Police Attack Antiwar Demonstration in Binghamton, New York

On March 18th beginning at 11:30 am students and supporters at Binghamton University held an anti-war march to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Students marched around campus and listened to speakers. After the end of the march some of the protesters chose to engage in mild civil disobedience by temporarily blocking traffic along Vestal Parkway, a 4 lane
highway next to the university. This action was not endorsed by either of the organizations that sponsored the first march, but some members of those groups participated as individuals. Police Attack Antiwar Demonstration in Binghamton, New York


On March 18th beginning at 11:30 am students and supporters at Binghamton
University held an anti-war march to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the
invasion of Iraq. Students marched around campus and listened to speakers.
After the end of the march some of the protesters chose to engage in mild civil
disobedience by temporarily blocking traffic along Vestal Parkway, a 4 lane
highway next to the university. This action was not endorsed by either of the
organizations that sponsored the first march, but some members of those groups
participated as individuals.

Protesters marched on the right side of the highway until roughly 12:45 pm. At that point the demonstrators began moving off the highway to the right onto a patch of grass surrounded by asphalt. Up to this point there were no major incidents involving the police.

As protesters were leaving the highway and dispersing - the beginning of the end
of the protest - the pigs decided to attack. Several individuals were forced to
the ground and arrested on an apparently random basis. Police fired pepper
spray into the crow, moving the direction of spray from left to right apparently
so as to maximize the number of people hit and to force the crowd away from
their victims. Police continued grabbing people from the crowd on a random, or
at least selective, basis. One arrested activist was literally sitting on the
ground attempting to recover from being severely pepper sprayed when he was
arrested, but was charged with "resisting arrest" even though he was in no
physical condition to resist arrest. None of those arrested were read their
Miranda rights. A total of nine people were arrested out of a crowd of roughly
eighty people. Police themselves blocked traffic by parking large numbers of
cars in the middle of the street while attacking us.

The "Binghamton 9" were put in paddy wagons and taken to the police station for
processing.

During their processing, several activists who had not been arrested returned to
the office of one of the student groups which sponsored the first march, where
they found two blatantly obvious undercover police officers. They were
photographed and their information will be posted online.

Six of the arrested demonstrators were released by 4:00 with no bail required.
The other three were singled out for special treatment, probably because the
police considered them "leaders" (they weren't - all the groups involved operate
on a non-hierarchical basis). They were given bail of $500 each and held for
several hours in the Broome County Jail. They were bailed out that evening and
greeted by a crowd of their fellow activists. We are optimistic about our
chances of getting the charges thrown out, and may take legal action against the
police. Although all the non-pigs involved would have preferred to avoid the
assault, it is minor compared to the horror the state inflicts on Iraq every day.

Raw news footage:
http://www.newschannel34.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=6873@wbgh.dayport.com&navCatId=3

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