LOS ANGELES--Four members of the LA Catholic Worker were among the 292 people arrested in the early Wednesday morning raid on the Occupy Los Angeles encampment in City Hall Park. LACW's Jeff Dietrich, Martha Lewis, Mike Wisniewski and Ross Weaver were arrested as part of the 75 people in a "peace circle" in the center of the camp that saw over 500 of the 1400 police in full riot gear descend on them from various directions within city hall. They, as with many others were held handcuffed for nearly five and one-half hours before being processed. All were held under $5000. bail in very harsh conditions at LAPD's Metro Detention Center for 63 hours. With the full help of the National Lawyers Guild, Jeff, Martha and Ross (among hundreds of others) were released on OR with an impending court date. Mike, one of the last five people to be released Friday evening after the court was unable to handle all those arrested and held for court appearance because of priors, was released with charges dropped, though he had priors. The LACW began serving hot meals to Occupy LA three days each week beginning in week two of the two month occupation, after the health department raided Occupy LA's food tent and removed stoves and other items used to cook their own meals.
Though the media portrayed the early morning raid as "peaceful" without police brutality, the contrary was true. Several acts of excessive force and brutality were prevalent, both on the streets and in the camp, with several people shot with rubber bullets and beaten with batons, while one bus load of over 40 people were held in handcuffs for over 11 hours without food, water, or toilet access. People had to urinate on their seats while police took long Starbuck coffee breaks and laughed at those on the bus.
For more info contact:
Michael Wisniewski
LACW web page:
No comments:
Post a Comment