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solarbirdPolice are still rioting.
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Law Enforcement Scoured Protester Communications and Exaggerated Threats to Minneapolis Cops, Leaked Documents Show
Mara Hvistendahl, Alleen Brown
June 26 2020
https://theintercept.com/2020/06/26/blueleaks-minneapolis-police-protest-fears/
Newly leaked documents reveal that, in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, local and federal law enforcement agencies repeatedly told police in Minnesota that they were under attack. The fears stoked by the warnings appear to have set the stage for the police’s escalating, violent response to the protests, including the widespread use of tear gas, percussion grenades, and rubber bullets, sometimes fired at close range.
The documents show that law enforcement leadership warned of potential threats from antifa and “black racially motivated violent extremists,” as well as vaguely described social media users. Federal and local agencies collected intelligence drawn from private online messaging groups and Slack channels, according to the documents. The agencies also tracked Facebook RSVPs to peaceful protest events, including a suburban candlelight vigil.
The window into the police’s internal memos came thanks to a trove of documents called Blueleaks, which were published on the website Distributed Denial of Secrets. The site’s founder told Wired that the documents came from the hacking collective Anonymous, or someone claiming to be affiliated with the group. Government officials whose files appeared among the documents told the Intercept they were “illegally obtained,” but no questions have been raised about their authenticity. The documents on Minnesota are from a host of local and federal law enforcement agencies and coordinating offices that worked to share information between them.
While the documents reveal concern over groups with a professed commitment to unrest, like the far-right group Boogaloo, they also suggest a tendency to categorize standard protest behavior as a threat to police. For instance, a May 28 document from the Minnesota Fusion Center, a post-9/11 body that coordinates among various law enforcement agencies, warned that police should look out for a dizzying array of suspicious behaviors, including people possessing balloons or bike locks and wearing masks — a description that includes many of those who took to the streets during the pandemic.
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‘A problem that we need to solve’: Harris takes on policing
By KATHLEEN RONAYNE
June 25, 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/a-problem-that-we-need-to-solve-harris-takes-on-policing/
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When pressed to take a position on tough issues during the Democratic presidential primary, Kamala Harris often replied with a variation of “we need to have that conversation.” But as the U.S. is roiled by police killings of Black men and women, the California senator is done hedging.
As one of two Black Democrats in the Senate, Harris took a lead role this week in blocking Republican-backed legislation to overhaul policing. In an interview with The Associated Press, Harris said she wouldn’t be “played” by GOP leaders seeking to move the bill without input from Democrats and called on Americans to do more to acknowledge racial injustice in policing.
“There is a problem that we need to solve,” she said. “And the problem is that we have American lives that have ended at the hands of excessive force and police brutality.”
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Cari Wade Gervin
twitter.com/carigervin
26 June 2020
https://twitter.com/carigervin/status/1276487496948465665
“Our job just doesn’t look good on video,” says police union head, denying that video of white HCSO cops beating an unarmed black pedestrian actually shows them beating the man. “Strikes were very light … we call ‘em pain compliance” https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2020/jun/25/union-denies-beating/526195/
[EMBEDDED IMAGES FROM STORY - said embedded images show police union head lying about content of video]
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Plan advances to allow dismantling Minneapolis Police Dept.
By AMY FORLITI
and STEVE KARNOWSKI
June 26, 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/minneapolis-council-puts-plan-to-abolish-police-in-motion/
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously advanced a proposal to change the city charter to allow the police department to be dismantled, following widespread criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd.
The 12-0 vote is just the first step in a process that faces significant bureaucratic obstacles to make the November ballot, where the city’s voters would have the final say. It came amid a spate of recent shootings in Minnesota’s largest city that have heightened many citizens’ concerns about talk of dismantling the department.
The proposed amendment, which would replace the police department with a new “Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention” that has yet to be fully defined, next goes to a policy committee and to the city’s Charter Commission for a formal review, at which point citizens and city officials can also weigh in.
“I hope that the Charter Commission will recognize the moment that we are in and take our offer of support, however we can provide it, to expedite this process so that voters have a chance to have their voices heard on this important question and this important moment in our city’s history,” Council President Lisa Bender said before the vote.
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Richmond, Virginia, June 27, 2020 - this single clip shows _two_ people targeted with flash grenades directly in the face, one of whom is the photographer. [THREAD]
https://twitter.com/JLJLovesRVA/status/1276794012633104385
- Law Enforcement Scoured Protester Communications and Exaggerated Threats to Minneapolis Cops, Leaked Documents Show
- ‘A problem that we need to solve’: Harris takes on policing
- "we call ‘em pain compliance"
- Plan advances to allow dismantling Minneapolis Police Dept.
- Richmond, Virginia, last night - this single clip shows two people targeted with flash grenades directly in the face, one of whom is the photographer.
----- 1 -----
Law Enforcement Scoured Protester Communications and Exaggerated Threats to Minneapolis Cops, Leaked Documents Show
Mara Hvistendahl, Alleen Brown
June 26 2020
https://theintercept.com/2020/06/26/blueleaks-minneapolis-police-protest-fears/
Newly leaked documents reveal that, in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, local and federal law enforcement agencies repeatedly told police in Minnesota that they were under attack. The fears stoked by the warnings appear to have set the stage for the police’s escalating, violent response to the protests, including the widespread use of tear gas, percussion grenades, and rubber bullets, sometimes fired at close range.
The documents show that law enforcement leadership warned of potential threats from antifa and “black racially motivated violent extremists,” as well as vaguely described social media users. Federal and local agencies collected intelligence drawn from private online messaging groups and Slack channels, according to the documents. The agencies also tracked Facebook RSVPs to peaceful protest events, including a suburban candlelight vigil.
The window into the police’s internal memos came thanks to a trove of documents called Blueleaks, which were published on the website Distributed Denial of Secrets. The site’s founder told Wired that the documents came from the hacking collective Anonymous, or someone claiming to be affiliated with the group. Government officials whose files appeared among the documents told the Intercept they were “illegally obtained,” but no questions have been raised about their authenticity. The documents on Minnesota are from a host of local and federal law enforcement agencies and coordinating offices that worked to share information between them.
While the documents reveal concern over groups with a professed commitment to unrest, like the far-right group Boogaloo, they also suggest a tendency to categorize standard protest behavior as a threat to police. For instance, a May 28 document from the Minnesota Fusion Center, a post-9/11 body that coordinates among various law enforcement agencies, warned that police should look out for a dizzying array of suspicious behaviors, including people possessing balloons or bike locks and wearing masks — a description that includes many of those who took to the streets during the pandemic.
----- 2 -----
‘A problem that we need to solve’: Harris takes on policing
By KATHLEEN RONAYNE
June 25, 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/a-problem-that-we-need-to-solve-harris-takes-on-policing/
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When pressed to take a position on tough issues during the Democratic presidential primary, Kamala Harris often replied with a variation of “we need to have that conversation.” But as the U.S. is roiled by police killings of Black men and women, the California senator is done hedging.
As one of two Black Democrats in the Senate, Harris took a lead role this week in blocking Republican-backed legislation to overhaul policing. In an interview with The Associated Press, Harris said she wouldn’t be “played” by GOP leaders seeking to move the bill without input from Democrats and called on Americans to do more to acknowledge racial injustice in policing.
“There is a problem that we need to solve,” she said. “And the problem is that we have American lives that have ended at the hands of excessive force and police brutality.”
----- 3 -----
Cari Wade Gervin
twitter.com/carigervin
26 June 2020
https://twitter.com/carigervin/status/1276487496948465665
“Our job just doesn’t look good on video,” says police union head, denying that video of white HCSO cops beating an unarmed black pedestrian actually shows them beating the man. “Strikes were very light … we call ‘em pain compliance” https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2020/jun/25/union-denies-beating/526195/
[EMBEDDED IMAGES FROM STORY - said embedded images show police union head lying about content of video]
----- 4 -----
Plan advances to allow dismantling Minneapolis Police Dept.
By AMY FORLITI
and STEVE KARNOWSKI
June 26, 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/minneapolis-council-puts-plan-to-abolish-police-in-motion/
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously advanced a proposal to change the city charter to allow the police department to be dismantled, following widespread criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd.
The 12-0 vote is just the first step in a process that faces significant bureaucratic obstacles to make the November ballot, where the city’s voters would have the final say. It came amid a spate of recent shootings in Minnesota’s largest city that have heightened many citizens’ concerns about talk of dismantling the department.
The proposed amendment, which would replace the police department with a new “Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention” that has yet to be fully defined, next goes to a policy committee and to the city’s Charter Commission for a formal review, at which point citizens and city officials can also weigh in.
“I hope that the Charter Commission will recognize the moment that we are in and take our offer of support, however we can provide it, to expedite this process so that voters have a chance to have their voices heard on this important question and this important moment in our city’s history,” Council President Lisa Bender said before the vote.
----- 5 -----
Richmond, Virginia, June 27, 2020 - this single clip shows _two_ people targeted with flash grenades directly in the face, one of whom is the photographer. [THREAD]
https://twitter.com/JLJLovesRVA/status/1276794012633104385
