Share

"Democracy Now's" Amy Goodman Arrested in St. Paul

Monday 01 September 2008

by:   |  Democracy Now!

photo
Journalist Amy Goodman was arrested on Monday in St. Paul, after attempting to defend two detained colleagues.

    Editor's Note: "Democracy Now!" host Amy Goodman was arrested Monday afternoon in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she was covering the Republican National Convention. Police seized Goodman as she attempted to defend two "Democracy Now!" producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who had just been arrested on "probable cause for riot." Goodman and her colleagues were held at the Ramsey County Jail, then released Monday night.

    Earlier this month, before the Democratic and Republican conventions began, Goodman wrote an op-ed warning of an impending police crackdown in Denver and St. Paul. "Dissent is essential to the functioning of a democratic society," Goodman wrote. "There is no more important time than now." -ms/TO


    St. Paul - Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar have all been released from police custody in St. Paul following their illegal arrest by Minneapolis Police on Monday afternoon.

    All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar's violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, "I'm Press! Press!," resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman's arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested.

    On Tuesday, Democracy Now! will broadcast video of these arrests, as well as the broader police action. These will also be available on: www.democracynow.org.

    Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

    Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on suspicion of rioting, a felony. While the three have been released, they all still face charges stemming from their unlawful arrest. Kouddous and Salazar face pending charges of suspicion of felony riot, while Goodman has been officially charged with obstruction of a legal process and interference with a "peace officer."

    Democracy Now! forcefully rejects all of these charges as false and an attempt at intimidation of these journalists. We demand that the charges be immediately and completely dropped.

    Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities' law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of these journalists.

    During the demonstration in which the Democracy Now! team was arrested, law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force against protesters and journalists. Several dozen demonstrators were also arrested during this action, including a photographer for the Associated Press.

    Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and the subsequent criminal charges and threat of charges are a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists.

    --------

    Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.

  

Comments

This is a moderated forum.  It may take a little while for comments to go live. Be civil and on-topic, don't threaten or advocate violence, please keep it under 300 words. Thanks for participating.

Isn't it time everyone

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 04:52 — Anonymous (not verified)
Isn't it time everyone attended these events armed and ready as do the "Police". The men in black look much too military for my liking. Whatever happened to the cop on the beat? With a hat and uniform?

Video from San Francisco

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 05:25 — Kimo Crossman (not verified)
Video from San Francisco Chronicle - Amy Goodman released from illegal arrest. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=29751

It is outrageous what our

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 05:28 — Anonymous (not verified)
It is outrageous what our world is coming to, we must have Obama to stop this Bush totalitarianism. McCain is more of the same, and has not condemned the arrest of the liberal press. Freedom of the press must be respected by the government. There should be no charges filed against DemocracyNOW journalists doing their job.

Hey we better raise the

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 06:19 — Anonymous (not verified)
Hey we better raise the taxes a little higher. We need more police to protect us from the truth. Real dangerous person that Amy Goodman. Need to shut her up (strike, shut her up) Make that need to protect America from subversive anarchists shes real dangerous riot starter. Don't know really know if she is but probably could be? Real smart and fair likes to babble the truth. The public seem to thing anarchist are bad people, plus they think we are here to protect them. A real nice thing about police and solders is they break down doors and kill as easily as telling them its to protect America

Amy Goodman while performing

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 10:17 — Maurice J Freedman (not verified)
Amy Goodman while performing her journalistic duties almost was killed by U.S.-armed Indonesian troops in East Timor. Now she goes to St. Paul and gets arrested for defending freedom of the press in the face of Republican paramilitary forces (the St. Paul police). It is amazing how law and order degenerate into "by any means necessary" to keep journalists from reporting.

There you go... Say goodbye

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 10:45 — Uroboros (not verified)
There you go... Say goodbye to your liberty. Dissent is futile, we're all terrorists now! We're getting arrested for thought crimes, for "probable cause for riot..." How in the hell do they determine this I wonder? We haven't been chipped yet. Do they teach these fascists clairvoyance? This is a sad day for this country. I repeat, say goodbye to your liberty. And hey Mr. Smug Republican, blue-meanie bully f-heads, you think you're any different than Amy Goodman? RELEASE HER NOW!

To any and all the idiots

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 13:07 — Anonymous (not verified)
To any and all the idiots out there that think a vote for Mckinney or Nader is some sort of "brave" vote to not go along with Obama, think again! Think, for crissakes! This will certainly continue with another Repug in office, who can veto (and probably get it sustained) any progressive legislation a Dem majority (but not a 2/3) will pass, and will continue to pick right-wing nuts who do not believe that anyone has privacy rights or protest rights! Obama is much more progrssive than McShame: a fact, not an opinion!

This is outrageous. I hope

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 14:44 — Grandma fan of Amy (not verified)
This is outrageous. I hope our Democratic leaders have the courage to object strenuously to this travesty. As a psychologist I have been privy to studies (in the public domain) to studies that show that some law enforcement personnel are more character disordered than many of the criminals they arrest.

If the government won't stop

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 15:25 — radline9 (not verified)
If the government won't stop the war then we will stop the government - rally - 1968 They armtwisted us onto the busses and then for effect they tortured young women in front of us by twisting their arms behind their backs until they screamed, while we watched, locked in the busses, helpless to fight back. This was in front of the Justice Department. They put 7000 of us in jail that week.

To the first person to post

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 15:32 — Anonymous (not verified)
To the first person to post -- I respectfully disagree with your belief in using violence as a response. That only plays into the hands of those who would further undermine our liberties. Better, I think, to do what Ms. Goodman is doing... putting a face on the abuse. I feel confident that Democracy Now will create a storm of publicity over this. We do, however, need for more people to stand up and raise their voice. We need more peaceful protests. We need more calls, emails, and letters to elected officals, newspapers and other media. We need to stop buying from the companies that support this... those who are lining the pockets of the politicians who are championing this change in our society. In other words, we need Democracy, NOW!

DONATE NOW to democracynow!,

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 15:35 — Anonarcmous (not verified)
DONATE NOW to democracynow!, truthout & others while you STILL CAN. even if it is only $5, 10, or...

Note that Amy Goodman can be

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 15:59 — Martin Voelker (not verified)
Note that Amy Goodman can be seen wearing her press credentials around her neck. The cops might have been 'excused' for nor recognizing her (FSTV and LinkTV viewers will recognize her but few others). But ignoring what's right in front of her eyes is simply a willful violation of proper police work.

The fear is palpable, and

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 16:08 — Michael (not verified)
The fear is palpable, and Republicans, still presided over by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, must be branded by Democrats for what they are doing in our backyard. Who's responsible for the police brutality? Who's doing the domestic spying? Who's cracking down on nonviolent protest? Who's dividing Americans with no inherent animosity into adversarial groups? Comments like Anon 13:07 (wake up poor soul) just bubble with fear. We all must leave the fear, and wake up to the reality that our world is what we make it every minute of every day. Once we are awake, we will see that choosing one of two major party candidates who have been vetted by moneyed special interests is no choice. And once we are awake we can make a choice that reflects our own values, and not one that is a generously interpreted, flimsy, scrim facade of a few of our values pinned together with words while concealing a whole bunch of other crap. Anyone who views this convention stuff and decides Obama is the solution is living in a dream. Americans can choose to elect progressive representatives like Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, or Ron Paul regardless of what the political campaigns tell us, and regardless of how well they are covered in the media. Media time or money does not equate to suitability for office, just look at McCain. If only it was as easy as a choice between two people, what a wonderful life we would have. What must be cast off is believing that this is our reality.

Re: “all the idiots”. Mr

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 16:45 — Anonymous (not verified)
Re: “all the idiots”. Mr Anonymous, has Obama objected to the treatment of protesters in Minnesota or Denver? How did Obama vote on the FISA bill? Did he keep his pledge? A voter for Nader or McKinney is the only real vote for change. The two party system is the problem! Look closely, look deeply. Four more years is four more years of the last sixty years. We need radical change, change at the root of the problem! The criterion that “Obama is much more progressive than” McCain is inadequate justification to warrant a vote. This amounts to a “lesser of two evils” rational. I’m not willing to settle for evil. If it takes another Republican administration to arouse Americans to defend their rights and demand that the culture of corruption plaguing and permeating our democracy be rectified, so be it. The situation demands sacrifice.

Here we see the stark

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 17:05 — Anonymous (not verified)
Here we see the stark contrast between a McCain America and that which was once PROUD...to the moderator don`t mistake my Nazi-Hitler comparisons with hate spewing skin(empty)head rhetoric! There is no mistaking the direction these right wing neo-fascists are headed and by failing to point out the parallels to those historic atrocities you are in essence bolstering these rovian antics expose and shun these actions as they were the 16th century plague

Brown Shirts, our police

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 17:13 — Anonymous (not verified)
Brown Shirts, our police representatives should be wearing brown shirts when they are repressing free speech, the foundation of democracy. And just might these bulletproof vests and all that armament just make them MORE prone to violence and less identifiable as individual citizens? Heck, why not let them wear black balaclavas and carry AK-74s?? --- A disgusing display of Politically-driven force in an ethics-poor environment.

This is an absolute outrage,

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 18:53 — Anonymous (not verified)
This is an absolute outrage, and a clear indicator that a change of party must be mandated by the American voter. Americans must insure that their rights are secure, and as provided by the Bill of Rights. The abuse, as evidenced in this video, is against all Americans right to protest by peaceful assembly. We must put an end to this grievous, eight year affront to our democratic way of life.

What's new except the

 Tue, 09/02/2008 - 20:06 — Horst Wessel (not verified)
What's new except the sophistication & refinement of tactics. Does nobody remember Dem convention of 1968? This sort of thing is SOB, Standard Operating Brutality...Better rubber bullets than another Kent State shooting, Nicht Wahr, mein Fuehrer?

Has any group started a

 Wed, 09/03/2008 - 04:45 — Anonymous (not verified)
Has any group started a collection of funds to purchase swastika arm bands for the St. Paul police? Ths SS is already there.

The names of arresting cops

 Wed, 09/03/2008 - 08:06 — M (not verified)
The names of arresting cops is on all the paperwork. Let's start publicizing who these legal gang members are.

There is going to be a

 Thu, 09/04/2008 - 17:38 — Anonymous (not verified)
There is going to be a revolution in this country. If cops keep acting like this people will fight back. I used to believe in laws, citizenship and the constitution but now I see the truth that there is only power. Either you have power or you do not. Everything else is a lie.

No the ones that Goodman and

 Thu, 09/04/2008 - 22:09 — Anonymous (not verified)
No the ones that Goodman and her producers asked for ID did not give it. To my mind, Bush tipped his hand as to a strategy in dealing with the protest by comparing protesters to terrorists before they were charged with terrorism during is speech from the Oval Office. An absolutely incredible moment in American history. To me, this indicates that Bush &co were behind the no name riot cops that Amy Goodman and her Producers asked for identification from and were refused. Also, the secret service that ripped off their RNC Press passes after they were arrested refused to identify themselves as well from what I gather. I would seriously question and look into whether or not the tactic of protest seeding was used by the thugs in riot gear. By protest seeding, I mean planting undercover people within the ranks of those peacefully protesting with a mind to cause enough disturbance to trigger riot squad brutality. The goal of this, of course, is to deter people from expressing their opinion and in America in particular, exercising their first amendment rights. Bush &co's gift to the RNC was to send a goon squad of untouchable and no name thugs to abuse those who were legally protesting. This is a defining moment. Make no mistake. If news media, the larger networks and news centric networks in particular, refuses to stick up for fellow journalists, then coporate news has openly behaved as an instrument of oppression for a dictatorship. I ask the question again, are we in the midst of a change toward a media driven dark age? B

To provide balance: if

 Fri, 09/05/2008 - 23:51 — brian (not verified)
To provide balance: if rioting is a felony, so should be the manhandling of peaceful protesters. Those riot cops look like Nazis. I saw another video recently that showed protesters and police clashing in MN. A bunch of the pigs were carrying semi-automatic rifles. The expressions on their faces betrayed that they were spoiling for a fight, for a chance to kill someone.