Memphis hosted the National Conference for Media Reform last week with many well-known media personalities such as McJoan from DailyKos, Bill Moyers, Amy Goodman and others. Supposedly the conference went very well but late last Friday night things got ugly on the famous Beale St. in Memphis.
The 'Chain Gang' sponsored by the Backbone Campaign marched down the street in their costumes while reading off Bush's list of war crimes. Apparently some drunk patrons inside the bars didn't approve and came out to attack the Chain Gang. Meanwhile a police car stationed down the street looked at the melee and decided to turn away and leave!
From Rawstory:
"I saw arms and legs everywhere. Some guy came out of a bar and had blindsided us. He hit two members in the back of the head." One of the protesters took off his mask and struck back at his assailant, she noted.
"Then some bouncers came out of a bar and there was a melee." Finally pulling off her mask, she said she saw "legs and arms flying everywhere."
According to Cummings and another demonstrator interviewed by RAW STORY, a Memphis Police car was parked at the end of the street, from which officers should have been able to observe the frantic scene. But, Cummings claimed, "the Memphis Police officers took one look and drove away."
What was a peaceful protest disintegrated into chaos while the cops looked away indifferently. As far as I know aggrevated assault is still a crime in Memphis and should be handled by local authorities. Thankfully though the situation handled itself. After being assaulted, the protesters talked to their attacker, who turned out to be a very drunk Iraq veteran.
"Why are you doing this to our President?" the veteran asked. "You don’t understand what we’ve been through and what we’ve done."
He then reportedly told the protesters that he harbored doubts about the President’s role in the 9-11 terror attacks.
"What if he did it?" the vet asked rhetorically, according to Cummings, a long-time peace activist who volunteers at military hospitals to assist wounded soldiers. "But he’s still the Commander in Chief. We thought we were killing Iraqis to protect you.’"
Cummings added, "He was crying and incoherent. We said 'We love you and support the troops. We’ve had many young Iraq veterans who are our friends.'"
"I’m still active duty and I don’t know what to do," the young men reportedly told the activists.
Cummings added, "We tried to hug him, but he pushed us away.'"
After all of that things were quieting down when protester Barbara Cummings was hit in the back of the head. The assailant recoiled and said 'I didn’t know you were a lady'.
Currently there are no charges filed against the attackers or the policemen/women that didn't do their job. The Public Information Officer Sgt. Vince Higgins of the Memphis Police Dept. said that the officers were responsible for 'derelIction' of duty at the least.
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