Watch: LAPD Caught Kicking Cyclist at Anti-BP Protest

The Los Angeles Police Department has launched an internal investigation after one of its officers was caught on camera apparently kicking a cyclist during a protest against oil giant BP on Friday.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the incident took place on Hollywood Boulevard during a “Critical Mass” cycling event. Critical Masses — which involve cyclists riding through the streets to call for cyclists’ rights — typically take place on the last Friday of every month. This particular event targeted BP for its role in the Gulf oil spill.

Video of the incident, which was posted to YouTube, shows what appears to be a police officer stepping out and kicking at a passing bicycle.

“Whoa, what the f*** was that for?” the unidentified cameraman can be heard saying. Moments later, the video shows two officers converge on the cameraman and take him down to the ground

Anti-war Protester Brian Haw Arrested as Police Clear Parliament Square Ahead of Queen's Speech

Anti-war protester Brian Haw was arrested today as police carried out security sweeps ahead of the Queen's Speech. Mr Haw was seen being handcuffed by police as they cleared the area outside the Houses of Parliament before the monarch's visit this afternoon.

He and other peace campaigners have been camping there and maintaining a 24-hour peace vigil.

Police with sniffer dogs moved in this morning to search the ragtag collection of tents in what Scotland Yard said was a 'standard' security operation.

Mr Haw, who was wearing a grubby T-shirt declaring 'IRAQ 2,000,000 DEAD, 4,000,000 FLED, was allegedly trying to stop them when he was arrested.'

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The Toronto G20 Police State Crackdown

It appears as if the G20 summit in Toronto is shaping up to be a showdown between anarchists and police. Caught in the middle of the security circus are local residents. If there is violence and property damage, peaceful protesters will also be demonized. The recent bombing of a bank, perpetrated by a so-called anarchist group, has given an excuse to enact more police state measures during the summit. The curious timing of the attack emphasizes the threat of terrorism and further justifies the huge security apparatus being assembled.'

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Pensioner's Red, White, and Blue Anti-MP Election Protest Poster is Branded 'Racist' by Police

A pensioner who put up a red, white and blue election poster telling voters to kick out MPs was accused of racism by police.

After being inundated by canvassing politcians, Roy Newman, 74, decided to tell other voters: ‘GET THE LOT OUT.’

But 90 minutes after he put up the homemade sign up in an upstairs room at his house, two police officers arrived and threatened with arrest.

They said the Union Jack-coloured lettering on a white background could be considered 'racist'.'

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Police State Canada 2010 and the G20 Summit

The G20 summit will be held on June 26-27 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre preceded by the G8 summit which will take place in Huntsville, Ontario. The secretive meetings will be attended by world leaders, finance ministers, central bank governors, along with thousands of other delegates. It will be the largest security event in Canadian history exceeding the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Downtown Toronto will be turned into a security fortress with fences, barricades, checkpoints and street closures thus greatly affecting local residents. While the G8/G20 summits will attract their share of peaceful protesters, other more radical and fringe elements may try to capitalize on the event.'

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Support Tyranny Or You're A Terrorist

Support, or at least ignore, tyranny or the corporate media might call you a racist, anti-Semite, a terrorist, or all three epithets. Today, vocal, non-violent, civil disagreement or disobedience can be deemed as terrorist activity.

If the federal government labels you as a racist or anti-Semite, they can, with their new "hate" laws, arrest you. If, however, they label you as an "unlawful enemy combatant," for your out-spoken, anti-tyranny views, "our" government can "legally" have you picked-up, whisked to anyone of over 170 military bases around the world, held indefinitely, and tortured, all with-out charges, or the benefit of any legal defensive, and without any family or friends ever knowing what happen to you. No peaceful revolution is to be allowed in the land of the once brave and free.'

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UK Police Want Power To SEDATE Suspects

Police want the power to order dangerous suspects to be injected with a sedative.

They claim this would help them deal with people suffering from Excited Delirium Syndrome, a condition said to give victims very high levels of strength and aggression.

Allowing paramedics to sedate such people could reduce deaths in custody, the Police Federation believes.'

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Police Need More Powerful Weapons to Combat ‘Mumbai-Style Terror Attacks’ Says Police Chief

Police officers must be armed with even more powerful weapons to deal with a Mumbai-style terrorist attack in the UK, a top officer said last night.

Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner John Yates said officers needed a huge boost to their firepower to combat an atrocity where the aim is to kill as many innocents as possible in a matter of minutes.

His comments reflect grave concerns that Britain may not be able to cope with a copy-cat attack and suggest moves toward the greater use of 'heavy ballistic weapons' including rapid-fire assault rifles and C9 Minimi machine guns, as used by the SAS, as well as more powerful bullets.'

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The Transnational Homeland Security State and the Decline of Democracy

As the western world is thrown into debt bondage and the harsh reality of the draconian economic ‘reforms’ to follow, a social collapse seems increasingly inevitable. We will soon witness the collapse of western ‘civilization’. The middle classes of the west will dissolve into the lower labour class. The wealthy class, already nearly at par with the middle class in terms of total consumption, will become the only consuming class.

The state structure itself will be altering; nation-states will become subordinate to supra-national continental governance structures and global governance entities simultaneously. Concurrently, state structures will no longer maintain their democratic facades, as the public state is gutted, where all that remains and is built upon is the state apparatus of oppression. States will become tools of authoritative control, their prime purpose will be in establishing a strong military, as well as police-state apparatus to control the people. This is the dawning of the ‘Homeland Security State’ on a far grander scale than we have previously imagined. The object of ‘totalitarianism’ is to have ‘total control’. In this project of total control, state borders, as we know them today, will have to vanish; the institutions of oppression and control will be globalized.

As society collapses, the social foundations of the middle class will be pulled out from under their feet. When people are thrown to the ground, they tend to want to stand back up again. The middle class will become a rebellious, possibly even revolutionary class, with riots and civil unrest a very likely reality. The lower class itself will likely partake in the unrest; however, the youth of the middle class will be thrown into a ‘poverty of expectations’, where the world as they have known it and the world they had expectations to rise into, will be taken from them. Civil unrest is as inevitable as summer after spring.'

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UK's Discriminatory Criminalization of Dissent

In January 2009, Tebani's teenage son Yahia was one of tens of thousands of people who joined demonstrations in London against the Israeli bombing of Gaza. At one of those demonstrations Yahia and many others were "kettled" -- surrounded by a police cordon and slowly let out in return for giving their names and addresses and for being filmed.

That was the last Yahia knew of it until the following April, when the family home was raided by 20 to 30 police at 5am. The front door was forced open and Badi Tebani and his family were ordered to lie on the floor. His four sons were all handcuffed. Three police officers knelt on the back of Hamza, 23. He was sleeping in shorts, but they refused to let him put on any clothes, even though they'd opened the windows, letting in the cold. Computers, mobile phones and clothes were all taken and the family car was broken into. Badi and Hamza described how police played games on the boys' iPhones and made themselves coffee in the kitchen.'

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Second-hand Goods Shoppers told to Leave Thumbprints at Stores in New Police Scheme

Customers are being asked to leave a thumbprint when trading in second-hand goods for cash in order to stop criminals making money out of stolen items.

A number of second-hand stores in Norwich have agreed to take part in the scheme, launched by local police.

A police spokeswoman said the prints would help detectives trace sellers if goods turned out to be stolen.

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Police Secretly Snapping Up to 14 Million Drivers a Day

Police chiefs are facing the threat of a High Court privacy action over a nationwide network of cameras that is being used to take up to 14m photographs of motorists every day.

The images are being stored daily on a huge “Big Brother” database linked to automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) technology to track vehicles’ movements.

The records not only include details of car registrations, but often photographs of drivers and front-seat passengers, a police document has revealed.

They are being held on a database in Hendon, north London, for at least two years without drivers’ knowledge or permission.'

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Police Officers Must Face Trial by Jury

I don't think I'm the only one gawping in disbelief at yesterday's acquittal of Delroy Smellie, a sergeant in the Territorial Support Group of the Metropolitan Police. He was accused of assault after hitting Nicola Fisher at a protest in London on 2 April last year. She had gathered with others to commemorate Ian Tomlinson, who had died after being pushed over by police at the G20 protests the day before. Sgt Smellie hit Fisher across the face with the back of his hand, then twice on her legs with his baton, knocking her to the ground.

The judge, Daphne Wickham, said, "It was for the prosecution to prove this defendant was not acting in lawful self-defence. I have found the prosecution has failed in this respect and the defendant has raised the issue of lawful self-defence and as such is entitled to be acquitted." There was no jury.

In other words, Smellie was acquitted on the grounds that he was acting in self-defence. All I have to go on is the video evidence, but, having watched it several times, I find this verdict amazing.'

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Subway Riders Question NYPD’s ‘Ridiculous’ Show of Force

Some people in New York are wondering whether the presence of police officers toting machine guns through the city's subway tunnels is really a necessary response to the subway bombings in Moscow on Monday.

"I think it's ridiculous," Torey Deprisest, a tourist from Ohio, told the New York Post. "The attack happened in a different country and had nothing to do with Americans. I'd be nervous seeing cops with machine guns on the train. It makes people afraid when they don't need to be".'

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Police Criticised For Staging Mock Burglaries

It was meant to be an imaginative way of hammering home the message that some householders are making life too easy for burglars. But police were under fire today after admitting they had been sneaking into people's homes through open doors and windows and gathering up their valuables into "swag" bags.

Officers in Exeter –who left the swag behind, together with crime prevention information – found more than 50 unsecured properties and claimed people had been glad to receive the wake-up call and advice. But not all residents were happy and a criminal lawyer suggested that the police may have been guilty of trespass.

One resident, Mike Parsons, said: "Since when have members of the constabulary been allowed to enter into someone's private property uninvited and without a warrant? How long before a police officer is attacked and fatally wounded by a worried householder who hears a noise downstairs and then attacks the intruder? This is trespass plain and simple".'

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Resistance

"Time to end this! Enough is enough!" With those words, Officer Troy Meade of the Everett, Washington Police Department fired seven rounds into the body of Niles Meservey, killing him instantly. At the time, Meservey was stupefied by alcohol and sitting behind the wheel of his Corvette. The car was completely boxed in by other vehicles and a chain-link fence. According to several eyewitnesses -- including another police officer -- the 51-year-old man wasn't going anywhere, and posed no threat to anyone. Meade shot the drunken man not because of any threat to himself or others; he did it because he was angry and frustrated over Meservey's non-compliance.'

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The McCain-Lieberman Police State Act

If enacted, it will advance what this writer addressed in a December 2007 article titled, "Police State America - A Look Back and Ahead," covering numerous Bush administration laws, Executive Orders (EOs), National and Homeland Security Presidential Directives, edicts, and various illegal acts targeting designated domestic and foreign adversaries, dissent, civil liberties, human rights, and other democratic freedoms.

Straightaway post-9/11, George Bush signed a secret finding empowering the CIA to "Capture, Kill or Interrogate Al-Qaeda Leaders." He also authorized establishing a covert global gulag to detain and interrogate them without guidelines on proper treatment.

Other presidential directives ordered abductions, torture and indefinite detentions. In November 2001, Military Order Number 1 empowered the Executive to capture, kidnap or otherwise arrest non-citizens (and later citizens) anywhere in the world for any reason and hold them indefinitely without charge, evidence, due process or judicial fairness protections of law.'

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The New Intolerable Act

To all free Americans who still hold dear the Founders' vision of a constitutional Republic and who wish to remain free --

Nancy Pelosi's Intolerable Act has been given passage by means so corrupt and twisted that even members of her own party recoil in disgust.

This act orders all of us to play or pay, and if we do not wish to, we will be fined.

If we refuse to pay the fine bout of principle, we will be jailed.

If we resist arrest, we will be killed.

They will send the Internal Revenue Service and other federal police to do this in thousands of small Wacos, if that is what it takes to force us to submit.'

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Obama Supports a National DNA Database

Obama has come out in favor of forcing people arrested to submit DNA to a national database.

“President Barack Obama’s embrace of a national database to store the DNA of people arrested but not necessarily convicted of a crime is heartening to backers of the policy but disappointing to criminal-justice reformers, who view it as an invasion of privacy,” reports Politico. “Others also worry the practice would adversely affect minorities.”

It would affect all Americans regardless of race, creed, color, nationality, etc. It would also be a violation of the Fourth Amendment.'

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The DNA of a Police State

Brown notes that the DNA database has helped to effectively prosecute offending criminals. As with any technological development, such a tool can be used for good or for ill. The problem lies not in the use of the technology itself, but in the strong-armed monopoly of force wielding the power; aka the government.

A free-market based on voluntary endorsement and association would be most effective at regulating against unjustifiable usages of technology. Any breach of contract in such a circumstance would be much less devastating to the overall welfare of the populace, due to the dynamic nature of a competitive economy. A forceful monopoly offers no such refuge.