Fairport, NY - Police
arrested three anti-war demonstrators for allegedly trespassing at
the privately-owned district office of Congressman Randy Kuhl (R -
NY), apparently on the orders of
Welker Property Management, the
landlords. Two of the three arrested were carrying signs related to
"9/11 Truth," including Wendy Painting, one of those arrested, who
is a member of "Rochester 9/11 Truth" and an Indymedia reporter.
Painting says all of
those arrested were press members. She says that police confiscated
her camera and later used its conditional return as incentive to
provide information about other cameramen at the event.
"I was told that if I
identified the other people taking pictures, I would be allowed to
keep my camera."
Because she refused
to identify others, she was told she won't be able to get her camera
back until December. She was released with a citation and her camera
remains under police custody.
Wendy Painting said
police had also threatened her with jail when she initially refused
to show ID and also acted suspiciously towards a tattoo on her arm
depicting a "smoking pistol" that Painting says is a personal
memento that should obviously be irrelevant to police concerns.
Matt Reed, one of the events' organizers,
discusses his reasons for the protest.
The fact that
police have chosen to target public photography is a frightening and
unconstitutional trend that violates the first amendment, as both
the right to free speech and the right to a free press are
guaranteed. Mayor Bloomberg has sent shock waves when he announced
his
intentions to heavily restrict public
photography without a city permit and a $1 million insurance
policy, though he has now backed-off under
pressure from vocal critics.
The criminalization
of independent journalism and freedom of speech must not be allowed
to stand-- the republic is under attack and the country can
certainly not be defended by a complicit deaf-and-dumb mainstream
media.
