November 30, 2004
Protest suits cost city $300,000
Protest suits cost city $300,000
City of Portland is found liable for $300,000 for excessive violence against anti-war protesters.
I remember hearing about the baby being pepper-sprayed the day after it happened.
That's an awful headline by OregonLive, by the way. Does it read to anyone else like it's painting the city as a victim?
The headline certainly could be read that way. Not sure but what any alternative that fits in about the same amount of space might be even worse, though. "City pays $300,00 to protesters" uses about the same amount of space, conveys the same raw information, but to my mind sounds like the city's paying extortion or something.
Tricky business, headline writing. Always was my least favorite part of newspaper work.
I was right there when that baby was pepper sprayed. The police justified it as, "you shouldn't bring your child to a protest," rather than accepting that 1) protests should generally be safe but when they do get out of control, 2) why in the hell would you spray a baby in a mother's arms?! The family was trying to get through the crowd with their screaming child and a group of officers wouldn't let them pass for quite awhile, as if to make them suffer more. It was very, very creepy.
It was way beyond officers 'doing their job".. it was clearly a sick power trip.
Posted by: Tamara at December 1, 2004 09:45 AMNot necessarily a power trip, but the ye olde "if you don't like the consequences then don't voice your opinions" excuse.
Posted by: Euthanasia at December 2, 2004 05:16 PM