This Is What A Police State Looks Like -- with UPDATE

from: zunguzungu

This incident occurred after the rally at the Capitol on Monday, after I left briefly and I had no idea it had taken place. I witnessed a confrontation with these people and the police across the street from the Capitol grounds as the marchers were assembling at the West Steps in the morning, and I saw a number of confrontations between these people and the police during the day. I didn't realize that this incident took place after the rally. What happened on the Capitol grounds as documented in the video above is much more disturbing than what I saw taking place earlier.

I'm familiar with the behavior of the Capitol Detail of the California Highway Patrol since I have been at -- probably -- more than a hundred demonstrations at the Capitol and have dealt directly with the CHP there many times. Generally speaking, they are polite but firm. There are Rules, you see, and they are there to Enforce the Rules. But what I'm seeing in this video is nothing like their usual behavior. They did not, for example, ordinarily use horse police to intimidate and force people off the grounds. They do require competing demonstrations to keep their distance from one another, and generally will not allow members of competing demonstrations on the grounds without a permit during their rival's demonstration. Ordinarily when they enforce that rule, they do it with a good deal of consideration and respect.

But here we have a case of people who came from Oakland, members of the Oakland Commune - Occupy Oakland, in support of the March in March Occupy the Capitol march and rally, not in opposition or in competition with it. Their point of view about the reasons for state cutbacks in education funding -- ie: in order to ensure prison funding is not cut or can even increase -- is spot on. This is something no one else who spoke at the rally even touched on. But everyone knows it's true. It's obvious as sin.

What's wrong in this incident is that people who were there in support of the March in March/Occupy the Capitol were forced off the grounds several times during the day, and it was done in this instance contrary to the way it would ordinarily have been done had these people been trying to conduct a competing demonstration. ("Demonstrating without a permit" is against one of those Rules the CHP Capitol Detail enforces.)

The male rider who comes in to the scene and tells the people from Oakland to get out is (I believe) the same officer -- from Chico police dept, not from CHP -- who used his horse to intimidate people (including me) who were trying to document the detention and questioning of the fellow dressed in black and carrying an iconic Oakland Move In Day shield who was pulled out of the march almost a block from the Capitol. The female rider may also be from another agency, though I wasn't certain. She was with the male rider throughout the day.

The bike officers and the khaki-attired officers are all CHP, but my understanding is that many were not ordinarily assigned to the Capitol. At no other time did I witness the bike officers or the khaki-clad officers try to intimidate anyone, though they did use... let's call it "persuasion" from time to time.

The behavior of the horse police -- especially -- in this video (which I picked up over at zunguzungu today) is really very disturbing to me. This is not the way it has been done (with a couple of exceptions I can think of from years ago, exceptions that led to lawsuits and settlements) previously, and it is not the way law enforcement officers in a free society should behave. And to behave this way toward people who were there in support of the education demonstration -- apparently because they were from Oakland and knew their rights and were loud -- was perverse.

This is what a truly insidious police state looks like.

BTW, I'm so old that I didn't pay tuition or more than token fees (well, they didn't seem so "token" at the time!) to obtain public higher education in California. It was the policy of the state to provide tuition-free higher education for any qualified applicant (who could find space and be admitted; colleges and the university were crowded) at Community College, State College (it was not yet State University) or the University of California. This concept was actually pioneered at Stanford (a private university), which initially did not charge tuition either, but by the time I applied there, the tuition was horrendous, as it continues to be. These days, the claim is made that it costs students more to attend the California State Universities than it costs students at Harvard -- or Stanford for that matter. This has a profound effect on the future -- to say the least. Of course, in my day, the prison system didn't gobble up so much of the state budget, either.

[Note: this post has been edited to reflect my current understanding of when the video was recorded] [Occupy Oakland sign carrier in video above is named Christopher Morley]

UPDATE: The video below is a follow up to the events in the video above. A young girl was nearly trampled by the horse ridden by Officer Norman Lane (sp?) from Chico -- the officer who kept saying "git-git" in the video above. Members of the crowd and the girl's mother demand that he apologize. He does, though he won't get off his high horse (Clydesdales are rather large and all.) Other incidents are also recorded on the video below.



Video streaming by Ustream

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the24-7occupysac

The Occupation of The Capitol

Arrests are being arranged at this moment. There are an unknown number of people inside the Capitol who have volunteered to be arrested -- at least fifty and possibly quite a few more. There are a few livestreamers in the building, but where they are in relation to one another, I can't say. There are a number of people -- some identified as legislators -- standing on the balcony that surrounds the Capitol rotunda watching the arrest of those below. There have been nonviolent resistance training sessions, and local pro bono lawyers are circulating among the volnteers to ensure they understand what is likely to take place. According to reports, people are being arrested, cited and released.

The local mainstream media is practically orgasmic with visions of Black Bloc ("as they're called") dancing in their heads; the expectations of "violence" are in hyper-drive. There has been no violence all day, so they are now speculating that "under cover of darkness" the "violent protesters will appear." If they do, they are more than likely provocateurs...

When I left the Capitol this evening, the horse police were just leaving their backup role for the RoboCops. I was yakking with people out front of the Capitol too much to get any really good pictures of the police line, but this one may give you an idea:


The couple raising their fists were doing a dance that the horse police seemed to be enjoying immensely. People who counted said there were approximately 90 officers in RoboGear, plus another hundred or so in reserve, plus about 50 "regular" state police (CHP) Capitol officers on hand. None of the RoboCops had visible identification -- which is... problematic... as the the California Penal Code section 830.10 requires:

Any uniformed peace officer shall wear a badge, nameplate, or other device which bears clearly on its face the identification number or name of the officer.

An officer in Oakland who covered his name tag was disciplined, his supervisor was demoted. What will happen to the RoboCops in this instance is anyone's guess.

But at this point, the police presence is thinning as it is getting late, and since jurisdictions are broke, there isn't much overtime budgeted.

The arrests inside are proceeding slowly...

UPDATE: Numbers of those arrested vary from 70 to 100 or so. The Capitol is now (8:30p) "clear" of the taint of Occupy.