When anti-war Iraq veteran Reverend Lennox Yearwood, President of the Hip Hop Caucus, tried to enter the Petraeus hearings wearing an "I Love the People of Iraq" button he was refused entry. When he questioned why others behind him in line were being allowed in while he was not, police threatened to arrest him and ultimately jumped him and tore some of the ligaments in his leg.
Luckily, someone had a video camera and captured the whole incident. And now BoingBoing has posted it, too. This should be interesting to watch how the story unfolds.
UPDATE: Reverend Yearwood YouTube's his side of the story here, and addresses the ANSWER Coalition here.
3 comments:
Let's not mis-characterize this as "jumping him," please. In watching the video, it seems clear he is brought down after he lunges towards the door to the hearing room.
Why they were trying to prevent him from entering is a separate issue on which I may or may not agree with you. But once someone tries to lunge his way past police towards a congressional hearing, I want that person stopped!
"Lunge" is also too strong a word; he tried to step around rather than through the officers. And considering how many were surrounding him, the breaking of his leg would appear to just be overly aggresive.
Even if they were valid in stopping him entering, they still used excessive force.
the man was attacked for trying to express his political views. Since when is it the job of the police in a democratic nation to supress political dissent? Their job is to uphold the law, not act as the strong arm of a ruling party that doesn't want to enterain dissent in the political process. It is shameful and corrupt on the most basic levels.
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