We marched to Talbots and held a mock trial with nine foot tall puppets.
The crowd gave a guilty verdict.
Then we headed to Macy's. The group split up into two: the outside protesters, chanting and holding signs, and the inside protesters, who "slept in" with signs, blankets, and sleeping bags.
Rod Palmquist, front, was one of the illegally detained.
Carrie Vincler holds the bullhorn on which Rod Palmquist speaks. April Nishimura, who was also illegally detained, walking away from the security guard who would, moments later, violently twist Rod's arm behind his back. Rod did not resist.
Those of us who were inside filed back out to rejoin the rest of the crowd. As April was following everyone to make sure no one was left behind, a security guard nabbed her and detained her for 90 minutes. She was not harmed. Our legal observer, Larry Hildes, later went into Macy's to challenge the students' illegal detentions. Smalls returned to twist his arm, and illegally detained Hildes, as well.
We chanted for workers' rights and the release of our compañer@s.
We returned to Westlake Park to rally.
Palmquist, Nishimura, and Hildes were released due to sustained protesting and chanting by their compañer@s outside of Macy's. None was booked, charged, or fined.
We are exploring the possibility of legal action against Macy's, for their security guards' overzealous and violent suppression of the protest.
2 comments:
Hey Guys,
Nice work on the protest, I'm sorry I couldn't be there, it looks like it was well-done and brought a lot of attention to the issue. I hope those who were roughed up by the security guards are alright. Was there any mainstream media coverage?
Ben
We got some coverage in Slog, but no confirmed print edition coverage. We might be in this week's Stranger, I haven't checked.
The PI says they're doing something, but who knows when.
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