Unruly Halliburton protestors arrested downtown
KHOU-11 shows why it's become Houston's top-rated television news source with its coverage of the Halliburton protests and related arrests that took place outside of the Four Seasons hotel downtown earlier today:
Dozens of protesters blocked the entrances to the hotel where Halliburton shareholders were holding a meeting. Police say a few others went inside the hotel and were blocking stairwells.
Fifteen people were arrested after refusing orders to get off the sidewalk and behind police barricades. Seven are charged with criminal trespassing for going inside the hotel, four are charged with assaulting police officers, three are charged with evading arrest and one is charged with assaulting a police horse.
A Houston police officer says she was hit in the face and pushed to the ground by protesters. Three other officers say they were kicked and punched during the standoff. All were treated for minor injuries.
"We respect everyone's right to demonstrate and to express their opinion in a peaceful manner," said HPD Lt. Robert Manzo. "However, one thing we will not tolerate is for anyone to break any laws while in the process of doing that."
One protester was scratched up when he was dragged on the ground while allegedly resisting arrest.
Some protesters shouted "police brutality" as their fellow demonstrators were hauled away in handcuffs.
About 30 HPD mounted patrol officers helped dozens of cops on foot with crowd control. The horses kept their cool even as some of the protesters surrounded them and pressed against them, shouting at the officers.
KHOU was one of the first news organizations in town to get its reporting on the web today, and that reporting includes indispensable video that illustrates that protestors didn't just surround and press against the horses, but appeared to be striking the horses (perhaps in an unsuccessful attempt to strike the officers) and moving the barricades that had been established (in addition to other transgressions noted in various accounts).
The Chronicle coverage includes quotes from the protestors:
Nursing her foot with an ice pack, Cynthia Daly said a mounted officer outside the hotel ran over her foot with his horse.
"They ran over my foot. They did not need to do that," she said.
As the KHOU clips illustrate, order broke down as the "protestors" turned into an unruly mob. The best advice blogHOUSTON can offer to Miss Daly for the future is to refrain from hanging out in extremist mobs that incite horses upon which officers are mounted. Horses are large creatures that can cause injuries if they step on people.
The Chronicle story concludes:
The roughest confrontation came as clusters of the protesters ignored the orders of officers to stay off the streets and behind blockades, swarming some of the police horses.
The horses performed as trained, by circling with their back feet, sometimes knocking protesters out of the way with their haunches.
Some protesters shouted at the officers, "Shame on you!"
Shame on the officers? I don't think so.
Maybe James Howard Gibbons will pen an editorial tomorrow arguing that those engaged in disorderly conduct should not have been arrested.
RELATED COVERAGE: KPRC-2 (with video), KTRK-13/AP.
UPDATE: Chris Baker is running some great clips from protestors on his radio show (KTRH-740).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/18/05 02:46 PM | Print |
Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry
ADVERTISING
DISCLAIMER
All content © 2004-09, blogHOUSTON and the respective authors.
blogHOUSTON.net is powered by Nucleus.
Site design and Nucleus customization are by Kevin Whited.