Protesters Facing 70 Years in Jail for Being Near a Riot

The protest was planned beforehand in a series of meetings focusing on how they could best carry it out. Logistics and lawfulness were both discussed.

After the protest started it moved across the city without coordination. A small group adopted black bloc tactics. They ended up breaking some windows and burned a limo. When they reached the intersection of L and 12th streets, they were trapped and arrested. They arrested over two hundred. people while a hundred more escaped. [3]

Police had known about this “riot” far beforehand. They had infiltrated many of the planning meetings for it. One of the questions asked was how “arrestable” the march was, in an effort to stop this kind of thing from happening. The answer given was that there had been no mass arrests in that area from demonstrations in its history. The police found no evidence of planning to do anything illegal in the meetings. (Even infiltrating these meetings is a violation of the first amendment.) Later the police searched all of the houses of those in the planning sessions, and found no evidence of illegal activity.

Multiple cops infiltrated the protest, and others sat and watched the majority of it. They did not stop protesters from destroying property. The police allowed it to happen and then when there was enough destruction had occurred, trapped the entire group and arrested everyone. To arrest everyone they used the kettle tactic. The police blocked off one end of the street and started advancing from the other. They arrested over 200 people who were trapped in this.
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After trapping everyone, the government needed an excuse for why the first amendment didn’t apply. They used the excuse that property damage started immediately. (Which is actually stupid, did the first person to show up start breaking windows on their own?) The vast majority of protests include some illegal act or another and they don’t just randomly arrest people. This was obviously targeted.

The Indictment was that slogans that were said at the protest and that they had the right to leave the protest at any point in time. The slogans they mentioned were "fuck it up", "fuck capitalism" and "whose streets?”. These slogans are chanted at almost any kind of riot, from Black Lives Matter to environmental.[2]

They charged the protesters with conspiracy to riot and 7 other charges. They tried/are trying the majority in groups. This makes it very hard for the protesters to actually defend themselves by giving opposing points of view. All the police have to do is essentially prove that they were at the riot and had an opportunity to leave that they didn’t take. This allows them to essentially try every person for any unlawful acts committed by the group, and for simply being a part of the protest. This amounts to the 8 felonies. They are doing this to make a point, as most members will end up taking plea bargains. Some protesters have already taken plea deals, as they are young and luckily covered under the Youth Rehabilitation Act.

One person taking the plea deals was Jack Sorensen of Pittsford, N.Y. He admitted to the gruesome crime of “ being dressed in black, wearing goggles and concealing his face with a mask at the time of the rioting”. Unlike the majority of the protestors he was covered under the Youth Rehabilitation Act, and upon accepting the plea bargain he got 50 hours of community service and a $500 dollar fine. The vast majority of those arrested are not covered under the act and will likely be forced to take plea bargains which will definitely not be as nice as Jack’s. [1] [3]
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This was an attack on the first amendment. Every day this country is coming closer to tyranny. Pretending it doesn't happen won't make it go away, pretending that it doesn't happen is how it makes you go away.

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