skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Washington Protesters Decry Police Use of Military-Style Tactics

play audio
Play

Thursday, June 4, 2020   

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Just two days after peaceful protesters were dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets near the White House, demonstrators in the nation's capital are denouncing the use of military tactics by local police.

Meka is hip-hop musician and protester from Northern Virginia who says he was entrapped by Washington police in riot gear earlier in the week when a curfew started in what's known as a kettling procedure.

That's a military technique used to corral people into a small area where they can't escape without getting arrested. The tactic forced him to spend the night in the home of a Washington resident who opened his door to protesters.

"We heard them start giving orders and start moving in, closing in on both sides, Macing people, hitting people," Meka relates. "And it was pretty chaotic. And then I looked over and saw Raoul open his door and just started telling everybody to run in, getting as many people inside as possible."

The last time Washington police used kettling was during President Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration, which led the American Civil Liberties Union to sue the city, alleging that the technique violates protesters' constitutional rights.

The Washington Police Department did not return a request for comment by deadline.

Some police departments in other cities, such as Baltimore, have struck a more conciliatory tone at demonstrations against the use of police force.

But Washington resident Brandy Boyce says the military tactics she's seen in protests this week reinforce what black people experience on a daily basis.

She's particularly disturbed by the city's use of helicopters to scare and intimidate demonstrators.

"It's really designed for use in war to spread fear and panic and disperse really dangerous situations," Boyce states. "And in fact, I don't think there is any time in recent history that helicopters have been used to disperse protesters in that way."

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week shows that a majority of Americans sympathize with nationwide protests over the death of unarmed black man George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, and more than 55% said they disapproved of Trump's handling of the protests.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021