Jacksonville: What Really Happened

Shelley Elkovich, 18.10.2004 14:22

Media reports on the October 14th demonstration in Jacksonville have been full of inaccuracies and misleading statements by police and Jacksonville officials. I was one of the organizers for the demonstration in Jacksonville and would like to set the record straight.

In planning the event, I spoke three times with the Chief of Police in Jacksonville and once with the Sheriff so they knew exactly what we were planning and we could safely exercise our First Amendment rights. The Chief said he was primarily concerned about hostile conservatives hassling us. The Sheriff 's last words to me were: "If everyone stays on the sidewalk, we won't have any problems."

This was an event planned for all kinds of people: family-friendly, no civil disobedience. We distributed a non-violent code of conduct, our crowd of 200-300 people stayed on the sidewalk. We had a 100-foot long red carpet of UNwelcome upon which people wrote their criticisms of the administration's policies, which we rolled out on the sidewalk.

The rally and march were peaceful and successful; people felt energized and empowered. Then during our vigil to unwelcome the motorcade, police attacked protesters standing on the sidewalk without provocation. According to eyewitnesses, Secret Service officers pushed people off the sidewalk onto the street; police officers then shoved people back onto the sidewalk. Women with children in their arms were grabbed and pushed. Young kids were exposed to chemical irritants. An older man was knocked to the ground. While he was crawling on the sidewalk, a younger man shielded him with his own body. The young man was shot in the back at point-blank range with pepper bullets. He has burning open wounds.

During the police attacks, I was across Third Street from the area being cleared. Police trapped me on that sidewalk in the throng of Bush supporters. I was in the first row of people facing riot cops, right at the intersection being cleared. We were not pushed back. I was safe from police abuse because I was among Bush supporters. Only protesters were pushed back from the intersection through which the motorcade passed. This was not a security move by the Secret Service. If they were trying to ensure the President's safety, they would have pushed people back on both sides of the street. In addition, if police had wanted to clear the area without incident, they had plenty of time. The President was dining in Jacksonville. They could have used his entire mealtime to secure the area, rather than waiting until the moment of his departure from the restaurant to suddenly bark garbled orders, push people, and shoot people in the back as they "failed to disperse."

Friday we held a press conference in front of Jacksonville City Hall with testimony from victims and witnesses. We provided raw video footage showing police aggression including the incident outlined above. One local channel showed a bit of the "shielding" footage, but with no context or explanation. The other channel showed the injuries to the man's back, but included police claims that violent protesters caused the melee. That station chose to ignore our footage of police violence and only included our image of a line of riot cops standing in formation. This same "news" station aired extensive, chirpy coverage of the honeymoon suite where the President stayed, including the remains of his breakfast and the discarded carton of milk.

This is yet another example of repression and a blatant attack on civil liberties. These kind of actions are orchestrated to marginalize protesters, quash dissent and make families and elders think twice before exercising their right to assembly.

Parents have scheduled a facilitated discussion for children traumatized by the police violence. We are preparing a coordinated legal response.

This story is far from over.

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Frightening 20.10.2004 - 19:29 This is very scary. I am afraid for our country. Pursue every legal avenue. Please Mary Bowerman> e-mail:: mleeb@mchsi.com Jacksonville 21.10.2004 - 16:36 I am deeply troubled by this and suggest that folks be contacted wherever the president plans to appear and videotape what happens to those anti-bush demonstrators at each place and how they are treated. Eventually, with tape upon tape upon tape of this oppression the media will have to listen. We need more events and more videotaping. I don't expect one group of folks to travel everywhere they go, but we could put together a network of people who would tape what happens in their own hometown during a presidential visit and send the tapes to one central location. We must do something. We are losing our freedom with each day! Joynsee> small world 25.11.2004 - 20:48 I had a very similar confrontation with Portland police on Nov, 3 , 2004. I was appalled at my police departments reaction during a peaceful protest in which military type tactics were used to confuse and bully people into giving up thier right to assemble and to silence thier voices. We cannot sit back and allow these tactics to be taught and condoned by our departments, if you ever witness ANYTHING you know is a direct violation of anyones rights make a formal complaint and contact the right people with your evidence/testimony, wish us luck in court on the 30th! Michele michele weber>