A dear friend of mine, Nicole Salazar, was peacefully filming protests at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis when police in riot gear assaulted her, cornered her, and dragged her on the ground before arresting her and charging her with a felony. Here is the horrifying video she recorded during the assault:
The next day she appeared on Democracy Now!, the show which she is a producer for, calmly and bravely explaining what happened. Start 12:40 into the show here.
Last night a group of Nicole’s friends got together and talked about what had happened. We are all proud of how she spoke of it, but mostly we are shaken that this could happen in our country, on our streets, to our friend. What were the police thinking? What demons possessed them?
Comments
One response to “Rampage in Minneapolis”
I wish the police had distinguished between the peaceful protesters like your friend and those who were dressed in black with their faces covered who were smashing windows up and down the street and jumping onto people’s cars, seemingly apropos of nothing. If I had been a bystander I’d have wondered where the police were and why they weren’t doing something about this scary and dangerous violence. This kind of thing creates an atmosphere in which the police respond without trying to figure out who’s who. I’m sorry for your friend and her group. There were certainly things that needed protesting.
Fr.B