2008 Woodie Awards
Letter to the Editor
Police repression at Port of Tacoma demonstration
Dan McGrew
Issue date: 3/9/07 Section: Opinion
Sunday night, untrained police attacked unarmed, nonviolent civilians exercising their First Amendment rights to express opposition to the Port of Tacoma's use by the military to send Stryker vehicles and other weapons of war to the illegal, immoral war in Iraq.
Since Friday, regional activists have been demonstrating and resisting illegal war at the Port of Tacoma. Sunday night,
police were using the three dozen peaceful demonstrators as riot control training. They were training against unarmed civilians. This is unacceptable. It is also evident that the police were untrained, as they executed illegal, unprofessional, and unprovoked attacks on us.
One activist was shot with a "non-lethal" weapon point blank, which is potentially deadly and illegal, an Iraq vet was threatened with a tazer, and three demonstrators were brutally taken to the ground and arrested incorrectly. There are ways in which police are trained to arrest people and exercise restraint, and these police were clearly untrained and acted out of line. These police should be ashamed, as should the city officials and citizens of Tacoma.
Despite the city council passing a resolution promising to uphold the Constitution and protest civil liberties, the city of
Tacoma obviously does not want citizens to exercising free speech since they are going to so much trouble to violently
squelch it. The city should immediately condemn the unprofessional, unprovoked attacks against peaceful demonstrators and act to make sure that citizens' democratic rights are upheld.
Since Friday, regional activists have been demonstrating and resisting illegal war at the Port of Tacoma. Sunday night,
police were using the three dozen peaceful demonstrators as riot control training. They were training against unarmed civilians. This is unacceptable. It is also evident that the police were untrained, as they executed illegal, unprofessional, and unprovoked attacks on us.
One activist was shot with a "non-lethal" weapon point blank, which is potentially deadly and illegal, an Iraq vet was threatened with a tazer, and three demonstrators were brutally taken to the ground and arrested incorrectly. There are ways in which police are trained to arrest people and exercise restraint, and these police were clearly untrained and acted out of line. These police should be ashamed, as should the city officials and citizens of Tacoma.
Despite the city council passing a resolution promising to uphold the Constitution and protest civil liberties, the city of
Tacoma obviously does not want citizens to exercising free speech since they are going to so much trouble to violently
squelch it. The city should immediately condemn the unprofessional, unprovoked attacks against peaceful demonstrators and act to make sure that citizens' democratic rights are upheld.
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