Yeah, I can clearly see the flash-bang being tossed in. It is about the right size and shape. I see it hit the ground and spark and sputter. Some protesters notice and to to move, but then, BANG, it goes right off at their feet. It is completely obvious what it is.
Those things are kind of meant to be used in doors where the concussion and light stun occupants long enough for them to be secured. All they do outside is make people scatter for a few seconds. The risk of injury from one exploding is more than any benefit in that kind of situation. They might not be grenades, but they are explosive devices and the police practically dropped one on the feet of the protesters. I am sure the police did feel threatened from time to time, but they can suck it up. They are paid to be there and supposedly trained to handle crowds without resorting to violence. They have helmets, body armor, shields, face guards, shotguns, tazers, tear gas, batons and flash-bangs. If you throw tear gas at someone and they throw back the same canister you so helpfully gave them, it does not warrant retaliation with a shotgun blast to the face. Those less-lethal projectiles can, have and will kill someone. No one should fire one of those weapons into an unarmed crowd unless that person would be willing to use a live round in the exact same situation. Police are not peace keepers. They are peace enforcers. Their mere presence is already a threat display. Any overt acts of violence from them are likely to be met with with the same. It might not be immediate and might not be directed at the person committing the violence, but it does increase the tension, anger and frustration in the general crowd. If it builds up enough, someone is going to snap and then the flood gates might open. I haven't been keeping track of what the officials have been doing, but it seems like their attitudes have been a mixture of "shut them up", "make them go away" and "I don't care about those people". Maybe if someone would, you know, come out and directly address the protesters and at least pretend to take their concerns seriously, it would go a ways towards diffusing the situation. Shooing away frustrated people with a lot of time on their hands is not solving a problem. Grow a pair and use some of those leadership skills, eh? Hmm. Whatever happened to dogs and fire hoses? Are they passe? ----- "Because I can lie beautiful true things into existence ..." Neil Gaiman on Why I write. On 10/30/2011 5:59 PM, Dana wrote: > > yep there really is no question. You can see the -- whatever -- coming > from the police lines. There is one place also (in fairness) where a > teargas cannister gets thrown into police lines. But the ex-Marine > that was hurt was not in that. He was just standing there next to the > Veterans for Peace flag. Not yelling or anything. If you go through > some of the youtube videos, you can see him on at least two different > cameras. He failed to disperse, sure, apparently planned on being > arrested, but otherwise did not provoke the police attack at all. > > And I think the video that showed how close they threw the flash-bang > from was a local NBC affiliate's... they aren't exactly known for > being stoner new agers. > > Still I want to be careful with my words. Some of the video can't be > called unedited -- it has voiceover and a ring around particular > police officers at a minimum. And this is true of footage of that > flash-bang getting thrown in Oakland and of women getting > pepper-sprayed in New York. But these videos make an accusation that > really needs investigation and presumably that investigation would > include a look at raw footage. I mean, look at the video. That girl in > the orange top is screaming, and some of the guys run up, this after > an order to disperse, ok, sure, but they are bending over the guy on > the ground and not acting in a threatening manner at all. > > That Asian -- Filipino?-- woman's arrest made the front page of the > San Jose paper, I just noticed, btw. The force is so disproportionate. > One unarmed 90-pound woman, half a dozen police officers with batons. > They were hitting her long after she was down, it looks like in the > videos, and as best I can tell all she did before that was mouth off. > Interestingly, several police officers were also filming, though, > probably not that part -- they would have been more interested in > documenting why they might feel threatened. So hey. They should make > that footage public. That's what I say. I also wanna know why officer > 327 felt he had to beat up a woman who does not appear to have fought > back. Interesting side note, the resolution is good enough to confirm > that he is on the Oakland force. That matters because Oakland police > apparently have a protocol that was broken, and one question being > raised was whether it would have applied to say a San Francisco police > officer who was on loan. Apparently there were more than a dozen > police forces participating. > > All in all, now that I *have* done some research I am dismayed and > feel a little sick. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:343808 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
