Democracy on steroids.

There are many accounts of NYPD roundups of peaceful protestors. Indy Media has been all over it from the start. Daily Kos commenter SteveW was released after spending at least 28 hours in the famous pier 57 holding pens. From indy media a picture of the cattle pen.



We should hang our heads in shame.

[.....update.....]

From another page at indymedia comes this description of the arrests and conditions.

A State Supreme Court judge today ordered the city to release hundreds of people who had spent as many as 48 hours or more in jail and found the city in contempt of court after it failed to comply. Most of the people had been swept up in mass arrests on Tuesday, August 31, the day of nonviolent direct action to confront the Republican National Convention. Many claimed they were bystanders not connected to any protest. The drama of the detentions unfolded in and around 100 Centre St., and heightened when the National Lawyers Guild filed a writ of habeus corpus late Wednesday evening demanding that the detainees be brought before a judge and formally charged. The more than 1100 people arrested on Tuesday had already been held at that point for more than 24 hours without being arraigned, informed of their rights, given access to an attorney, provided medical attention, or given access to adequate food, water, or sleeping facilities.

All the detainees had passed through the ad hoc detention center at pier 57 [ photos: inside | outside ] where they had to sleep on a floor slick with motor oil and other toxic residue. Numerous detainees complained of infections, rashes, and chemical burns. By Wednesday night, the detainees had become fed up with their treatment and began to refuse food.

When you indescriminately round up people whats the big deal if a few innocent bystanders get swept up in the driftnets of the police state. I mean you got to break a coupla eggs if you want an omelet.