PHILADELPHIA – Peace activist, Iraq veteran and musician Emily Yates faces trial Thursday for allegedly assaulting police officers during her arrest on Aug 31, 2013, after her performance at an antiwar rally at Independence Mall. The petite woman, her banjo strapped around her body, was standing under a tree when approached by several officers and told to leave the park. After multiple requests to the rangers for an explanation about why she was being asked to leave a public park during the daytime, she was grabbed from behind by more than half a dozen federal officers, who immediately folded her body over the back of a park bench. Seconds later, US Park Ranger Christopher Brooks, grinned as he lifted both her feet off the ground behind her, joking, “Is she fish, game or wildlife?” (https://youtube/watch?v=Q-yXeOmPc-k, 1:17) Officers also grabbed Yates’ banjo, choking her with the strap in an attempt to pull it off her, before hitting her in the face with the instrument, blackening her eye. The rangers’ refusal to tell Yates why she was being asked to leave a public park in the daytime, the mocking and dehumanizing comments by Brooks, and the unexpected violent arrest from behind, were followed by three days in solitary confinement at the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center without a phone call or access to an attorney. All this happened yards away from the iconic Liberty Bell after Yates had just finished marching, performing and speaking at a rally opposing military intervention in Syria as part of an international day of demonstrations for this cause. Yates sustained extensive injuries from the arrest, forcing her to cancel the remainder of her summer album release tour. The incident was caught on video by several bystanders, and quickly went viral on social media. Scott Olsen, a friend of Yates, fellow veteran and peace activist who recently won a lawsuit against the city of Oakland, Calif., for injuries sustained after police shot him in the head with rubber bullets at an Occupy Oakland march in 2011, saw the video. He recalled another veteran, Nick Morgan, who had his skull crushed by a police horse while peacefully protesting outside a presidential debate in New York in 2008. “How many veterans need to get brutalized by the police for us to realize there is a problem with how we approach policing?” Olsen said. Yates’ supporters include peace organizations Veterans for Peace, CodePink and Iraq Veterans Against the War. The violent arrest of IVAW member Emily Yates has painfully reminded us of the violent responses by law enforcement that our members in the past have experienced for speaking out against wars that we know intimately need to end,” said Matt Howard, IVAW communications director. “These aggressive responses are intimidation tactics meant to silence and make people question if it will be their safety at risk if they decide to speak against the status quo next time.” “As the video shows, it was in fact the police who assaulted Emily, not the other way around,” said a statement from Michael Wong, representing the Veterans for Peace Bay Area chapter. “Singing in a park with friends is clearly not illegal nor in any way of harm to anyone. Her arrest and charge of assaulting the police is outrageous and illegal.” The trial comes in the wake of a similar incident involving another protest attendee, Cecily McMillan, who was charged and convicted with assaulting an officer, after being grabbed from behind on her breast. “I was jumped by no less than half-a-dozen police officers,” McMillan said. “I was charged and unjustly convicted of felony assault of an officer and lost my freedom … In light of Eric Garner, of Ferguson—I consider myself very lucky that thats all I lost.” “What distinguishes this case from Cecily McMillan, is that Emily was not even fleeing, she was simply standing there under a tree in a park. She was never even given the opportunity to submit to arrest, but rather jumped from behind,” according to MonaLisa Wallace, civil rights activist and National Lawyers Guild member. “Charging her with assault is pretext and a coverup for the assault she endured. We are thankful that citizen reporters take the initiative to provide oversight for police misconduct. The right to assemble or gather peacefully is vital to ensuring justice in government; it is a political right that the First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees,” Wallace said. The assault on Emily Yates is a clear example of the militarization of police extending beyond outfitting and weaponry, to a mindset exhibited by many officers that view the public they are charged with protecting as the enemy,” said Nathan Sheard of CodePink. “This mindset sets the stage for confrontations that all too often turn violent not because of the community members, but beginning with the actions of the officers involved. As long as officers can continue to expect impunity for these assaults their frequency and gravity will continue to escalate. As CODEPINK we stand behind Emily Yates and against all forms of police violence.” A press conference will be held at the Philadelphia federal courthouse Thursday following the trial. Contact MonaLisa Wallace at greenfeminist@gmail for details.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:06:42 +0000
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