Occupy Houston Protestors Covered With Tent To Possibly Hide Arrests

Did a search and did not find this posted yet.

I don't want to turn this into anargument about the validity of the occupy movement. however, you have to question the actions of an authority that needs cover to obscure its actions from the public.

A blogger for The Nation reports on the tents here and the is also youtube footage of one of the tents below.

again, the fact that the cops are starting to hide their actions is perhaps the scariest indicator of the way they operate nowadays. if they are doing the right thing then why do they need to hide?

reply to post by godWhisperer


To me it looks like the firefighters are the ones manning the tent and it may be for medical reasons. If I saw people being corralled into it I would be more concerned.

Occupy Houston Protestors Covered With Tent To Possibly Hide Arrests

Nope. The arrests happened after they left the tent.

20 Occupy Houston protesters arrested

At about 1:45, two groups of protesters - one numbering six and the other 12 - lay on the street, stopping traffic into a two-lane road that leads to the port entrance. Three trucks and four cars were halted before oncoming traffic was redirected to an alternate route.

HFD was called in to cut PVC pipes off of a group of protesters who used the devices to band their arms together. A large red tent was placed over the protesters to prevent sparks, said HPD spokesman John Cannon.

Protesters then came out of the tent individually, were handcuffed and detained by police. Ten protesters were charged with blocking a public roadway, and eight were arrested for using a criminal instrument to block a public roadway.

The demonstrators became increasingly angry during the arrests. Two lay down on the sidewalk, blocking the path of officers on horseback. Both were arrested for interfering with a public servant.

By 3:30 p.m., protesters had cleared out, headed to their next Occupy event - a march in downtown.

I can't believe what I'm seeing with my own eyes!!!!!!!! Where do they draw the line for Gods Sakes!

If this isn't a sign of things to come and also things that have gone on already well - I don't know what is.

This should go viral - people need to know about this!!

S&F and if I could give it more flags, I would.

reply to post by quedup

I can't believe what I'm seeing with my own eyes!!!!!!!! Where do they draw the line for Gods Sakes!

What are you seeing that's causing this (over)reaction?

Ever heard about the only thing that Texas is really famous for...

Steers & [snipped]

Guess which tent that one is for.

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


i just read that story too! it's interesting the different angles being given about this story, even from different media outlets. read the comments on the youtube video. also, i have read reports of gas being used.

The story says the tent was there to be used to shield the protesters from sparks from the cutting of PVC pipes protesters were using to bind themselves together. it's nice they don't want the protesters to get burned.

comments on the youtube page suggest protesters left the tents ziptied.

The The Nation blogger said this about the tent:

6:10 We reported earlier that Houston police had covered up a half dozen peaceful protests, prone and awaiting arrest, with a giant tent to hide them from view. Here is video, with tent arriving about 1:30 in.

here.

reply to post by godWhisperer

comments on the youtube page suggest protesters left the tents ziptied.

Is suggest a solid action? Are there any photos or videos of the protestors being taken out of the tent zipcuffed? Someone there obviously had a video camera, otherwise the video in your OP wouldn't exist.

holy crap! watch this video here and it's pretty clear that people were arrested INSIDE the tent.

what's more, what is that gas they are turning on? seriously?!? what is the gas they are turning on to fill that tent?

i'm open to the possibility that it's not nefarious, can someone here tell me what that gas might be?

i am not sure on this one. there simply is not enough footage to tell exactly what the tent is for. i did not see much in the video that would indicate people being dragged into the tent beaten and then arrested.

i did not even see anybody enter the tent apart from mean in orange suits.

the only thing that i can see that is a bit off is when they are taking away a protester in cuffs they have her arm in arm and appear to be making her walk backwards at a decent pace. what happened to stopping turning her around and letting her walk facing the right way around? only a minor thing but still it is so easy just to let her walk forwards that it seems they do these little things on purpose, just to be spitefull.

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


watch the video in my post above. they put the tent over the people lying on the ground. maybe after they put the tent over them (and turned on the gas) the people inside just left peacefully. or maybe they left ziptied.

i would like to iterate that in the video you can see on this page you see footage from another camera on the ground.

they carry in the tent and cover the protesters. they then appear to be turning on gas and pumping it into the tent. what is that? please someone tell me.

reply to post by godWhisperer


You talking about this video? Can you tell me the time they take the protestors out zipcuffed? I watched the whole thing and didn't see the videographer get that. Thanks.

reply to post by godWhisperer

they carry in the tent and cover the protesters. they then appear to be turning on gas and pumping it into the tent. what is that? please someone tell me.

It's an inflatable tent. Didn't you see the fireman deflating it before they roll it up and take it away?

I'm just waiting for the footage of the zipcuffed protestors being lead out of the tent. Where is it?

reply to post by godWhisperer


yeah i just watched it. o.k. that video confirms the tent is place over the protesters.

am i unsure what is actually happening for certain, but i think this is a new method of removing protesters from blocking the road. rather than drag them and beat them, place a tent over them, fill it with a unpleasent none lethal gas that the protesters will not beable to cope with, they all soon stand up and want to get out the tent, as they do so they are arrested.

nobody is hurt and they have been removed from obstructing the road.

now i do not know for certain that is the case, but that is my hunch.

we cannot see in the tent, and i do not know what the gas is they are using so there is a possibility i am wrong. but if i am right, then they are using a method of removing protesters without harm and accusations of police brutality, however it did'nt work hence this thread.

my suggestion to the police would be to use a see through tent if i am right about the none lethal method of removing them.

For once I have to defend police action here. The protesters locked themselves in some kind of piping that had to be cut off, not sure why they needed the tent but, the tank used was full of oxygen to inflate the tent. This story isn't as bad as it looks. It seems police action all day today has been peaceful and justified for the most part.

reply to post by Kali74


i think you got it, i did not realise they were chained together.

ok, i see now that the "gas" is for inflating the tent. but they carry it in standing and then deflate it to leave so it seems odd that they needed to inflate it again after placing it over the protesters. not that odd.

but i never saw any of those protesters leave that tent, in zipties or otherwise, and when they fold up the tent they are gone. does anyone have footage of them leaving the tent?

regardless, i don't believe that protesters would leave that tent in any other fashion than ziptied or handcuffed. why would they leave peacefully if the tent was there to extract the protesters?

if they were concerned about burning protesters with sparks from cutting metal binding the protesters, is a tent a good way to prevent that from happening? i am asking here.

In this video at 7:07 you can see one being taken out backwards. Again at 8:33.

www.ustream.tv...

I guess this falls into hear no evil, See no evil.

It is a good way to beat the crap out of people without being on youtube 5 minutes later.

PVC is plastic, cutting does not cause sparks.

That said,

Nothing much to see here. I don't see the OWS movement catching hold in Houston. It's not a real liberal city. Houston, and Texas, is all about business and we are doing better than a lot of the rest of the country. Cost of living is reasonable compared to elsewhere and there are jobs for those willing to work.

There are many immigrants from all over the world here and, like I said before, it's all about doing business here. Much of that is small business and not that connected to Wall Street. Asian and Arab populations use banks friendly to them. Business relationships and reputation are important. Hispanics, Blacks, Whites, Arabs, Asians work togethor often and are not as split as our politicians would like us to be.

We have Hurricanes and droughts with little Federal assistance and get by just fine. We have a crappy Governor and a lousy Major and get by just fine.

As far as our police force:
I know a few LEO's around here. They are the same as everyone else for the most part. Pissed off at much of the same stuff we are, happy to have a job, wish they got paid more, etc... Yes, there are bad apples... same as most groups. The job is very wearing on one's person, always dealing with people at their worst starts to make you very cynical to say the least. We've got Zetas moving in and getting more bold and a jail that treats citizens like animals. I think in general the city and state are run like crap compared to other places I've been, but that was the past, maybe everywhere is run like crap now.

OWS is light on solutions and heavy on dramatics. I don't see them as part of the way forward.

reply to post by godWhisperer


I am still trying to figure out how the heck are they going to bind themselves with PVC pipe. and does pvc spark when you cut it?