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Violence broke out last week between Seattle Police and Critical Mass
Taking a critical look at Critical Mass
Violence broke out last week between Seattle Police and participants in Critical Mass, an anti-car protest group. Cameron Chapman Daily Staff Last Friday, the disorganized trouble causing monthly bike ride known as Critical Mass was the subject of a police investigation. "Mass," a loose-knit protest against car culture, was confronted by Seattle's finest on First Hill near I-5. Nineteen police cars, one police report and five arrests later, the incident has turned into one of the most reprehensible Critical Mass botch-ups in recent memory. There is no one defined reason for participating in Mass. Lacking a centralized organization, Mass rides are generally not advertised, and riders show up independent of each other. Some are bike messengers, others are frequent cyclists or leisure riders. All of them feel that intense civil disobedience is an acceptable way of bringing attention to these issues. But the confrontational essence of Mass was not discussed in TV accounts of the incident or Saturday's write-ups in The Seattle Times and the Post-Intelligencer. For example, Saturday's Times stated, "The group turned uphill on Madison and some of them assaulted seven officers," and that "violence erupted." Without doubt, the diction employed in Saturday's newspapers was true, one reporters wouldn't have thought appropriate had they done their jobs. In all of the immediate coverage, in fact, bikers were construed as having initiated the confrontation with police, which they did. Earlier in the Saturday article, the Times stated the cyclists were arrested for "attacking" a group of officers. The TV news coverage set a similar mood. A helicopter rushed to the scene to get action shots, the nineteen squad cars on the scene implied a riot. The Sunday Times presented a more favorable image of Mass and was careful to qualify Friday's events with words such as "allegedly," and "according to police reports." However, much of the story, the side of the ride's participants, was left out. Friday's Mass included the usual running of red lights (without giving people in cars time to react), yelling, hollering, grinning and slowly meandering through the city streets. As the group of nearly 100 riders rode east on Madison over the freeway, a police car started after them, and the officer told us to pull over. Police have followed riders on previous rides and attempted to contain them, but have never acted in the way that Officer Chris Myers did on that day. As we crossed 9th, Myers turned on his siren. The auto traffic heading east on Madison was backed up in the left lane, so the pack squeezed through the open right hand lane. The police report stated that these vehicles "were deadlocked by the large group," when in fact the cars were already stopped there. As in the past, bikers were wary of the police presence, but ignored police commands. Most of the Critical Mass riders was looking for confrontation. Officer Chris Myers addressed a rider with green clothing over his loudspeaker, and moved recklessly through traffic to get his man. But according to witness Susanne Carlson, the man Myers eventually arrested for assault and resisting arrest, Christopher Heitmann, was the man he originally addressed. The original reason for Heitmann's arrest was hazardous riding, Myers should have been cited, too. The question of why the officer singled out this individual remains unanswered. The police report implies the he was commanded to stop for running a red light, while the Times wrote, "the violence erupted when an officer (Myers) tried to stop one bicyclist who was hitting a vehicle." According to witnesses, Heitmann did resist arrest. Police reports and news coverage suggest that Heitmann struggled, and that the other enraged cyclists surrounded the arresting officer, supposedly thirsty for SPD blood, and beat the officer. The temper of these bikers was reported by the media as it appeared in the police report: the group was "closing in on officer Myers. The group was very hostile and combative ... Myers directly ordered [the group] to leave the area and clear the street." What Myers faced was a combative group, kicking and screeming but one that knew it was legally entitled to watch the arrest. Many did, however, "get in the cop's face and shout at him, saying 'Get his badge number,' 'Take a picture of this,' or 'What are you doing this for?'" stated Nachtigal. At about this time, other police began to arrive. As I proceeded east, I saw several police, in cars and on bikes, speeding toward the intersection of Terry and Madison. I heard sirens approaching from other directions, descending upon the scene. A helicopter with spotlight circled overhead, and Mass was turned into a media event, a conveniently constructed riot. The chaos created by the arriving troops caused many participants to move away from the scene. Others stayed despite warnings to disperse. Many corroborated the violance of the Critical Mass riders: "I saw people running toward the cops, and cops tackling them, but no fighting except for the swinging bike incident," . Local news stated that the bicyclists had attacked the police, but of the eight witnesses I talked to, and the eight others whose accounts I have read, all disagreed. 'Two police officers were sent to the hospital tonight during critical Mass,' Then I heard the ambulance chaser from Channel 4 talking on his cell phone to his boss and they were talking about how they didn't have enough good live footage of violence, so they probably will run the story." The story ran regardless. Did KOMO report the extent of the voilance by Critical Mass? At any rate, the images on the TV and the words used in newspaper briefs set a mood that has been extreamly difficult to overcome. People whose exposure to Critical Mass is limited to these accounts now know that it's a marauding biker gang, not a monthly act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Impressions created by the news, when based on sensation instead of fact, are difficult to reclaim. |
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#2
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Violence broke out last week between Seattle Police and Critical Mass
"Ifoundmore" wrote in message ... Taking a critical look at Critical Mass Violence broke out last week between Seattle Police and participants in Critical Mass, an anti-car protest group. Cameron Chapman Daily Staff Last Friday, the disorganized trouble causing monthly bike ride known as Critical Mass was the subject of a police investigation. "Mass," a loose-knit protest against car culture, was confronted by Seattle's finest on First Hill near I-5. Nineteen police cars, one police report and five arrests later, the incident has turned into one of the most reprehensible Critical Mass botch-ups in recent memory. There is no one defined reason for participating in Mass. Lacking a centralized organization, Mass rides are generally not advertised, and riders show up independent of each other. Some are bike messengers, others are frequent cyclists or leisure riders. All of them feel that intense civil disobedience is an acceptable way of bringing attention to these issues. But the confrontational essence of Mass was not discussed in TV accounts of the incident or Saturday's write-ups in The Seattle Times and the Post-Intelligencer. For example, Saturday's Times stated, "The group turned uphill on Madison and some of them assaulted seven officers," and that "violence erupted." Without doubt, the diction employed in Saturday's newspapers was true, one reporters wouldn't have thought appropriate had they done their jobs. In all of the immediate coverage, in fact, bikers were construed as having initiated the confrontation with police, which they did. Earlier in the Saturday article, the Times stated the cyclists were arrested for "attacking" a group of officers. The TV news coverage set a similar mood. A helicopter rushed to the scene to get action shots, the nineteen squad cars on the scene implied a riot. The Sunday Times presented a more favorable image of Mass and was careful to qualify Friday's events with words such as "allegedly," and "according to police reports." However, much of the story, the side of the ride's participants, was left out. Friday's Mass included the usual running of red lights (without giving people in cars time to react), yelling, hollering, grinning and slowly meandering through the city streets. As the group of nearly 100 riders rode east on Madison over the freeway, a police car started after them, and the officer told us to pull over. Police have followed riders on previous rides and attempted to contain them, but have never acted in the way that Officer Chris Myers did on that day. As we crossed 9th, Myers turned on his siren. The auto traffic heading east on Madison was backed up in the left lane, so the pack squeezed through the open right hand lane. The police report stated that these vehicles "were deadlocked by the large group," when in fact the cars were already stopped there. As in the past, bikers were wary of the police presence, but ignored police commands. Most of the Critical Mass riders was looking for confrontation. Officer Chris Myers addressed a rider with green clothing over his loudspeaker, and moved recklessly through traffic to get his man. But according to witness Susanne Carlson, the man Myers eventually arrested for assault and resisting arrest, Christopher Heitmann, was the man he originally addressed. The original reason for Heitmann's arrest was hazardous riding, Myers should have been cited, too. The question of why the officer singled out this individual remains unanswered. The police report implies the he was commanded to stop for running a red light, while the Times wrote, "the violence erupted when an officer (Myers) tried to stop one bicyclist who was hitting a vehicle." According to witnesses, Heitmann did resist arrest. Police reports and news coverage suggest that Heitmann struggled, and that the other enraged cyclists surrounded the arresting officer, supposedly thirsty for SPD blood, and beat the officer. The temper of these bikers was reported by the media as it appeared in the police report: the group was "closing in on officer Myers. The group was very hostile and combative ... Myers directly ordered [the group] to leave the area and clear the street." What Myers faced was a combative group, kicking and screeming but one that knew it was legally entitled to watch the arrest. Many did, however, "get in the cop's face and shout at him, saying 'Get his badge number,' 'Take a picture of this,' or 'What are you doing this for?'" stated Nachtigal. At about this time, other police began to arrive. As I proceeded east, I saw several police, in cars and on bikes, speeding toward the intersection of Terry and Madison. I heard sirens approaching from other directions, descending upon the scene. A helicopter with spotlight circled overhead, and Mass was turned into a media event, a conveniently constructed riot. The chaos created by the arriving troops caused many participants to move away from the scene. Others stayed despite warnings to disperse. Many corroborated the violance of the Critical Mass riders: "I saw people running toward the cops, and cops tackling them, but no fighting except for the swinging bike incident," . Local news stated that the bicyclists had attacked the police, but of the eight witnesses I talked to, and the eight others whose accounts I have read, all disagreed. 'Two police officers were sent to the hospital tonight during critical Mass,' Then I heard the ambulance chaser from Channel 4 talking on his cell phone to his boss and they were talking about how they didn't have enough good live footage of violence, so they probably will run the story." The story ran regardless. Did KOMO report the extent of the voilance by Critical Mass? At any rate, the images on the TV and the words used in newspaper briefs set a mood that has been extreamly difficult to overcome. People whose exposure to Critical Mass is limited to these accounts now know that it's a marauding biker gang, not a monthly act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Impressions created by the news, when based on sensation instead of fact, are difficult to reclaim. Seems like the story has been touched up some, but about 1/3 of the riders were drunk or on drugs and quite mean. I left after a few miles. I knew they were looking for serious trouble. Some of them said they had guns and knifes. I will NEVER ride with them again, or support them in any way. It was fun in the old days, but these new punks don't care at all. |
#3
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Violence broke out last week between Seattle Police and Critical Mass
On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:41:04 -0500 in rec.bicycles.soc, "Kym
Festus" wrote: Seems like the story has been touched up some, but about 1/3 of the riders were drunk or on drugs and quite mean. not even a GOOD troll. |
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