PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

County Jail Planning for Mass Arrests
by Police State Victim (PSV) Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 9:15 AM

County plans for mass arrests

The A04 post-gazette reports that ACJ warden Calvin Lightfoot has requested a large space sufficent to process 500 arrests in the event of future anti-war protest mass arrests. Termed 'alternative jail', judges, magistrates and police are going to organize a special system to process the arrested.

My comments:

This planning is a terrible waste of public resources. The police and warden are declaring war on our rights to express an opinion about U.S. policy. We have city neighborhoods that could really use the sort of resources the police are devoting to our protests.

My reaction:

At the next anti-war protest I can assure you I will come to the protest dressed as a life sized can of "Edgewood Brand" pepper spray. My dream is that someone out there has a pair of walking stilts and can come dressed as a 12 foot high police officer to 'spray me'. My opinion is that we need to be creative in our protest. I am a strong proponent of actions that legally disrupt public order. Take yesterday for example. Not one marcher left the sidewalk, yet the police effectively created a traffic jam by riding besides us with a fleet cars and wagons (and probably a mass arrest port authority bus just for good measure).

Reminder:

Baseball season is upon us. There will be several opportunities to legally protest on the sidewalk (opposite the stadium) and agitiate the powers that be.

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