[Leica] audio from ground zero arrests

[KCassidy at asc.upenn.edu (Kyle Cassidy)]

here's a link to susan's audio file, from the time she started the interview
as the march began to the time we were told we were under arrest is 58
seconds. you'll hear my voice in there, confused at first, thinking that
they meant that there were people behind us j-walking who had been arrested,
later we discovered that wasn't what they meant, they meant that _everybody_
was under arrest. we had no idea we were doing anything illegal, so we
assumed it was people behind us. that night we discovered the arrests
weren't for j-walking but for walking on the sidewalk more than 2 abreast.

http://unix.temple.edu/~susanj/RNC/protest/arrest.mov

the scary thing, and i think the thing that makes this relevant to the LUG,
is that they were locking up people with press credentials AND, they
confiscated the cameras and film of everybody arrested as "evidence". in my
best, hopefully fair and balanced, objective journalist view, these arrests
were completely unwarrented. i doubt any of the charges will result in a
conviction, but the use of arrest as a preventative measure, arresting
someone because they, _or someone they are with_ may or may not commit a
crime at a future time, especially when the crime they may commit is
unspecified, is abhorrent. this means that ANY AMATURE PHOTOGRAPHER OUT
THERE, deciding to "go down to the protests and take some photos" -- as is
not uncommon on this list, would have ended up arrested, in jail, leica's
confiscated because they happened to be photographing someone who might hold
an unpopular opinion or have designs on blocking traffic.

kyle