TeleSUR English — Abby Martin, host of “Empire Files,” was released by police on Monday after a violent arrest while covering DNC protests for teleSUR, but says that many more wait to be processed after “mass marches, mass protests and mass arrests and detentions,” despite police reports that no arrests have been made at the DNC.
Martin was on her way to a “Democracy Spring” event where there were reports of civil disobedience and arrests being made. The police had closed off all streets surrounding the action and directed Martin to an exit, where she was arrested for a lack of credentials. She and her producer, Mike Prysner, unknowingly entered an area where only those with credentials are allowed.
The police stopped them and told them to leave the area. As they were complying and leaving the area, another police officer grabbed Martin, twisted her arm, tore her dress and arrested her for “disorderly conduct.”
Three cops “aggressively manhandled me,” she said, before throwing her in a police van and driving her to an elementary school to be processed alongside many protesters that had participated in the Democracy Spring action and others.
“I was just trying to accept my fate and how unreal what was happening was,” said Martin. “I just kept thinking about what people go through” in aggressive arrests every day in the U.S.
“It’s just really stunning to go through that experience and to know that this is what police do to people every day in this country.”