So in your mind that makes what happened justified?
I'm not saying there isn't possibly wrongdoing on the part of the police. But my tendency is to believe the police had a reason for what they did, in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
I'd say they were aggressive because they are outnumbered by protesters, and that is what they felt was necessary to get people to leave the area as they were instructed by police to. They asked them once, and they said "Hey, we're press, we have a right to stay here." My belief is when the reporters (and other protesters) didn't leave, they used a degree of intimidation to get them to comply.
If the reporters had said
"Hey, no problem, if law enforcement says we need to move we'll move" or otherwise had nonverbally complied, they wouldn't have been whacked into compliance.
A cop doesn't say
Hey, if it's not too much trouble, I understand your feelings, but we'd really like you to move.No.
That wouldn't get much cooperation.
Instead he says it as he means it, forcefully, in a way that motivates a threat of penalty if one doesn't obey. He says:
Move. NOW!And I, for one, respect the law and comply, and if I felt it was incorrect, I'd go later to the police station, speak to his superior, or file a complaint. And I have.
As I said previously, I've also been detained by police, and complied in that situation as well. I waited 20 or 30 minutes, until they got the criminal in custody.
In the same situation, Promod would have been all
fuck you motherfucker, where do you get off!! I've got rights!! And they'd have tossed his defiant-child ass in the backseat with handcuffs, and then in the city jail. Whereas I let the cops do their job, rolled with it and stayed out of the way.
