Metblogs friends busted at Prop 8 protest
This photo taken by Rick Loomis for the LA Times shows @panasonicyouth and @formerme being detained, presumably by the LAPD. Frequent readers will recognize both from regular comments. Both were attending the Prop 8 protest in Westwood and were live-twittering along the way. They went silent a few hours ago and then this photo went up. I don’t have any more info at the moment, but as soon as I do I’ll update this post. Anyone with any more details or info please post in the comments.
UPDATES: From friends on twitter… @whatevernvrmind says he’s on the phone with authorities and they were both arrested and being transferred to Pacific Station. @Japhy79 says there’s rumors of protester(s) being beaten up by a truckdriver which may explain the last tweet by @panasonicyouth, or maybe not. More when I hear it…
UPDATE 2:
UPDATE : Unconfirmed news that they are being held on misdemeanor battery charges with $20K bail set, scheduled to see a judge in the morning. FOX news also posted an article about this with another pick of Mark aka panasonicyouth.
UPDATE 4: Here’s some video, arrest takes place right around 2:40. You can’t see what gets the police’s attention but you can see Mark and Rich walking away and police following, and then pushing Mark to the ground very aggressively. Crowds gathered quickly, unfortunately there’s no audio.
UPDATE 5: The guys have been bailed out and according to Panasonicyouth’s twitter stream they were originally picked up and charged with “unruly behavior” but sometime after the arrest that turned into “battery on an officer.” Mark said he also got he camera back and has photos of the “yes on 8″ truck driver who punched a “no on 8″ protester in the face, the truck driver was not arrested.
UPDATE 6: Just talked to Mark, he’ll be posting updates on his blog shortly!
UPDATE 7: Mark’s post is online now.
Related posts:
We’re trying to find out info as well and will post here when we do. Thanks for alerting us.
A colleague just called the LA Times city desk, and the guy he spoke to said they had talked an LAPD Sergeant in the last hour who told them he did not ‘think’ there had been any arrests at the protest, but was not certain.
I spoke to an officer who confirmed that they were both arrested. They are being transferred to the Pacific Area station. The phone number is 310-482-6334, if anyone wants to inquire further.
I cannot imagine that Mark and Rich did anything to deserve getting arrested standing on the sidewalk in Westwood. This is seriously crap, and the cops are NOT helpful. Clearly they were arrested during the daytime, at least 5 hours ago based on @panasonicyouth’s twitter posts. And they are still being sent around the fucking system.
Thanks to all of Mark and Rich’s friends on twitter we’ve found out that the man punched by a guy in a pickup truck has been identified as a man named Maurice Carriere. Not Mark.
mbone, i can’t imagine they did anything either, but no one has facts here, except that they were being held in a field location set up because of the protests and are being transferred to the Pacific Area station. don’t jump to ugly conclusions. we’re trying to get all the info we can. we want to make sure they are ok and safe.
Also blogging updates about Mark & Rich for their peeps on Buzznet, if you have new info to share, please add it! http://tinyurl.com/5rj6oz
Live footage was found on Youtube from earlier today and you can see it all go down. I believe there was an exchange of words and the cops went balistic. But that’s my opinion.
That is damn terrifying and upsetting. I hope they are okay and get to go home soon.
Respect to these guys for putting themselves on the line for something they believe in so strongly. That’s what I call patriotism.
But the question I have is, why are so many crucial questions in California put to the voters directly in propositions? Isn’t that what the legislature is for? I thought that, in the United States, both at the federal and state level, we have a republic, not a democracy, where the people elect their representaves to speak for them, and, if those representatives fail to do so adequately, they are subject to the voters’ rebuke come re-election time. If, instead, the voters speak directly in California, why do we have a legislature?
My thoughts go out to them and their commitment to the cause. I hope it is an isolated incident and not a precursor to future events.
Let’s all try to keep it classy. Protesters, cops and observers.
[...] Century City and Beverly Hills, causing a racket. I don’t know if it’s related to earlier protests in Westwood, but who knows. Least of all [...]
Marc @ buzznet has more: http://www.buzznet.com/web/community/journals/entry/3332271/mark-rich-detained-police-prop/
Finally a terrific use of twitter. I just wonder what lead to the "misdemeanor assult charges" when the pics I see he’s just sitting down.
Matt, I thought we were a democratic republic. Our right to initiate change through the proposition process is well established and protected. I would not have it any other way. Leaving it to just the legislators is foolish. We have a right and duty to initiate change when politicians won’t do it or won’t listen to us.
All that said I read the buzznet. We are missing so much info as to what lead up to the arrest. I don’t think panasonicyouth woke up yesterday expecting to become a poster child for the Prop 8 protests but it happened and his life is now very public. I wish him well and the strength to carry on in the coming days. Its going to be trying but am glad to have seen him stand up for what he believes.
I’m not much of a fan of protest marches as they tend to be random locations, this one is totally appropriate as the Morman church funneled much money into Prop 8 and its ultimate win in the polls.
profanity directed at the cops perhaps as the basis for the assault charge? am i correct in thinking that is possible?
[...] story over on LA Metblogs with more updates coming soon on Mark’s own blog. They were arrested yesterday at the Prop 8 [...]
Sean, I can’t thank you enough for this.
I’ll have my blog up in about 40 minutes or so.
Thank the lord for Twitter!!!
sean,
thank you for reporting on this. this whole thing is absurd starting with the existence of prop 8.
el s.
http://www.buzznet.com/web/community/journals/entry/3336291/my-experience-reverse-prop-8/
Sean, my story.
[...] rallies around the state of people protesting the passing of Prop 8. Some ending smoothly, while others ended far from smoothly. (I feel like I’ve been transported back to the civil rights movements of the 50’s after [...]