since early AM, nothing either in the parallel DC forum thread.

Guess this is "old news", water under the bridge?

Did everyone get processed? Any news?

:shrug:

[paineinthearse]

68. WaTimes

http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20050926-095611-3029r.htm


An anti-war protester puts on his costume in front of the White House. Daniel Rosenbaum
(THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Protesters arrested
By Gary Emerling
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published September 27, 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More than 400 anti-war demonstrators -- including so-called "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan -- were arrested yesterday during protests at the White House and the Pentagon. Mrs. Sheehan, who has used her son's death in Iraq to spur the anti-war movement, and hundreds of others marched along the pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. At the front of the White House, dozens sat on the sidewalk, knowing that they would be arrested, and began singing and chanting "Stop the war now." Others grabbed hold of the iron fence along the White House front lawn and plastered signs on it, one of which read "Remember the Dead." Dozens of others stood in support behind a police barricade about 20 feet from the sidewalk.

Police warned the sidewalk protesters three times that they were breaking the law by not moving along. Then police began making arrests. By the end of the protest, police had arrested about 370 people. Several hours earlier, outside the Pentagon, police had arrested 41 anti-war demonstrators who had blocked entrances to the Pentagon metro and bus stops. "This is in the tradition of civil resistance, a dramatic way to demand that the Bush administration end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home now," said Bill Dobbs, a spokesman for United for Peace and Justice, a national anti-war coalition that sponsored the protest at the White House.

Mrs. Sheehan, 48, was the first protester to be taken into custody. She smiled as officers carried her by the arms to a police vehicle. As police arrested her, protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching." Others arrested included Princeton professor and activist Cornel West and religious leaders from across the country. The Rev. Jamie Washam, an American Baptist minister from Milwaukee, stood in full ministerial garb as she waited for her turn to be arrested. "We are speaking truth to power in love today," she said. "It takes more courage for me at this point to keep my mouth closed."

<snip>

Sgt. Scott Fear, a spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said those arrested would be taken to a processing facility and released with a court date. Each was charged with demonstrating without a permit, a misdemeanor. "The people who want to leave are allowed to leave," Sgt. Fear said as he stood outside the White House. "All these people are staying voluntarily to be arrested."

more....

[paineinthearse]

75. See follow-on post at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4909083&mesg_id=4909083