Was this police brutality ??? Please vote in survey...
Richard
North Providence, Rhode Island police "tackled" two union protesters
who were marching peacefully for workers' rights-
Alexandra Svoboda ended up with a severely fractured leg and a
ruptured artery, is undergoing multiple operations, and is at some
risk of losing her leg. A witness stated that one of the officers "...
[kicked] her legs from out from under her..." Police later charged her
with three counts of felony assault on police officers. Perhaps
embarrassed by the attention of the public, the police have since
reduced the charges.
The Providence Journal is conducting a survey asking the question: Did
the officers overreact?
At present, a slight majority of readers seem to believe so.
Please read the following article and view the photos to help you make
up your mind, and please consider registering and voting in the poll,
and offering a comment.
http://www.projo.com/perl/common/surveys/display_full.pl?poll_id=12864&site=projo
Photos are here:
http://jonathanmcintosh.smugmug.com/gallery/3293537
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Police defend actions in protest
01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 15, 2007
By Richard C. Dujardin
Journal Staff Writer
NORTH PROVIDENCE - As the police stepped up their probe into whether
officers used excessive force against a 22-year-old demonstrator whose
leg was twisted and broken during Saturday's protest against an Asian
restaurant on Mineral Spring Avenue, Deputy Police Chief Paul Marino
and Mayor Charles Lombardi both reiterated yesterday they don't
believe local officers did anything wrong.
Alexandra Svoboda, of 139 Wood St. in Providence and originally from
Lincoln, Neb., was in surgery yesterday for the second attempt to save
her leg. Meanwhile, outside Rhode Island Hospital, fellow
demonstrators from the Providence branch of the International Workers
of the World gathered to express their support for their fallen
colleague.
There are conflicting stories about how Svoboda - who has an aunt and
uncle who were FBI agents - was injured.
Lombardi said that on what he's been told he does not believe the
injuries "were caused by the town of North Providence." He said the
young woman, who was wearing an upside-down bucket around her neck,
may have suffered the broken leg after tripping and falling backward.
Mark Bray, a leader of IWW's Providence chapter, said he was standing
next to Svoboda on the lawn in front of Luca Music on Mineral Spring
Avenue. He said the incident occurred at a moment when demonstrators,
who he said numbered no more than 30, were trying to comply with the
Police Department's request to move from the middle of the road and
onto the sidewalk as they continued their march toward Jacky's Galaxie
restaurant - the target of the protest.
"I saw an officer put his hands on her and grab her as he went forward
into her," he said. "She was playing drums on the bucket, and she
recoiled." The impact caused her to fall back down into the crowd,
according to Bray, who says he then saw the police charge into the
crowd after her. "I was right nearby. She was dazed from the initial
encounter and then three cops converged on her. One took the task of
kicking her legs from out from under her while they pushed her to the
ground. It was a fall, but not a natural fall.
"I find it hard to believe that they could not have arrested her in a
normal manner. I would hope the police would be trained well enough to
simply arrest a young girl walking along the street without having to
do this to her."
He said he knows Svoboda and cannot believe the police assertions that
she hit them with her drumsticks. "She is not a hothead that would do
that. That sort of thing would be out of character for any of us."
Bray, a candidate for two master's degrees at Providence College in
areas of European and American history, said the IWW was formed close
to a century ago to help protect the rights of workers, though its
Providence chapter experienced a revival during the last year.
The IWW is active in New York where it has been waging a campaign to
organize employees of HWH Trading, also known as Dragon Land Trading,
a firm that supplies food for scores of Asian and Latino restaurants
from Maine to southern New Jersey. Billy Randel, who heads the union's
efforts in the food services industry, said HWH operates shops in the
New York area where employees work very long hours for little pay.
Bray said members here were recently tipped off by two former HWH
employees about restaurants in Rhode Island that HWH does business
with. The biggest of those was Jacky's Galaxie, with locations in
North Providence, Bristol, Cumberland, West Warwick and Johnston.
"They [the workers in New York] wanted us to let the customers up here
know what Dragon Land was doing and about Jacky's Galaxie's complicity
with it by purchasing supplies from Dragon Land, and that he should
purchase from a responsible supplier that respects labor law."
According to Randel, the owner of Jacky's Galaxie, Kin Wah "Jacky" Ko,
tried to have the protest called off by assuring the union that he had
changed suppliers. But the group demanded proof.
"The more we talked, they [the people at the restaurant] became more
hostile and topped it off by going to court to seek a restraining
order against us holding any more protests, which leads me to think
they do not intend to respect workers' rights."
Yesterday, Deputy Chief Marino and Mayor Lombardi said that the police
received permission from the state Department of Transportation to
review the surveillance videos of the intersection of Mineral Spring
and Douglas avenues, where the protesters gathered Saturday to begin
their half-mile march toward the restaurant, and are looking for any
businesses that may also have tapes of the march.
Marino said the tapes could help to determine how many marchers there
were. Police reports suggest that at least at the onset of the march
there were about 100 demonstrators, though the numbers may have
diminished after the confrontations with the police.
Lombardi, Marino and other officials listened to audio tapes of the
police communications during the protest, which they say became
increasingly urgent because protesters were not heeding their requests
to walk on the sidewalk instead of the road.
Lombardi said he only wishes that the protesters had extended the same
courtesy to the police that they had extended to the news media by
telling them what was about to take place.
"If they had told us what they were going to do, we could have
prepared and could have given them an escort," the mayor said.
"Instead they chose to tie up the second busiest roadway in Rhode
Island, backing cars up in both directions from Centredale to
Pawtucket. I can assure you they did not make any friends from the
people who had to use that road that afternoon."
"We could have worked along with them. Everyone has the right to
protest. They have a right to protest peacefully."
Yesterday, Svoboda's parents, Jan Enstrom and Scott Svoboda, of
Nebraska, said they have gone with little sleep since getting the
phone call early Sunday about what had happened to their daughter's
leg.
Svoboda's father said he questions the attitude of the police. "These
were 35 kids armed with nothing more than cell phones. My daughter is
not one to resist a police officer."
"She is a most peaceful loving person with a large heart," said her
mother, adding that she was not surprised that her daughter would have
gotten involved in a demonstration to support workers' rights. "That's
the kind of person she is. When she sees a wrong, she tries to right
it."
The parents said their daughter came up to Rhode Island three years
ago to visit a friend, and liked it so much she decided to stay,
taking classes at the Community College of Rhode Island.
When the police arrested Svoboda on Saturday, they charged her with
three counts of felony assault on police officers, a count of
resisting legal arrest and disorderly conduct. Marino said yesterday
that because none of the police officers were seriously injured, the
felonies were being reduced to misdemeanors. Jason Friedmutter, 23,
also of 139 Wood St., Providence, had been arrested the same day on a
charge of obstructing an officer and was released on $1,000 personal
recognizance.
Svoboda's parents said yesterday's surgery tried to increase the flow
of blood into her leg, to make sure it can be used in the future. Her
fractured leg is being held by an external brace with pins through her
skin and bones. There has been no discussion as yet about the
orthopedic surgery that may be required.
"She is in a lot of pain," her father said.
Staff writer Gina Macris contributed to this report.
http://www.projo.com/ri/northprovidence/content/protest_probe_08-15-07_L16OBI5.34bfbd4.html