Results tagged “arrests”

If you haven't been following the step-by-step progress of the ongoing Pershing Park case (that's the 2002 mass arrests of some 400 protesters by D.C. police, still playing out in endless legal wrangling), you might have missed the big development that surfaced Wednesday. City Paper's Jason Cherkis has been all over this story for ... forever, and yesterday he reported that a new affidavit from veteran D.C. Police Det. Paul Hustler points the finger directly at former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey as having ordered the arrests himself. This is a big deal, because Ramsey has consistently maintained in hearings and depositions related to this case that he did not order the arrests. This is the quote from Hustler's affidavit:

"As I walked closer, about five or six feet away from them, I heard Chief Ramsey say, 'We're going to lock them up and teach them a lesson.'"

The Post and the Examiner also ran stories on this today, so see them for more. It's clear that Hustler's testimony could raise serious questions about whether Ramsey committed perjury.

More protests, and lots more arrests. The AP says 91 people were arrested outside the White House today after some of them chained themselves to the fence in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. These folks weren't hardcore environmentalists, anti-capitalists or Darfur activists. No, a lot of these were people in wheelchairs who were trying to get President Obama's attention about alternatives to nursing home care for people with disabilities. So did the Secret Service actually lock up a bunch of people in wheelchairs? Thankfully, no: these protesters just got written arrest citations and were not taken into custody. The issue, it seems, is that they lacked the proper permit for a group that large. The protest began after 1 p.m., and we've also received reports that some of those who participated had to be treated for heat exposure.

A couple of breaking reports of multiple arrests at separate and unrelated protest sites in Washington this morning. The higher profile incident includes the apparent detention of five U.S. lawmakers, including Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.). The lawmakers were arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy (2210 Massachusetts Ave. NW) here in Washington, after they allegedly crossed a police line at a protest against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's decision to expel aid agencies from Darfur.