cannabisnews.com: Cops Raid Shadows, IMC Cops Raid Shadows, IMC Posted by FoM on August 15, 2000 at 08:41:06 PT By Don Hazen, AlterNet Source: AlterNet Claiming they had an intelligence tip about a bomb threat, LA County Sheriffs temporarily closed down Patriotic Hall, the home of the Independent Media Center and the Shadow Conventions, located five blocks from the Democratic Convention. The sheriffs detained 3 activists for several hours, shut down all power to a TV satellite truck in the parking lot and tore apart a "suspicious" van, only to later admit they had the wrong vehicle. As a result, Free Speech TV's live national telecast, "Crashing the Party" -- which would have been broadcast in 60 cities across the country during Bill Clinton's speech -- was knocked off the air. At the same time, hundreds of Shadow Convention participants were pushed out into the street. Compounding matters, The LAPD reportedly got another "tip" that there was rioting going on outside Patriotic Hall and sent a massive police force roaring to the South Figueroa Street location. Trucks with shot-gun totting cops, hundreds of riot-geared police and five large busses all pulled up, ready to make massive arrests. What they discovered was Gore Vidal and Christopher Hitchens speaking to a crowd of 200 people in the streets outside the Hall, forced there by the sheriffs inside. When asked how the LAPD could think there was rioting going on with the LA Sheriffs on the scene, Deputy Chief Newton commented that "communication between the departments isn't very good." Brian Drolett, in charge of the satellite operations for Free Speech TV, wondered, "By what right can they come in and shut down a national TV show on this flimsy pretense? By what right can they turn LA into a police state and discourage people from talking about the issues of import to Americans? I can only think that this was a planned effort to block our satellite transmission." Rachel Cadman, a radio journalist working at the Indy Media Center, had been standing near her van in the Patriotic Hall parking lot late this afternoon when four Sheriff's deputies aggressively approached and took her, her sister and a friend into custody. According to the Sheriffs, the LAPD bomb squad was then called -- but never responded because they wanted more information. Nevertheless, without the bomb squad present the van was pulled apart, and all its contents thrown out into the parking lot and left there. A bit later, forced out on to the sidewalk, the Shadow Convention participants shared a loud speaker from the mobile truck of Anteye.com, a video-oriented web site covering the Shadow Convention. Arianna Huffington and her cohorts attempted to keep the show going. The situation brought out the gallow humor of Vidal and Hitchens, two of the more droll commentators on the American left. Vidal said he "felt like he was in Chicago in '68 and was filling in the time until the bomb went off." Hitchens offered, "If we had a general election we'd have to decided which generals to choose." While Hitchens was joking, hundreds of riot geared cops were lining the streets and marching toward the Anteye truck and the people listening in the street. Ultimately the entire situation at Patriotic Hall seemed an exercise in elaborate harassment by the various LA police forces, aimed at disrupting peaceful activities. It seemed at almost every turn, the LAPD had adopted the Colin Powell approach to democracy -- shows of massive force to intimidate the expression of free speech. Direct Link To Above Article.http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=9616Web Posted: August 15, 2000©2000 Independent Media InstituteRelated Articles & Web Sites:The Shadow Conventionshttp://www.shadowconventions.com/Shadow Convention 2000 News Boardhttp://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/Shadcon.htm MapInc. Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://mapinc.org/shadow.htm CannabisNews Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=shadow Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by MikeEEEEE on August 15, 2000 at 18:17:48 PT Attention Getter These shadow conventions are getting somebodies attention.I seen an article the other day that said, mothers with baby carriages were running out of stores from the protestors. That's an interesting use of words from the media. I see they're using the children again, but now the babies. These corporate liars are trying to make these shadow people seem dangerous, and worse, trying to make issues they never discuss look trival.Liars aways have deal with their mistakes, they'll have a lot to answer to one day. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by dddd on August 15, 2000 at 17:56:55 PT POLICE STATE Truly spooky.It seems that the list of excuses,real or imagined,is sufficient to allow any and all police actions. How nice of them to be so concerned about terrorist acts at the Shadow conventions.Would they have unplugged the national media outside Staples center,if a similar "report"of a bomb occured?I think not. Will they reveal the origin of these "threats",that have been used to disrupt the Shadow convention? [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Natrous on August 15, 2000 at 15:06:31 PT ... I feel sick to my stomach. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by eco on August 15, 2000 at 13:21:00 PT NEW D2K SITE URLS. Please forward to lists. March PLEASE FORWARD TO YOUR EMAIL LISTS, message boards, webpages, etc.. *NEW D2K SITE URLS. Several of the previous websites were possibly sabotaged and/or overloaded by the millions of hits they were getting from people worldwide. These 3 sites are 3 different websites, so check them all out for D2K, shadow convention, and other breaking news concerning the protests, marches, and meetings around the Democratic Party convention in Los Angeles, California. The first 2 websites below are new mirrors of 2 old sites.http://216.254.6.208/d2k/index.html and http://sacco.indymedia.org/ and http://phillyimc.org/March & Rally Against Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality, Death Penalty and to Free All Political Prisoners. USA: 6.3 million people were on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole at yearend 1999 -- 3.1% of all U.S. adult residents. The MAJORITY(!!!) of the approximately 2 MILLION U.S. inmates are incarcerated because of the DRUG WAR! This is shown by adding together drug-only offenders, drug-related-crime offenders, and drug-related parole violations. The USA has the world's highest incarceration rate - 5 to 17 times higher than all other Western (long democratic traditions) nations! D2K March for Justice. In Los Angeles - outside the Democratic Party inner circles of corporate power. 12:00pm Wednesday 16 August. *Stop Police Brutality, the Prison Industrial Complex, the Death Penalty and the Criminalization of Our Communities, Free Political Prisoners: From Youth to Seniors We Demand a Future. March & Rally Against Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality, Death Penalty and to Free All Political Prisoners. http://216.254.6.208/d2k/index.html and http://sacco.indymedia.org/ and http://phillyimc.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by observer on August 15, 2000 at 12:57:29 PT COINTELPRO Revisited ... This has a very familiar ring to it ... Other direct interference: To further disrupt opposition movements, frighten activists, and get people upset with each other, the FBI tampered with organizational mail, so it came late or not at all. It also resorted to bomb threats and similar "dirty tricks". http://www.dickshovel.com/coin.html In 1987 a benefit concert (for [Native American activist Leonard] Peltier's legal costs) was scheduled in California, with performances by Jackson Browne, Robin Williams, Willie Nelson, and others. Multiple bomb threats were received, frightening many away from attendance. http://aises.uthscsa.edu/discussion/1997/0136.htmlWhat an amazing coincidence! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on August 15, 2000 at 12:37:00 PT: No accident, this. There's an old saying: Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence...and three times is a conspiracy. Only in this case, given that the (conveniently annonymous) tip had specifically targeted the Shadow Convention facilities, I think we can safely dispense with waiting for the third time.The SC has lots of enemies, from Klinton on down. Any one of which could have dropped a quarter and made the call. It just goes to prove that despite all the lip service paid to democratic processes, too many people out there are quite willing to dispense with them - so long as it's *your* right to free speech being trampled, not theirs. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by greenfox on August 15, 2000 at 12:20:17 PT This article One word: 1984 [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: