CovOps
 Location : Ether-Sphere
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Humor : Über Serious
 |  Subject: What that lying-nigger-cunt Mayor Bowser will not state about real history of poLICE abuse  Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:13 am | |
| The headline in the Washington Post captured the overwhelming reporting this week: “Mayor Bowser is Besting Trump In Tug Of War Over What ‘Law and Order’ Means In D.C.” It is a heroic dichotomy that often features Bowser denouncing the unprecedented June 1 federal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park. It also happens to be untrue.
Not only is the District of Columbia responsible for most of the use of force on the city’s streets in recent days — as are mayors from New York to Minneapolis to Los Angeles — but Bowser selected a police chief responsible for one of the most costly, abusive crackdowns on protesters in city history.
I know, because I co-led litigation against Chief Peter Newsham in the infamous World Bank mass arrest of 2002. Despite objections from civil libertarians and Newsham’s admitted mass violation of constitutional rights, Bowser selected him as her police chief.
For some of us who have represented protesters and journalists in the past, Muriel Bowser’s response to the clearing of Lafayette Park was jarring: “If you are like me … you saw something that you hoped you would never see in the United States of America.” But we have seen it — and the man often standing next to her is one of the men who ordered it, just a block from Lafayette Park. Indeed, Newsham not only cracked down on peaceful protesters, he cracked down on non-protesters.
On Sept. 27, 2002, during demonstrations against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the D.C. police, U.S. Park Police and others carried out a mass arrest at Pershing Park in Washington. It was a “trap and arrest” tactic in which police funneled people into Freedom Plaza and Pershing Park, where they were prevented from leaving by officers in riot gear from various state and federal departments. Hundreds of protesters, journalists and tourists were arrested.
In order to deal with the huge number of arrests, the District “hogtied” the arrested persons with zip ties from their right wrist to their left ankle and left them for hours in the Police Academy gym. Unlike in the case of Lafayette Park, no orders were given to disperse. Newsham simply said it “appeared to me that the demonstrators … were continuing to act as an organized group and would at some point leave the Park to continue their unlawful demonstrations in the streets.”
Also on the scene in 2002 was then-Police Chief Charles Ramsey, who has provided commentary on the Lafayette Park incident. According to several police officers, Ramsey gave the order to “teach them a lesson” and “lock those mother******* up.” Ramsey denied giving such an order or using those words. Instead, his subordinate, Newsham, took the blame — and the result was millions of dollars in damages, fees and settlements after more than a decade of intense litigation, including allegations of the destruction of evidence and false statements from district officials.
Bowser was not responsible for the abuses in 2002, of course. But her statement still comes across to some of us as grating. Rather than an operation occurring in less than an hour, as in Lafayette Park, the mass arrest ordered by Newsham in 2002 was preplanned and lasted much of the day. Yet, when she selected the man responsible for one of the costliest unconstitutional crackdowns in history, she called him “the best person to be the best police chief for the best city in the world.”
Even Newsham admits that three orders were given to clear Lafayette Park last week before Park Police moved forward. Unlike with his 2002 order, the Lafayette Park order appears lawful, even though many of us believe it was the wrong decision. Indeed, the three orders given in Lafayette Park were made standard procedure after the litigation over Pershing Park and Freedom Plaza — the case prompted by Newsham’s actions.
The other glaring disconnect between Bowser’s words and reality is that the vast majority of images of police actions against protesters in Washington and other cities in recent days involve state — not federal — forces. Only a small fraction of the arrests and injuries appear related to federal operations.
None of these facts appear in news coverage, however. Instead, most the media is still reporting (as Bowser has also claimed) that Attorney General Bill Barr ordered Lafayette Park to be cleared and protesters tear-gassed to allow President Trump to have his rightly-criticized photo op in front of historic St. John’s Church. However, according to Barr and other sources, the decision to expand the perimeter was made on Sunday night by the Park Police and approved by Barr the next morning. The plan had nothing to do with the photo op, which arose late in the day.
Barr has said he did not know about the photo op when the Park Police plan was approved or the operation started. Instead, the decision was based on injuries to officers (150 of them around the White House compound), multiple incidents of arson (including at the church), and continued throwing of objects. And the park has been cleared regularly in the past for security zones.
None of that means the decision was the correct one. Barr has said the order to push back the perimeter was delayed until later in the day — when it had filled with protesters — to await reinforcements. In my view, the operation should have been delayed further due to the danger of violence, including the unwarranted use of pepper-spray balls. However, it is unlikely that the order or the ensuing operation will be found unlawful, given the orders to move back.
Of course, litigation may bring to light more evidence, which is badly needed, particularly on why pepper spray was used or whether tear gas was used. Mayor Bowser has been widely quoted as citing the Lafayette Park incident as a reason why the district must be given statehood. Putting aside her good-faith reasons for wanting a change in status, statehood would not have stopped the clearing of the park, which is federal property under Park Police jurisdiction. The federal government can defend federal property in any city. While Bowser’s call for state “autonomy” might allow her to refuse to cooperate in such operations, it would not have altered or delayed this ill-considered operation.
What happened in Lafayette Park was wrong — but we cannot learn from such lessons today by blotting out the lessons of the past. This history is readily available to Mayor Bowser and did not start on June 1, 2020. She needs only ask the man standing next to her in the police chief’s uniform.
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/501772-what-mayor-bowser-will-not-state-about-real-history-of-police-abuse
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