Code Pink at Berkeley: Hell no, they won’t go
Two women with the anti-war group CodePink were arrested Friday afternoon when they sat down on the floor inside the U.S. Marine recruitment center in downtown Berkeley and refused to leave, police said.
Dressed in pink and black, Pamela Bennett, 45, of San Francisco, and Mari Blome, 52, of El Cerrito, were arrested for trespassing on private property after being warned several times by police to leave, said Berkeley police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.
The arrests came during a regular weekly protest at the Marine recruiting center at 64 Shattuck Square. About 40 people attended the protest on Friday, including members of Copwatch, who this week have raised concerns about police crowd control tactics at the protests.
CodePink and other groups have been protesting at the center for several months. The protests have heated up recently after the City Council in late January called the recruiters “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.”
Kusmiss said CodePink and a group called The World Can’t Wait _ Drive Out the Bush Regime began rallying at the center about noon Friday.
At one point in the rally, Marine Capt. Richard Lund returned to the center, where protesters had affixed signs and stickers on the windows. When Lund began removing them, protesters tried to stop him, police said.
Someone slapped a sticker on Lund’s back.
When a police officer forced one of the protesters back from Lund, the protester challenged the officer, police said. Tensions rose but Lund did not want to pursue prosecution, police said.
Now, the police are under fire from the leftist thugs:
The Berkeley Police Review Commission voted Thursday to review the Police Department’s crowd control tactics, a result of a petition suggesting police violated first amendment rights during recent U.S. Marine Corps recruitment protests.
Activist groups World Can’t Wait and Berkeley CopWatch submitted the petition with more than 65 signatures and a nine-page “history of incidents,” to request Thursday’s 6 p.m. special meeting on police procedure. Activist group CodePink also presented concerns to the commission.
Police Review Commission Officer Victoria Urbi said the groups reported that a veteran at one rally was knocked to the sidewalk and that overall police have been too abrasive.
The commission’s response was to form a subcommittee that will analyze police behavior during past rallies and present any recommendations to the council, a process that could take more than four months, Urbi said.
She said the commission also voted to send a two-member delegation to meet with the police chief and the city manager to prepare for a heated March 19 demonstration in front of the recruitment center.
CodePink spokeswoman Zanne Joi said she was concerned with increased hostility and more restrictions from police, such as limiting banners and flyers since, the Berkeley City Council voted in favor of the activism.
You want to be concerned about increased hostility? Here’s the real, documented hostility.
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Didn’t know “slapping” someone was a first amendment “right”. I don’t care if it was his back. It was a physical slap. And that’s OK? Challenging a police officer?
And now this?
They can’t be serious…
This has got my blood boiling again, and it’s only Monday!
I’m impressed that the police actually did something! After that video of the police stating they “didn’t want to take sides”, refusing to stop that asinine human chain protest that the Code Pinkers made, I didn’t think that we’d see anything more out of the police… something that would slowly bleed the resolve of the recruiters.
Now that they actually arrested someone (always a good first step when people are breaking the law!) maybe we’ll see them stand up against the leftist backlash that is sure to come.
I would bet that any action the police take to enforce the law would be considered ‘abrasive’. After all, Code Pink believes they have a blank check from the Berkeley counsel for bad behavior.
I suppose one could look at not allowing protesters to put stickers on human beings and on the windows of private property as “limiting banners and flyers”… if you have a warped mentality.
They count on the fact that the recruiters have more decency than they do (such as that exemplified by Capt. Lund).
Now here’s a question: how many more resolutions and scoldings can we expect from the anti-military Berkeley city council in the wake of this? Are they going to be required to attend Code Pink sponsored sensitivity training so they know to be good law enforcement officers in the future and not interfere with freedom of speech that trumps the constitutional rights of private property holders?
God forbid a Police officer not let them turn him into an anti-war billboard.
CODE STUPID!!!
As someone who proudly works in a civilian capacity with law enforcement professionals, I am bemused at the childish tactics the Berkeley-ites are suggesting are necessary to “monitor” their police force.
??
You have got to be kidding, considering the well-documented incident wherein a person who opposed the protesters blockade of the recruitment center was told by police that they “were trying to remain neutral.”
I support any DeMint measure that would pull federal funding from this leftist bastion, and would have no problem with the notion that the citizens should just police themselves, the heck with any uniformed presence.
“Ladies and gentleman, the police aren’t there to create disorder. The police are there to preserve disorder.” -Mayor Daley, Chicago 1968.
nauseating…when is their reality tv show coming out?…”the real housewives of Frisco”?…
Michelle has liberals in a huff here And I think it’s funny.
Slapping a sticker on the back, is, in reality, an assault and battery. Capt. Lund didn’t want to stoop down to their level of ignorance. One thing I got out of the story…we know who runs the city: Code Pink. They yell, and the council winces and runs to do whatever they want. This is a city that is in serious trouble when anarchists run the show. The liberals will, of course, turn a blind eye, and celebrate their protests in private.
The police should just quit their jobs. Sounds harsh, but if these fools want to create anarchy, let them live with their results. Everybody can’t always have everything they want. Eventually, they would all start fighting amongst themselves.
As one pinker thinks, if there were no police on the streets, there would be no crime.
Well the bottom of the food chain has to start somewhere. It starts with Medea…..
Before the plice leave we need the Feds to stop ‘earmarks’ and any other funding the city gets. Once they are without their police might mean more to them.
Are these ass clowns being prosecuted, or simply removed to the police station and released to “responsible adults?” Or should that be “irresponsible dolts?”
Speaking of CodePinkery, I was in San Francisco this past weekend and while watching the local news, they had an in-their-own-words video segment with…Medea Benjamin! Aaaaagh! I quickly changed the channel.
Medea is the perfect Liberal. Never worked a day in her life. Just took Daddy’s money and ran wild. Wait till the Dems kill the inheritance tax….what will Medea do?
Talk is one thing, hands on is another. How about slapping a baby killer sticker on a woman who is about to kill (abort) her baby?
Yeah, Code Pink seems to have been given a mandate by the Berkeley City Council. No wonder they’re abusing the cops now too.
Reap what you sow Berkeley.
John,
A huff? Some of ‘em are completely unhinged. Of course it just makes it worse when you egg them on they way you do. Keep up the good work.
Stupid hippies.
I disagree. I think Code Pink is pretty smart. They see that we don’t enforce the law or American values against the illegal aliens, so they figure they can get away with their destructive behavior also. And they’re right, unfortunately.
Is this their idea of a peaceful protest?
You’re right, MM, and as you’ve said so often, Code Pink is really taking this protest stuff out of hand.
Only a dyed in the wool communist would suggest that a police officer intervening in an incident were a protester steps over the line and slaps a sticker on a United States Marine’s back has violated said communist’s first amendment rights. Those protesters are traitors, plain and simple.
Slapping someone on the back in the State of Georgia is a Felony.
This is a draconian law implemented during early settlement in the 1700’s when in Europe slapping someone on the back with a steel spike “to murder them” was all the terrorist rage back then.
Last I’d heard this law still has not been repealed from the State of Georgia Constitution.
Why is trespassing not enforceable in Berkeley? If a recruit is hindered of their free will to enter that office would that not be considered a form of simple assault? battery? or even kidnapping?
There were people arrested in front of the Chinese consulate in New York City yesterday protesting Tibet. They also thought the police violated their first amendment rights. You probably agree. You defend the police or the protesters depending on what they’re protesting.
Only the ACLU defends protesters in all situations.
You forgot this part.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/03/15/2008-03-15_protesters_clash_with_police_at_chinese_.html
I served in the USAF for 24 years, been in 3 shooting conflicts, and maybe I’m missing something here.
Why are MARINES allowing people to trespass? If its private property you can take certain actions to remove them. Why aren’t they hauling these losers out by their hair?
The “slap on the back” actually merits an assault charge under the Kalifornia Penal Code, but to expect any type of correct police conduct from the Berkley department is sadly not going to happen. They are cut from the same bolt of cloth that the Code Pinkos are. Would not be surprised if they were not all hired from Wackenhut rejects.
That is the funniest thing I have read all night long! Thank you for the side splitter!
People like Lund are going to have to start understanding, when they do NOT press charges, in situations like that, then they give the adversary the advantage, and the opportunity to start painting it as if he didn’t really have GROUNDS for pressing charges - advantage to the anarchists.
We cannot win this by fighting it the way our grandparents did in the 60’s, by letting the turkey butts do their worst and being content with the idea they’ll “learn in the school of hard knocks”.
No enemy has ever done more damage on American soil than did the “Young Democrat” hippy protesters of the ’60’s.
At this rate, there won’t be a school left for them to learn anything in.
These sluts of Socialism won’t stop until it costs them enough to make quitting attractive to them.
“Graciousness” of the opposition won’t get through to them - they see it as pure stupidity.
And when those of us old enough to see the ravaging from the ’60’s through today and what it has cost the communities of America in real terms to try to fight the Dim hippies anti-war and anti-”establishment” with polite good manners, it is plain that if we don’t get real with them soon, there will be nothing left to fight FOR.
These folks need to be charged with aggravated assault and Treason.
We need to wonder where the Asian and Middle Eastern enemies get the idea that if they push us we will fold and they will win???
Someone once said that something worth having needed to be worth defending.
Others said this nation was given to us at great cost, and should be worth preserving at great cost.
The Founding Fathers would meet us with the greatest of scorn should we have to face them with the LOSS of American structural integrity due to the practice of GOOD MANNERS when meeting rapscallions who are using downright FORCE against us.
How about slapping some appropriate stickers all over courtrooms of INJUSTICE? Like the ones that just ruled that California parents are CRIMINAL for homeschooling their own children???
LOL!
Then see if the ACLU defends all protesters “EQUALLY”!
#29 On March 17th, 2008 at 10:17 pm, ArmywifeArmymom said:
“‘Only the ACLU defends protesters in all situations.’
That is the funniest thing I have read all night long! Thank you for the side splitter!”
Agreed!
Wonderful buffoon relief!
Bottom line, we all need to stop caving to these anti-american groups…American Criminal Lawyers United, Code Puke, and all the others whiners. AS it’s been said above, if you don’t prosecute in what ever manner fits the situation they will beat us into submission…or the side with (guessing)85-90% of the guns in this country will revolt to save their way of life and save this country. All these anti-war anti freedom groups are in the minority…the silent majority speaks again in silence.
I’m also willing to bet the military’s lack of response is handed down from the Jags’ another bunch of liberals for the most part. Look at the rules of engagement in the WOR…liberal rules.
The world is up side down at the present, mostly due to the results of WWII…”stop the fighting at any cost.”
I rambled, had to or would have been banned from the site my anger is so intense about these left wing nuts.
Name dropping the A.C.L.U. by someone who doesn’t have A-CLU! A real yucker!!!
Hey, I like that phrase Ombre. It kinda fits them perfectly.
I seem to remember from her bio that she worked at a newspaper…in Cuba. Wonder how she’d fair trying doing this in Havana?
If I recall correctly she was booted out of Cuba for writing an article that Cuba’s government did not like. So, she did try exercising free speech there and it got her kicked out of the Country. Too bad we can’t kick the lying traitor out of this Country too!
BWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH
Does Code Stink have an office?
Has anyone considered a “protest” there???
Dave, I’m betting not. An office would require money to pay for things like rent, supplies, electricity, etc., and to get money they would need to be gainfully employed (again, doubtful), and being gainfully employed usually means not having the “free” time to sit on your a$$ in the middle of the day protesting.
But I may be wrong…
It is a testament to the character of our Marines that Lund did not stomp that protestor’s guts out.
Rip Ford said (#37):
I have to say, some of you guys can strike a riposte as surely as Oscar Wilde. One ingenious turn of phrase slices open my whole argument. Let her rip, Ford.
Strawman argument, lgm.
So, to refute your unreasoned assumption that we have some sort of moral relativity on this issue, violent protesters should be arrested. Nothing in the First Amendment gives anyone the right to assault anyone else for speech.
I believe in the free speech protected under the first amendment and I believe in the rule of law. The two are not mutually exclusive, no matter how in fashion Code Pink might believe it to be to disregard the latter while believing the former is a defense for their behavior.
Now, do you have an opinion on the Berkeley incident? Or was the goal simply to get us off track and talking about something else?
Do you believe that the protester had the right to touch Capt. Lund?
lgm, you’ll be sure to let me know when the ACLU sides with people protesting against gun control laws won’t you?
lgm, it looks like this time you didn’t read the whole story. Salt’s second quote is directly from the NY Times article on the matter. People were arested for being violent and obstructive, not merely for protesting the Chinese gov’t.
Now you know why some previous posters got a good laugh from your statement.
As John Adams noted in his defense of the Redcoats at the Boston Massacre, “a sentry’s post is his castle”. I’ll bet anyone that our Founding Fathers would approve of the Marine b-slapping anyone who dares to mishandle him.
Memo to abortion clinic protestors; ACLU will defend you.
Yes! It’s true, I heard it straight from the insulated ivory tower of lgm
The arrogance of these people is unbelievable. They have a f*&%ing CopWatch?
I say the police should do what every leftist loves: go on strike. No more police work. No more details. No more arrests.
Being against the law has never been an issue with these ungrateful worms before, I don’t see why it would be now. See how much they love Berkeley when the homeless they profess to love can sleep on their stoops without police intervention. See what happens when the Police leave town and the protesters get a bloody nose because no-oen is there to ensure the peace.
Let the hippies defend themselves. No armed services and no police. I give them a week.