Community is urged to report incidents of police abuse, mistreatment, and arrests during Trump protests
By Alliance San Diego
PRESS CONFERENCE:
Tuesday, May 31 at 11 AM
Under the Barrio Logan Gateway Sign on César Chavez Parkway between Main Street and Newtown Avenue
Phalanx of San Diego police confront lone citizen on Harbor Drive
(Photo by Gabriela Martínez Córdova)
Community leaders were shocked by the unwarranted show of force that law enforcement used during the peaceful rallies and marches that took place on Friday May 27 in response to the visit of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
“It is reprehensible that Mayor Faulconer and Chief Zimmerman ordered riot police and armored vehicles to descend into Barrio Logan, a historic community with a rich tradition of advocating for civil, human rights and the self-determination of the Mexicano community. Such violent action was an irresponsible act of provocation that was only successful in driving a bigger wedge between the police department and our community,” said Kiki Ochoa, a member of Unión del Barrio, one of the organizations that led a large contingent into downtown from Barrio Logan without incident.
“San Diegans demand that Mayor Faulconer and Chief Zimmerman account for their actions that created unnecessary tension and arrests in Barrio Logan. The use of small tanks and riot police against San Diego residents has no place in America’s Finest City. If residents were victims of police abuse, we urge them to have their stories documented with the ACLU at (619) 232-2121,” said Pedro Ríos, Director of the American Friends Service Committee in San Diego.
This link provides Video and photos contrasting extreme show of force and peaceful protest in community.
For many years, San Diego community leaders have engaged with city leaders and law-enforcement officials to dialogue about public actions involving protected First Amendment speech. This had been done in order to ensure that the right to peacefully assemble occurs without the encumbrance of disproportionate and unnecessary force. But on Friday, that right was undermined by law enforcement and city leaders, which turned Barrio Logan into a militarized zone, threatening residents and scaring families.
In the late afternoon, either Mayor Faulconer or Chief Zimmerman, decided that the assembly in the free speech zone at the Convention Center was unlawful and began to disperse the crowd, but the bulk of the force appeared to be aimed at pushing mostly Latino community members into Barrio Logan. Law enforcement officials dressed in riot gear with armored vehicles behind them, marched in a wall of force that stretched the width of Harbor Drive, pushing a small number of protestors from downtown San Diego into the residential area of Barrio Logan, over a mile away.
Once in Barrio Logan, the community was surrounded by SDPD squad cars with lights flashing, corralling people in the neighborhood. The Mayor’s and Chief’s decision to effectively put Barrio Logan under Martial Law is irresponsible and violates the community’s trust.
Just moments before riot police descended into Barrio Logan, leaders at a peaceful rally at Chicano Park, attended by families—including seniors and children—had urged rally goers to go home peacefully and enjoy the holiday weekend.
Last Friday’s actions by the San Diego Police Department eroded trust with the community and violated the long-standing tradition of residents exercising their constitutionally protected right to peacefully assemble without police provocation or interference.
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Encouraging the distrust of law enforcement through inflammatory language (small tanks, violent action, militarized zone, etc.) is much more irresponsible than preventative measures taken by the SDPD.
so.. where there small tanks tho? isn’t it violent to form a wall of armored police and push ppl back a mile? isn’t that bit militarized? what language do you perfer is used?
If people gathered in protest at your neighborhood park, or community association meeting and police showed up like this, would you be upset and call it a militarizing of your neighborhood?
Amen, Julie.
We can start debating semantics, but I believe the work “tank” conjures up images of armored vehicles that fire large artillery shells. While technically a “tank”, armored vehicles used by police are typically referred to as “armored cars.” And when I hear “violent” I tend to think that the action is designed to hurt, damage, or kill someone. A slow march to push people back a mile is forceful, but “violent” makes me think they were clubbing and beating everyone in their path.
My worry is that descriptive words conjure different images in different people’s minds. And some people who were angered by police action described in this article may feel compelled to retaliate, thus continuing the cycle of violence from and toward the police.
If the previous two gatherings at the neighborhood park had escalated to riots, I would not be upset to see the police arrive in large numbers to break up the crowd before anything escalated.
Mark, you criticize the writer for “inflammatory language” but what about the inflammatory ACTIONS of the police? Does that get a pass in your world? And in what rational world do peaceful political protesters get the same face-down-on-the-ground treatment as a violent felon?
SDPD itself incited most, if not all, of the arrests. The Takedown of Bryan Pease is the most visible, most egregious example, but it happened at least 35 times — one for each arrest.
Wait and see how many charges are actually brought. That’s the test of whether the police were really “doing their job.”
Trump’s previous two rallies ended with riots as day turned to night. SDPD set out to make sure that trend stopped here. How SDPD catches flack for this is beyond me. Trump gets a bunch of gun-toting bigots and lunatics riled up and leaves the local police to deal with the mess. And the police are the bad guys?
If it walks like a Fascist, carries guns and herds a few people aided by armored vehicles, and throws what seems to be a candidate for the office of City Attorney, and no one knows who ordered the actions and the mayor and chief aren’t commenting on the evidence… it’s Fascism.
Easy there slugger. I might entertain the Fascism idea if the United States Army showed up to prevent Hillary and/or Bernie (or any other liberal leader) from speaking and then took control of the election process by force or threat of force (thus denying the people’s voice).
But here, we have the local law enforcement showing up to make sure the recent trend of protests-turned-riots (both political sides to blame) at Trump rallies didn’t continue in San Diego. Without Anaheim and Albuquerque, this level of police presence is unjustified. But Anaheim and Albuquerque happened, so SDPD came in heavy. Unfortunate, but justified.
it’s gotta start somewhere… and the condoning by citizens is part of that start.
Yes, I condone the prevention of riots. If that puts me on the slippery slope to fascism, so be it.
If you lived in Lakeside, and the sheriff’s deps and SDPD’s Swat team came in an cleared out 35 of your brothers from a bbq pit on a city corner, armored vehicles and all, what would you call it? Law enforcement? And, don’t call me slugger, Marc no-last-name. This is a mixed crowd you’re talking to.
If similar get-togethers had resulted in rioting the previous two times, I would call it law enforcement.
Really? they needed hundreds of police and deputies to push what looked to be a dozen or so people all the way down Harbor Drive into Barrio Logan to prevent…what? The confrontations and shoving and shouting at the convention center was long over and literally a long way behind them. It was a waste of time and resources, but nice filler for CNN, et al. They just can’t help themselves focusing on the civil unrest and hoping that somebody will throw a rock, while the demagogue’s rants fade into the background.
Typical San Diego response to Democratic forces, especially if they are minorities. Armored vehicles to control a peaceful demonstration? WTF? We came across as “America’s finest Nazis” instead of America’s Finest City. Why not have a mobile wall follow Trump around to get the real feel for what he stands for. What’s next, do we send settlers into the Baja to get some more coastal properties? Puhleeeeze.
Being that what happened on Anaheim and Albuquerque, what should have SDPD done differently and other Trump rallies getting a bit overzealous on both sides? No one denies Trump is a POS (other than his supporters) but again what should SDPD have done different?
The preparation was fine, in light of the recent violent protests. But, SDPD oughta know better than anyone that San Diego demonstrators aren’t like those in other places.
But, once all that power was amassed, it was obviously difficult to control. NBC has a video posted that shows an officer beating a man about the head 4 times with his club. Then, a sergeant takes his arm and tells him to cool it. Does the sergeant reprimand the officer? Heck no.
What police should do different goes all the way back to philosophy, hiring and training. But, as we have seen so many times, SDPD brass are just in effective and officers are out of control.
Sorry, that’s ineffective.
Here’s the thing – even if you could reliably say that “San Diego demonstrators aren’t like those in other places”, it’s not the real demonstrators that are the problem. It’s the a-holes who see a crowd and a national audience and want to see something happen.
The later the day gets, the more of these people show up. Police break up the demonstrators after a while because, at some point, somebody does something stupid to ignite the powder keg (i.e. crowd panic and fear). They’re not breaking them up because they’re doing something wrong, they’re breaking them up because the longer the crowd exists, the more volatile the situation becomes. At some point it turns from a free speech issue to a public safety issue, and SDPD wanted to shut everything down before that transformation occurred.
Mark, you’re exclaiming. Videos of the day defy your claims. You lecture, suppose and exaggerate, and plead some special knowledge. But, you have Big Media on your side, and the Donald, so you’re doing better than us here on the ground.
Trust me when I say that Donald Trump being a step away from the White House is one of the scariest developments of my lifetime (no exaggeration). Please don’t take my comments as pro-Trump rhetoric. That really couldn’t be further from my intention.
I’m just trying to caution against vilifying the police when you don’t have to. The majority of police officers are good people who do a very difficult job. The majority of minorities are good people who face unfair disadvantages. Inflaming the distrust between these two groups will undoubtedly make it harder for each. That’s my concern.