A newspaper editorial which actually defends the right of the people to peaceably assemble as set forth in the First Amendment! Clearly these editors have forgotten we live in a post 9/11 world:
Later this month, the area will receive national attention as some 4,000 convention delegates, 15,000 journalists and thousands of others cram in and around the convention site.
Included in that group are protesters who, according to a recent federal court ruling, will be expected to exercise their right to free speech from a fenced-in area near the convention grounds. Given the nature of protest, it’s possible these people will try to ignore the direction of the court and attempt to take their message outside of the fenced “demonstration zone.”
There is also a fear that impromptu marches on sidewalks and in front of downtown hotels could spill out onto the streets.
Denver police officers and others charged with keeping the peace undoubtedly are preparing for the worst-case scenario — one that involves tear gas, rubber bullets, riot gear and dozens of arrests. They are certainly right to prepare for that, but they also would be wise to remember that peaceful assembly is protected under the Bill of Rights. Police officers should exercise restraint when confronting citizens carrying signs and pamphlets protesting the war, Obama, McCain, Congress or whatever else protesters want to speak out against, as long as those citizens are not violent.
Of course, this editorial does not come from any of the large national newspapers or columnists renowned for their “liberal” bias. I wonder why? [Note: Irony alert]
But seriously, with all this talk and speculation about “violence” at the Democratic Convention it does make me wonder if someone in the government (i.e., the Bush administration) or the RNC has a false flag operation set to go to disrupt the convention and give the appearance that Democrats/Liberals are dangerous, violent, irrational and anti-American. Sort of like the ads we keep seeing from the McCain camp. Just saying, there appears to be something rank and rotten emanating from all this fear mongering and speculation about massive and violent protests which will, of course, require a massive police response along the lines of Chicago in 1968 or Seattle during the WTO meeting there in 1999.
Am I crazy, or does anyone else smell a rat? It’s not like our government doesn’t have a history of infiltrating protest groups for the purpose of instigating violence which can than be blamed on the “Left.” Or has anyone forgotten Cointelpro already? Frankly, after 8 years of vote suppression, vote stealing, corrupt political prosecutions by the DOJ, unwarranted domestic surveillance and spying on Americans on an unprecedented scale, and a host of other dirty tricks by republicans, why should we believe they will not take the opportunity to deliberately attempt to disrupt the Democratic Convention in which the the first African American nominee of either party for President is to receive his widest national exposure to date?
It would be straight out of the Rove playbook of ratfucking after all.
