Corrupt Cops

Well once again the police in Baltimore, Maryland have proven what corrupt and evil BASTARDS they are, by ILLEGALLY arresting peaceful protesters.  As if this is anything new.  I was at a protest this evening against a restaurant that serves foie gras, and before we were there five minutes, we were swarmed upon by the crooked ass Bmore police.  This has happened several times, first at Brighton's restaurant, and now at Corks, which is the restaurant we were protesting this evening.  The cops have a much longer history of harassing activists of course, particularly the group of activists that I am involved with, but the incidents and Brighton's and at Corks are the ones I have seen with my own two eyes.  I'm utterly amazed and shocked that they are allowed to legally get away with it.  Actually, strike that...it's not LEGAL, they just think they're getting away with it.  As if we are going to roll over and play dead.  The protests are completely legal, because we are using public sidewalks, and not impeding anyone's progress along the sidewalk...plus, as long as we don't have more than 25 people we are not required to have a permit.  The police continually tell us that we 1)Have to have a permit, and 2)That we are being "disorderly."  Well anyone familiar with police harassment tactics knows that disorderly conduct is one of those blanket charges that cops come up with in order to intimidate people into stopping whatever it is that they are doing.

Just so I am clear, let me reiterate, that we ARE NOT doing anything illegal.  We are not harming anyone, we are not preventing them from going into the restaurant or moving along the sidewalk, and we are not violating any of the protest-related laws of the city of Baltimore.  Further evidence of the fact that we are not violating the low is how, after each and every single arrest that I have personally seen, the people arrested are NOT charged with ANYTHING.  I have seen at LEAST five arrests of this kind myself, with my own two eyes.  It's appalling to me that the police are allowed to continually harass and arrest people without charging them with anything, only as a method to "shut them up."

Interestingly enough, not only were the arrests illegal on free-speech grounds, but ALSO, one particular cop that always seems to appear at our protests and harass us (often-times by swinging his night-stick as he is walking up--CLEAR intimidation and harassment), also keeps arresting people who ask for his name and badge number...By the way folks, this is information that he is LEGALLY REQUIRED TO GIVE!  Let me repeat...When an officer is asked for their name and badge number, they are LEGALLY REQUIRED TO GIVE IT!  He arrested an activist tonight simply for asking for his name and badge number, which we have on video.  This man was arrested for nothing more than requesting to know who this officer was.  OBVIOUSLY if these officers were on the up-and-up, they wouldn't refuse so blatantly to give their information.  Another glaring indictment of their true intentions.  This is also the second time I have personally seen this same officer do that very thing: Arrest an activist merely for requesting this jerk's name and badge number.  The first time was a few weeks ago at Brighton's.  That particular time, after the activist asked for the name/badge number, he was thrown into a wall and arrested.  We still do not have his name and badge number; however we do CLEARLY have his face on camera, committing this illegal offense.  Also, we have him clearly on camera as he is tearing up some of our protesting posters and signs, and flatly refusing to give them to someone else in our group who was not placed under arrest.  It's CLEAR that these officers care nothing about the law...they are merely trying to intimidate people whom they don't agree with.  

Whether you care about foie gras, or animal issues in general (which I freely admit that I think you should), you still need to WAKE UP PEOPLE AND REALIZE that cops are out there abusing their power, and they will do it to ANY activists that they don't agree with.  This is, first and foremost, a FREE SPEECH issue...and don't think that it will stop with us, because it won't.  Activists have the legal right to peacefully protest, and this is why lawsuits are often won against police who continually insist on falsely arresting people.  If it happens to us, don't even think that it couldn't just as easily happen to someone else.  Shame on the cops in Baltimore for abusing their power this way, and shame on them for not enforcing the laws fairly.  Just because they don't like us or what we stand for, it does NOT give them the right to illegally arrest us, over and over again, nor does it give them the right to wantonly mistreat us.  If anyone wants further details about what we were doing/why we were there, or further details about exactly what happened at the arrest, please contact me directly and I will let you know.