Today’s Talk

September 3rd, 2008 by CD

AMY GOODMAN: I’m Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!, a daily public radio and television program. I was arrested yesterday by the police, along with my two producers. And I want to know what the policy is for reporters. We are fully credentialed, all of us, both from the convention and our own press credentials.

First, it was our two producers. It was over at 7th and Jackson. One of them, Nicole Salazar, had a camera. She was videotaping. The police moved in very quickly. She was stepping back behind the car. She was videotaping this whole thing. The police moved in at her. We have the videotape, played it on the show today. As she shouted “Press! Press!,” they said put your face in the ground. They pushed her to the ground. They put their boot in her back. Another one pulled on her leg, and they were telling her to keep her face down to pull along the gravel. Sharif Abdel Kouddous is our other producer. He was there. They threw him up against the wall. They bloodied his arm. They bloodied her face.

And I was called. I was on the convention floor interviewing the delegation from Minnesota and Alaska. I got a call, the producers are being arrested. I raced down here by foot. I went up to the riot police line. I said, “I would like to talk to a commanding officer.” This is all videotaped. And they took me, handcuffed me immediately, said, “You’re under arrest.” They pushed me to the ground. I said, “You can clearly see I have all the proper credentials.” I have my security clearance for the floor, for example, of the convention. So Secret Service came over, and they pulled it off. “Now you don’t,” they said.

So, my question is, they have—they face PC riot, probable cause riot. I’ve already been charged with a misdemeanor. What is your policy with the press? How is the press to operate in this kind of environment? And a last question is, our producers were here, but the police only allow in two people from each press, but this is empty, and all the police are here. They far outnumber us in the press. Why our reporters can’t be here?

POLICE CHIEF JOHN HARRINGTON: I don’t—I can’t—the last part of that, I can’t answer.

In terms of the policy, reporters have rights, and what we have tried to do is try and create a balance of that. If we announce, if there is an unlawful assembly or we are in the midst of a riot, we will announce—and I believe we announced routinely and rather loudly that we needed people to step out of the area—and that if reporters fail to do that, if they are in the midst of the riot, we can’t protect them, and it will be very difficult for us in a moment of that kind of chaos to be able to make those kind of fine distinctions.

What we have attempted to do is to expedite—if reporters are taken into custody—to expedite making sure that they are taken out of the general population, try to review their cases, and try and get them released from custody, pending further investigations. The fact that a person is a reporter or has a credential doesn’t give them additional rights to commit any crimes, though. And I don’t—while I don’t know your case—I haven’t seen your video, so I really can’t respond to what you’re saying happened there in that particular case.

AMY GOODMAN: What is the crime that the reporters committed but reporting on what is happening?

POLICE CHIEF JOHN HARRINGTON: And I can’t answer that question, because I haven’t seen your video. And I can’t really address that, because I think those cases are going to be eventually completely investigated. They will then be moved to a court for hearing, and that evidence would be part of that. And I really am not in a position to be able to argue the merits of the criminal case either way. But what I would say is that if a reporter is committing a crime while they’re there under their credentials, I think they become regular citizens. And I—so I cannot answer your question about that.

But, in general, what we’re trying to do is give reporters access. We have tried to give them, in fact, I think extraordinary access by embedding reporters in our mobile field force, as we were trying to do everything we can to make our operation as transparent to the news media as we possibly can. If we have reporters that are caught up in the middle of a riotous situation, our intention is to try and, as quickly as possible, separate them out, and given a quick preliminary investigation, if it’s at all possible, to get them released from custody, which I believe was done in your case.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you [inaudible] how soon will they be dropping the charges against us?

POLICE CHIEF JOHN HARRINGTON: They’ll investigate them, and if there is no grounds for the charges, I would expect they would, sure.

AMY GOODMAN: And the preemptive raid on I-Witness Video, the reason for that?

POLICE CHIEF JOHN HARRINGTON: I don’t know anything about that.

AMY GOODMAN: [no audio]… against my producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, and me. You heard what he said: he’s investigating.

And the second thing that he said, I asked him about, was whether—why there was a preemptive raid on I-Witness Video on Saturday at their home, the group that monitors police, where they’re staying in St. Paul. They come from New York and from around the country. The police moved in with a warrant that did not list their address but the house next door. They came into the house. One of those in charge, one of the authorities who moved in, had an AR-15 automatic weapon. When the police came into the living room, where the group was huddled, he had a pistol that was targeted at them.

Well, as for our case, we have been charged, Democracy Now! producers and I, with—I have been charged with a misdemeanor, obstruction of legal process and interference with a peace officer. Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar still face a charge of probable cause felony riot. We have yet to hear whether those charges will be dropped. The video of my arrest was the most viewed video on YouTube yesterday. You can go to our website at democracynow.org, where you can see that video, as well as Nicole Salazar videotaping her own violent arrest. Of course, she and Sharif had not gone to the protest to do that. They had gone to video what was taking place on the streets of St. Paul.

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