17 thoughts on “Police Fire on Protesters in Burlington”

1. 
   Protest Activity & Police Response
   
   New England Governors and Canadian Premiers Conference
   
   July 29, 2012

   As we have stated unequivocally for over two decades, the City and its police department welcome free speech, assemblies, sometimes manifesting in protest. Today we welcomed 300-400 peaceful people protesting a variety of causes and issues. Those gathering on our streets were given assistance by a host of officers closing intersections and blocking traffic so they could march through the streets of Burlington eventually stopping in front of the Hilton Hotel where they were allowed to gather blocking traffic on two separate occasions. It was only when a small number chose to actively inhibit the movement of approximately 200 people making their way to a dinner event and failed to comply with numerous warnings that this situation unfolded with conflict. Police have responsibility to ensure the free movement of those transiting out City.

   The following narrative outlines the chain of events based on information available now.

   Today the New England Governor’s and Eastern Canadian Premiers Conference began in Burlington. Throughout the day today a variety of protest groups rallied peacefully without incident at various locations in the City. Beginning in City Hall Park, moving through the streets of the City during the afternoon, gathering in front of the Hilton Hotel causing a short closure of Battery Street, moving on to Battery Park and returning to the Hilton Hotel for another gathering in the roadway between 300 and 400 protestors exercised their right to speech and assembly on a variety of topics. Following the final large gathering in front of the Hilton the majority of the crowd dispersed.

   Until 4:15 pm, all actions and events could were peaceful, as people exercised their right to assemble, their right to free speech and their right to protest. The Burlington Police Department made great efforts to protect these rights, and protect the safety of the demonstrators.

   At approximately 4:15 pm 60-70 protestors remained on Battery Street at the Hilton Hotel. Four buses arrived at that time to transport conference attendees from the Hilton to a conference dinner. As the buses arrived, protestors blocked the path of the buses in front of the Hilton. Unable to load the passengers for transport the buses drove away from the front of the Hilton but not before the path of travel was blocked for several minutes by protestors who surrounded them.

   As soon as the buses drove away from the Hilton they were followed to their alternate location at the rear of the Hilton on College Street. A group of approximately 40 protestors converged on the rear driveway with approximately ½ of the crowd standing directly in the driveway blocking the path of vehicles entering and exiting.

   At approximately 5:00 pm the first bus attempted to leave. A group of 20 to 30 protestors converged on the driveway blocking the bus. Initially, only a few officers were present attempting to move the crowd along. As the bus attempted to drive out of the driveway the protestors locked arms standing in the driveway refusing to move. They were requested to move and warned repeatedly to move but they only backed away a short distance to the sidewalk, continuing to block the egress of the bus.

   They were warned several more times before a crowd control team of officers with plastic shields and helmets was deployed to walk ahead of the bus following standard procedure to ensure that protestors were not struck and to assist the bus in leaving. As the officers walked forward they were physically confronted by the crowd. Some began pushing back toward the officers, others sat on the ground while at least two others laid down locking arms.

   As officers tried to move those sitting or lying in the driveway others began to push officers and interfere. As Officers attempted to arrest protestors several fled running from the scene. One dragged an officer who was holding him 20-30 feet west on College Street. As that occurred others in the crowd moved west and another officer tried to assist. The assisting officer fell over a sign that had been thrown to the ground. His helmet fell off and he was on the ground as some moved toward him. At that time two officers discharged defensive munitions including 8-10 pepper balls and a sting ball round (a defensive round used to deploy several small rubber “stingball pellets”). Both of these items are pictured in the attached photograph. We believe more than one protestor was hit with these rounds but have received no reports of injuries (other than indirect information about protestors who sustained superficial welts). Both of these discharges were defensive, to protect officers from those in the crowd who were moving toward them. At least one other person was sprayed with pepper spray during the incident. Burlington Police do not carry or use “rubber bullets” as has been characterized by some.

   Two officers sustained minor injuries during this portion of the incident.

   The most tumultuous persons in the crowd fled the scene as this skirmish unfolded. Police are seeking anyone with information about their identities.

   About 15 minutes later the three remaining buses attempted to leave. The crowd again formed in front of the officers escorting the buses. One woman grabbed an officer’s baton and was struck with two additional pepper balls. The woman then released the baton and moved away.

   Within the crowd at least one person was wearing goggles and carrying a stick, others carried milk – a tactic known to be used to decontaminate pepper spray, and medics were on hand.

   No arrests have been made at this time and investigation is continuing as police work to identify those who played active roles in the violence who fled the area.

   We have every faith that this will not change the welcoming nature of the City for lawful assembly and discourse

2. From http://www.greenmountaindaily….

   There are some truly bizarre things in the police report from Sunday’s demonstration, which is paraphrased here without independent verification.  First, none of us who were on the sidelines of the confrontation described here saw anything remotely resembling a protestor dragging an officer as was claimed by the Burlington Police.  People were shot repeatedly with heavy rubber projectiles, about 3/8 inch in diameter, not just “pepper balls”.  As police and their guard dogs were successfully pushing away those blocking the buses, heavily armored officers (presumably from the State Police) lunged into the crowd shooting.  In 30 years of political activism in Vermont, I’ve never seen anything remotely like this extreme overreaction on the part of police.

   It was a disturbing end to what was otherwise a glorious day, which brought together an unprecedented variety of environmental and social activists from all across our region.  They included representatives of the Innu people, whose territory in Eastern Quebec continues to be invaded by Hydro Quebec’s apparently insatiable desire to increase hydroelectric production, as well as powerline opponents from northern New Hampshire, and Sierra Club members and other tar sands opponents from all across New England, along with Occupiers, labor activists and so many others.

   The Burlington Police like to proclaim their commitment to free speech, which was admirably displayed throughout much of Sunday. But the sight of robo-cops on hair trigger alert, charging a few dozen people and firing their weapons out on College Street was a truly shocking and unnecessary end to an otherwise exceptional day.

3. At least the Burlington cops are still a far cry from the Anaheim cops.  As far as the Vt. State Police go, well, they’ve gotten used to getting away with all kinds of shit with their tasers, but with the media and social media there taking picture and filming, they didn’t get a chance to kill someone.  Poor frustrated fellows.  I hope when Donovan gets in, he takes a thorough look at the Vermont State Police.  It is long overdue.

   There ought to be a protest about Macadam Mason that includes a finger pointed at the overall use of force by police in this new age of tasers, crowd control, and the protection given to the Corporate Person.  We’re paying our taxes (while the Corporate Person is not) in order to pay for police protection for the bastards that cause the protests?  It would be nice for some class action suits by activists injured in protests to claim bazillions of dollars in ‘damages’ from the Corporate Persons who caused the protests that caused the police to injure the protesters.  Call it Instigation, whatever.

   Anyway, it’s been getting like the ’68 Chicago Democratic (goddamn Democrats) Convention out there all over the country as the Rich and the Corporate Reich take more of the nation’s wealth and resources, forcing confrontations like Sunday’s in Burlington.  It is a good thing for protesters to block free transportation to an expensive dinner for the people who are ‘collaborating’ with the Nazis.  AND, it is a good thing for Vermonters to get a taste of what folks have been getting all over this country for decades.  BUT, now the bastards maybe know that we won’t be so ‘polite’ next time.  SHAME comes home.  

   And, how do our 3 Congressional reps stand on this?  Hey Bernie.  Come on.  Explain it to us.

4. that Burlington hasn’t made a tank purchase yet.  

   I’m sure it’s not for lack of effort by the urban armaments dealers.

   Rule of thumb: if they buy it, they will use it.

5. and video up over at 7days.

   http://7d.blogs.com/blurt/2012…

6. I was not present at this incident.  As with anyone who was not present, there is a degree of speculation in what I am about to say.

   First and foremost, it should be noted that there is no peer-reviewed research stating that tar sand oil is more dangerous to transport than another type of oil.  It is reasonable, however, to expect such research before turning on the pump.

   I am relieved to hear that nobody was hurt.  Whatever force was used by the police was unquestionably non-lethal.  Whether or not the police used excessive force, it does not seem to be disputed that they employed whatever devices they used were used in a manner that did not cause physical injury.  

   The police did not intervene until late in the day when a subset of the protesters blocked conference attendees from travel.  The video accounts that I have seen clearly show that the protesters were warned not to block traffic, and the encounter happened as the motor coaches attempted to transport attendees to another meeting location.  The video shows that the police, at first, walked slowly and methodically, with no weapons raised, in an attempt to facilitate the lawful movement of the motor coaches.  The crowd refused to allow this lawful movement, and continued to block the vehicles.

   It is not clear, from the videos I watched, how things went south as fast as they did.  Whatever happened resulted in the tone changing very quickly.  After things got heated, you can see a gentleman in a red baseball cap enter the road to confront a lone police officer who was not protected with riot gear.  I could not tell if this particular encounter was aggressive or respectful.  Another video showed a firearm type device pointed directly at a female protester.  The protester was not scared sufficiently to move out of the aim of the weapon, but she was clearly upset.  Once the vehicles had passed, the police took a non-aggressive posture and I saw no weapons raised.  Some of the protesters continued to engage in behavior that was verbally abusive.  Ironically, they were protesting abusive behavior by engaging in a form of abusive behavior.  

   I respect whatever debate there may be concerning the level of response that the police used.  It is reasonable that the police should use as little force as necessary.  It is always healthy to review incidents such as this to ensure that the police are not using excess force.  It is good for the police to do so, and it is good for the protesters to do so.

   However, this subset of protesters did not have entirely clean hands.  They sought to deny others their constitutional right to freedom of assembly.  This protest was not held in a vacuum.  Just as the protesters had the right to assemble, so did the conference attendees.  By all accounts the conference had been a peaceful assembly.  While it may be upsetting, the attendee’s right to assemble is a core concept of our democracy.  When a small subset of people demands the unilateral power to dictate who can assemble, they undermine our Constitutional freedoms.  Just as the police respected the protesters’ right to assemble (as they had all day – and as they would have had the roadway been opened briefly to allow the motor coaches to pass), the protesters ought to have respected the conference attendee’s Constitutional rights.

   So there are two questions here:
   
   1) Did the police act appropriately?
   
   2) Did the subset of protesters undermine equality as it applies to the Constitutional right to assemble?

   I hope that both of these questions are assessed as a result of this incident.

7. Someone by the name of John Levitt (I believe??) stated that the police threw punches and he was personally shot 19 times with rubber bullets.  Given the scores of video cameras that you can see, is there any video evidence whatsoever to back up his claim?  If it happened it no doubt was caught on video.

8. I tuned into the incident after trying to drive up Battery street and finding a trip up into the ONE to be a better route.  MUCH earlier than this incident I suspect, but then did start to pick up the twitter of bullets being fired, etc.

   When the video started to pop up, I really thought I was looking at another incident in another city.   It is sad to see that the Burlington Police has moved to the psudo storm trooper approach that has overtaken copworld all over the country.  Jack boots, paintball guns without paintballs, shields, etc, etc.  Like the big city has moved to Vermont.   Yes there is that stupid paraMilitary tank/bus that the State cops were “given” to break down doors 3 hours from where it is probably needed-and the changing role of the gazer from weapon of NEXT to last resort to – weapon to insure immediate compliance, never what it was intended for but give a guy a whistle and he will blow it.

   The shock was the idea that we have moved so far into the paramilitary world of cop attire without knowing or suspecting it.  Homeland security is giving away money to everyone to support an industry manufacturing this stuff, and we now have it.  Odd that London can still control things without armed regular troops but we continue to move to robocop.

   It just came across as a stark reminder of where things can end up without citizen participation in the process.  Should we have a voice in the tools Police acquire to use against us?  Did Montpelier make the right call to discuss Tazers before adding them to the belt?  Did the Burlington Police commission even solicit input?  Were we all sleeping or do we have a simple fundamental belief that we will never be on the other end of a zillion volts?  

   I still didn’t like what I saw.  One cop just wheeled around and blasted a woman a few times who seemed to be just standing there yelling.  She must have been fairly intimidating.  Review is necessary. Review to the fundamental level of a question like:  Did this cost us more in overtime and PR than we gained in rooms and meals taxes?   Should we even be considering this type of gathering in Burlington?  You need a permit to parade down the street, should you need a permit to sponsor an activity that will promote or provoke the same type of response?  

   Bet the real tourists loved the competition.

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