Anti-war protester arrested in Clearwater for carrying sign that looks a lot like
THIS ONE
On Saturday, October 22,
a peaceful demonstration at the corner of Curlew Road and U.S. 19 in
Clearwater attracted no less than five squad cars due to the presence of a
sign deemed "obscene" by some anonymous motorist that phoned in a
complaint. In yet another display of spectacularly heavy-handed police
tactics, the protester was arrested instead of merely being asked to put
down his sign.
When it became clear that an arrest would be made, the rest of the peace cornering group converged several feet
from the squad car with both conventional and video cameras. Police were
asked to explain what the protester was being charged with, a subject upon
which the arresting officers were curiously mute. Shortly afterwards,
several other squad cars arrived and at one point, no less than six
officers were seen clustered around a pamphlet of some sort in an apparent
attempt to locate a crime that would be sufficiently heinous to warrant an
arrest.
At one point, the officers were inexplicably joined by a member of the
Department of Transportation (perhaps they needed an outside consultant?)
who remained at the site of the arrest until the protest disbanded almost
an hour later.
It is interesting to note the rationale given by the anonymous motorist
for removal of the sign (as communicated to the group by the Sheriff's
Department)...something about having to explain it to his or her
eight-year old daughter.
One wonders how this motorist explains children with limbs blown off by
U.S. cluster bombs. One wonders how he might explain the concept of
pre-emptive war and of the torture and indefinite detentions of people who
may or may not be terrorists. One wonders how he might explain how U.S.
sanctions punish the leader of a country by slowly starving the innocent
civilians who have the audacity to live in a place we have decided that we
don't like.
Oh yeah...that's right...he probably doesn't.
War is obscene. Torture is obscene. Stealing people's resources is
obscene. Poisoning the earth for millions of years with depleted uranium
weapons is obscene. Spending billions of dollars to promote death, while
there is poverty, homelessness, disease and despair aplenty in your own
hometown is obscene. These are far greater obscenities than a simple
four-letter word, and yet the perpetrators of those crimes are not only
allowed their freedom, they are supported in their profiteering by law
enforcement officials all over the country who must scour pamphlets and
call for reinforcements in order to find something, anything, that will
trump the Constitution and stifle dissent.
For more photos/info, click
here;
First person account
Carol Schiffler, reporting from occupied Florida