[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens urge Obama to condemn police brutality against Occupy protesters

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES

http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, December 12, 2011



Greens urge President Obama to condemn police brutality against Occupy protesters


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called for strong national condemnation
of the brutal actions of police forces in their treatment of Occupy Movement
protesters in several cities.

"We encourage political leaders, beginning with President Obama, to express
revulsion and anger at the violent and destructive behavior of police in their
handling of nonviolent protesters, and to take whatever action they can to
prevent such brutality.  We urge all Americans to understand that police
forces that use military tactics and are unaccountable for their actions
represent a threat to our freedoms," said Howie Hawkins, co-chair of the Green
Party of New York State.

Greens cited the use of pepper-spray, tear gas, batons, and other weapons, as
well as violent manhandling, handcuffs locked tight enough to cause nerve
damage, and other tactics that inflict severe pain and injury on peaceful
protesters.  Incidents like the use of pepper-spray on the faces of sitting
protesters by police at the University of California, Davis constitute torture
and deserve aggressive investigation and prosecution, said Green leaders.

Greens also called for a probe of the alleged role of the FBI and Homeland
Security Department in the suppression of protest, which if may implicate the
Obama Administration in the police brutality
(http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/occupy-crackdown-legal.html).

Greens have participated in Occupy demonstrations throughout the US, in many
cases helping to organize protests and speaking at rallies.

"While protesters face shocking brutality in some cities, the Wall Street
executives who committed crimes to enrich themselves and wrecked the US
economy have gone unpunished.  Peddling adjustable-rate subprime mortgages to
borrowers unlikely to be able to pay, bundling these high-risk loans into
toxic securities, assigning the securities top ratings -- these are acts of
malfeasance and fraud.  It's shameful that nonviolent protesters face billy
clubs, pepper spray, tear gas, and jail, while the Wall Street perpetrators
get to enjoy their bailouts and bonuses with impunity.  President Obama has
expressed sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street protesters, but his
administration still acts like it's on the side of the criminal plutocrats,"
said Tamar Yager, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

Green candidates, including contenders for the Green presidential nomination,
have been outspoken in their support for and participation in Occupy events.
  Presidential candidate Jill Stein has remained active in Occupy Boston
(http://www.jillstein.org/what_it_means_to_support_occupy_wall_street_movement) and
initiated the "First Amendment Pledge of Non-Cooperation with Police
Repression" (http://www.jillstein.org/sign_the_first_amendment_pledge).  Kent
Mesplay (http://www.mesplay.org) is also running for the Green nomination;
more candidates may declare soon.

Greens compared the more brutal actions by police with the atrocious treatment
of Civil Rights Movement participants by law enforcement, under orders from
notorious public officials, police chiefs, and sheriffs like Birmingham Public
Safety Commissioner Bull Connor during the 1950s and 1960s, and noted that, in
too many places, such abuses have continued against Blacks, Latinos, and
others up to the present time, usually outside of the media spotlight.

"The Occupy Movement has pulled a culture of violence in many police
departments out into the open.  The same policy of unaccountability is behind
the recent Defense Authorization bill passed in the US Senate that would allow
our military to detain US citizens on American soil indefinitely on suspicion
of terrorism, without constitutionally guaranteed due process and habeas
corpus.  If such trends continue without interruption, we'll soon find
ourselves living in a police state," said Leenie Halbert, co-chair of the
Green Party of the United States.

"Police officers themselves, like other public employees, are bearing the
burden of reductions in benefits, job security, and workers' rights in the
public sector, as part of the 'austerity' that Americans are being asked to
tolerate because of Wall Street's criminal actions.  They should be on the
side of the protesters," said Ms. Halbert.

See also:

Green Party press releases

• "As some Occupy Movement participants turn to electoral activism, the Green
Party send them an invitation" (Nov. 15, 2011)
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=460

• "Green Party calls for a nationwide moratorium on home foreclosures" (Nov.
3, 2011)
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=458

• "Green Party to Democratic apologists: The message of the Wall Street
protests is not 'Vote Democrat'" (Oct. 9, 2011)
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=453

"My Occupy LA Arrest"
By Patrick Meighan, Dec. 6, 2011
http://myoccupylaarrest.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-occupy-la-arrest-by-patrick-meighan.html

"One Bay Area mayor WELCOMES Occupy protests to her city"
("At least one Bay Area mayor is actually welcoming the Occupy Wall Street
movement to her city: [Green] Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin.")
By Joe Garofoli, Politics Blog, San Francisco Chronicle, November 9, 2011
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2011/11/09/one-bay-area-mayor-welcomes-occupy-protests-to-her-city/


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
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• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
• Green Papers http://www.greenpapers.net

2012 Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention
July 12-15, 2012 in Baltimore, Md.
http://www.gpconvention2012.com

Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual
National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's
Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the
United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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