Members of the O'odham Anti Border Collective staged a protest near Border Patrol checkpoint SR-85 in Arizona on Indigenous People's Day (October 12th). Protesters blocking the street were met with impact munitions (allegedly rubber bullets) and tear gas fired by officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Demonstrations have centered on Quitobaquito Springs, a local freshwater source along the border of Organ Pipe National Monument, part of the traditional Hia-Ced O'odham homeland. Construction of the border wall puts access to this traditional resource at risk for indigenous people living in the area.
Protesters say 8 adults were taken into custody, as well as several minors.
tags: less-lethal, projectile, protester, rubber-bullet, shoot
id: az-ajo-1
geolocation: 32.2739671, -112.7419162
Links
- https://twitter.com/NoBayouBridge/status/1315773267014299653
- https://twitter.com/maxie_adler/status/1315704218116861960
- https://vimeo.com/467449845
- https://vimeo.com/468414474
- https://www.kold.com/2020/10/12/protesters-arrested-border-patrol-checkpoint-sr-/
- https://www.azpm.org/p/home-articles-news/2020/10/12/182016-indigenous-peoples-day-border-demonstration-ends-with-tear-gas-arrests/
An officer tackles a protester who is walking home. The officer screams "put your hands behind your head" twice and then "stop resisting" twice; the protester responds "I'm not". The officer yells "put your hands behind your head" several times, and the protester responds "I'm trying".
tags: arrest, beat, inhumane-treatment, protester, tackle, threaten
id: az-phoenix-1
geolocation: 33.4503981, -112.0756744
Links
Officers arrested 114 people on Saturday, May 30, most for rioting (a low-level felony). The probable cause statements submitted to the court by police justifying the arrests of many defendants were identical from one defendant to another, and alleged only that a crowd of people had engaged in criminal activity, without alleging that the particular defendant arrested had engaged in criminal activity. One defendant, a DACA recipient, was transferred to ICE custody despite a judge finding that her arrest lacked probable cause. She has since been released.
tags: abuse-of-power, arrest, protester
id: az-phoenix-2
geolocation: 33.4487285, -112.0795091
Links
- Local news coverage
- Video of the night's protests -- mostly peaceful until police disperse the crowd with flash bangs and tear gas around 1:08:40; shortly afterward the assembly turns violent.
A news article describes a photographer in full view of an ABC news crew as he was shot repeatedly by rubber bullets. Protesters took him to police to get him medical care. Police struggled to get an ambulance, so they took him to the fire station, who then brough him to the hospital.
The photographer now has four staples in his head, a concussion, and a bruised lung.
tags: journalist, less-lethal, rubber-bullet, shoot
id: az-phoenix-5
geolocation: 33.4492745, -112.0842197
Links
- https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/valley-photographer-injured-in-phoenix-protest-released-from-hospital
- https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/head-wound-bruised-lung-and-concussion-photographer-covering-phoenix-protests/
On May 31, police forced protesters who were out after curfew into the Garfield neighborhood using tear gas and other means. Police then began arresting protesters in the Garfield neighborhood en masse. Officers approached Elizabeth Lemay, who was not part of the protests and was standing on the sidewalk outside her home. They tried to arrest her and tackled her in the process. She told the officers "I live here" and "I'm allowed to be on my own property;" the officer responded (in a cheerful tone of voice) "You're on the sidewalk. You guys think you know. You think you know everything."
Several other residents of the Garfield neighborhood have complained of police behavior that night, including one who says she passed out in her yard due to a tear-gas-induced asthma attack and awoke to find an officer handcuffing her.
tags: arrest, bystander, less-lethal, tackle, tear-gas, zip-tie
id: az-phoenix-3
geolocation: 33.4575409, -112.0642474
Links
- Local news report, with video
- Google doc, allegedly containing complaints by Garfield neighborhood residents
- Mass arrests starting at around 1:03:00 probably, but not definitely, in the Garfield neighborhood
- Similar complaints from Reddit
- Additional news report
- MSN Report with HiRes Photos
A protester was shot by police with a bean bag round at a protest on May 31st outside the Phoenix police headquarters. The bean bag fractured the radial bone in his forearm. He is one of several plaintiffs alleging police violence in a suit against the department. Another plaintiff states that police shot her car with less lethal rounds, and a third states that police cornered them against a wall and shot them with rubber bullets.
tags: bean-bag, less-lethal, protester, rubber-bullet, shoot
id: az-phoenix-6
geolocation: 33.4487123, -112.0818697
Links
Protesters gathered on the sidewalk and on a shut down street outside a Trump rally at Dream City church in Phoenix, Arizona.
Footage shows police declaring the assembly unlawful and telling protesters to get on the sidewalk even though the street has been shut down. Protesters comply, but later footage shows they are pepper-sprayed while on the sidewalk.
Captions on Twitter and an NPR article state tear gas and flashbangs were deployed.
tags: less-lethal, pepper-spray, protester, spray, stun-grenade, tear-gas
id: az-phoenix-4
geolocation: 33.6099164, -112.0342738
Links
- https://twitter.com/JoshuaPotash/status/1275585545499021313
- https://twitter.com/gaminogabriel/status/1275573699622494208
- https://twitter.com/gaminogabriel/status/1275572892508422146
- https://www.npr.org/2020/06/23/881641178/after-disappointing-tulsa-rally-trump-campaign-moves-to-arizona
- https://twitter.com/newsjunkyjimmy/status/1275578476871815169
On June 27th, protesters gathered on the sidewalk for a 'chalk walk' protest.
Full footage from instagram shows police chasing, tackling, kneeling on and arresting a protester. Police refused to answer when protesters asked why they were being arrested. At 2:20 in the instagram video, the filmer asks why the protester was tased, but this appears to be erroneous; the protester was pepper-sprayed.
Police then attempted to clear the protesters from the sidewalk into the lawn of a shopping center. One protester remained seated and police manhandled her.
Several protesters, including the filmer, shouted at the police for treating the protester roughly. The officer then told these protesters to back up. They obeyed. The officer then pepper sprayed them repeatedly as they walked away. Police continued to harass protesters, pushing them from the sidewalk to the lawn. It is unclear why police asserted the sidewalk was an unacceptable place to stand.
From an article in the Arizona Mirror, Tempe police are allowed to use pepper spray "against violent or non-compliant subjects, and on vicious animals." In addition, they must give verbal warning that they will escalate. No such warning was given.
tags: arrest, knee, less-lethal, pepper-spray, protester, shove, spray, tackle
id: az-tempe-1
geolocation: 33.4308852, -111.9092091
Links
- https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1277432629353238535
- https://www.instagram.com/tv/CB91jGvh25c/
- https://www.azmirror.com/2020/06/28/tempe-pd-pepper-sprayed-demonstrators-at-saturday-chalk-walk-protest/
Footage shows police charging protesters in the street without warning and tackling an individual with a skateboard to arrest them. Additional footage shows police using pepper spray to clear the area. 7 protesters were arrested. One officer was allegedly injured when a projectile lacerated their face.
tags: arrest, less-lethal, pepper-spray, protester, shove, spray, tackle
id: az-tempe-2
geolocation: 33.4339886, -111.928524
Links