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Remember that little incident in downtown Minneapolis the other night? Turns out that the cops beating people up made a few “oopsies” — namely, beating up on people whose bosses have deep pockets:
Chad Nelson, the photojournalist who was man-handled by a Minneapolis police officer while filming for KSTP Saturday night, has decided to file a criminal complaint.
The cop who beat up Nelson has yet to be officially IDed, but that will soon be forthcoming — the video above, taken by an Occupy protester who was himself arrested moments after recording it, shows the officer’s face quite clearly.
The irony here is that KSTP is run by a corporation owned by the very conservative and rich Hubbard family. That they are likely going to be depending on video taken by an Occupy member in the upcoming court case makes for strange bedfellows.
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This is a criminal complaint filed by the cameraman himself, so I don’t see how the station is involved, or how they would have legal costs involved. But good on the cameraman.
There will be a story with video on this very topic. However, we are not sure if any will be aware of it.
It appears that some stories are being blocked by certain Democratic Party apologists who are apparently doing very rotten, dirty, mean, sneaky, underhanded and undemocratic things in an attempt to make certain stories invisible.
They will fail. The story will be about how Occupy Minnesota just help Minneapolis Mayor, a “progressive” Democrat accountable.
It was a beautiful thing to see.
They own the camera, so maybe they will be entitled to a new one, don’t know for sure.
Amazing video. Good on the cameraman. Good on everyone who had a cell phone out, filming.
The station is backing him to the hilt. If you click on the link, that’s mentioned in the story.
That’s to Hubbard Broadcasting’s credit: They may be right-wing, but they will back their reporters and let the chips fall when it counts. A similar thing happened when KSTP reporters in Iraq broke the Al Qaqaa scandal: They got all sorts of flak for it from local and national Republicans, but the Hubbards stood by them.
Good to hear that the station is backing the reporter.
All this police violence in Minneapolis is being orchestrated by the Democrats. The Minneapolis police chief does nothing like this without Mayor R.T. Rybak’s directive and approval. And Governor Mark Dayton is going along with this.
In fact, the Minnesota Public Safety Commission is part of the “Red” Squads— these fascist-like teams comprising the Minnesota Public Safety Commission, the FBI, Minnesota Highway Patrol, County Sheriffs and local police where all these decisions to stifle democracy in this way are made.
Anyone can see with their own eyes that there wasn’t the slightest pretext for the police to engage in this kind of vicious violence. All this police violence is done for the purpose of intimidation in trying to thwart people from exercising their constitutional rights of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.
I was slapped with an injunction by a District Court Judge who said I couldn’t talk publicly about a case where I was representing a health care professional maliciously accused of a medication error.
Everything possible is being done by these Democrats here in Minnesota to prevent working people from struggling to protect and defend their rights.
There are no Republicans on the Minneapolis City Council— only Democrats and one very frightened and timid Green.
They are. They are also, AFAIK, the only major local TV or radio station to cover it. (You can tell by the comments in the comments thread what sort of people usually are drawn to KSTP. The sense of betrayal they show is palpable — it’s as if they’re saying ‘Hey, I thought you were on our side, not the side of those damned hippies!’)
They also covered the press conference today where Mayor Rybak and MPD Chief Dolan talked with Occupiers:
I’d predict there will be some hollering behind closed doors away from public earshot. The PO gets off. The city pays a settlement.
They’ll get back to their knitting. I just feel it in my bones.
What say you, Barack Obama?
The Democratic party has shown its real face as authoritarian monsters when put to the test by OWS protests. None of this police misconduct happens without the mayors’ go ahead. These aren’t rogue police, they are never disciplined for their overt misconduct without overbearing public pressure. The cops criminally beating and abusing the protesters across the country are agents under the direct control of the mayors’ authority. This is organized crime under the color of law, plain and simple.
Alan
You are 100% completely accurate.
Mayor RT Rybak is a self described “progressive” in the self described “progressive” Democratic Minnesota Party.
The DFL are dying in Minnesota, just like the Republicans. While some try and squelch this message by any and all underhanded tricks, they will fail.
Hey- anti-democratic and opposed to this Republic.
It is how Minnesota Democrats and Republicans roll.
Interesting that the link you share PW says that the media ownership the journalist works for is right wing oriented.
Go figger? Pot calls kettle?
;-)
Ok, lemme answer that, nah.
Just another bid for ad dollars.
More rotating villians.
;-)
Oh and for the record, just in case my soon to be created article is released and yet remains invisible (just like Alan Maki’s articles seem to be happening) I will cover what happened today at Minneapolis DEMOCRATIC and “progressive” Mayor Rybak’s office today.However, since all my my articles have the strange ability to not be visible, no matter how many recommends it gets, you may have to search for it.
Here is a clue. No KSTP is NOT covering for their own camera mans assault by the Minneapolis police..KSTP, FOX 9/29, WCCO, MPR, The Star Tribune were there today.
NONE of them told the damned truth about what happened at the meeting. I hope to provide video footage of hat actually transpired and then show what little they all did say.
The only people who believe anything these corporate controlled media are saying is, well Democratic and Republican Party hacks.
Oh yes.
Recommended. So that the CONVERSATION is made visible.
It has been my own personal experience that Democrats will do any and all sneaky, mean, underhanded and un-democratic things they can to suppress voices of dissent. While at the same time decrying the evil Republicans.
Which does nothing but expose them.
Thanks for the video, PW!
hopefully, Amy Goodman will cover this. Mpls police were in her law suit. Yes, they were in St Paul brutalizing people at the RNC. I was on the phone with Rybaks office reporting them when I was hit by an officer who later laughed at me, as if to say who cares that you reported me. When I confronted Rybak when he was looking to get the nomination for governor, he assured me he wanted a conversation and had his assistant take my information. Of course he never called. I am convinced that is why he lost the nomination.
The Minnesota situation, sad, now ironic, has my daily attention, so I recommended your last update, just as I have rec’d PW’s helpful updates, Michael, Thanks.
I cannot wrap my head around this one though. They clocked a big corporation, right-wing backed photojournalist from behind as he was simply walking in the street doing his job for the station…and they have his back. I am glad he was not hurt, and very happy to see that he is being fully supported in this. Good on them.
Wish we had edit. By the “they have his back,” I mean in the CBS sense, but it is unclear because of my parallel construction mistake.
Phoenix Woman, I had to shorten the @firedoglake to FDL for the tweet on this one due to the lengthy title, just so you know! It was about five or six over character limit, I think. Did not want to alter the title.
The Minneapolis PD has a long history of brutal enforcement.
When I moved here, Charlie Stenvig was mayor, he had been Chief of Police previously, and had resided over an anything- goes PD.
In those days it was still standard procedure that if the police decided that your tavern was going to be a police hangout, they might require you to play host to after-hours police drinking and gambling, and you’d better be happy about it.
In the old days, word on the street was that St. Paul cops would escort indigent trouble-makers to the city limits and let them go, Minneapolis cops, OTOH were likely to kick your ass just for good measure.
I was walking down Hennepin ave. on a sunny day in 1973, my first, as a new resident, when I came upon a police officer holding an obviously intoxicated Native-American up against the wall of a building on the old Block E, in the middle of downtown. The officer had his forearm jammed up under the man’s chin, and between looking back and forth, to see if anyone watching, he was punching the almost unconscious man repeatedly in the stomach.
The cop looked at me as I walked by, as-if to say, ‘What are you looking at?’
It made a lasting impression.