Amy Goodman Arrested - Stand up for Democracy!
- by: Rebecca Young
- recipient: Ramsey County Sherrif Bob Fletcher, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, and St Paul Police Chief John M. Harrington
Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota September 1, the first day of the Republican National Convention. Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Their crime? Being journalists - they were covering the street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention.
Amy Goodman's crime? Questioning authority and defending her colleagues and freedom of the press. Read their first person accounts here.Watch the video and decide for yourself - do we live in the land of the free or a police state? Are the Ramsey County police protecting the public - or protecting the RNC FROM the public? Stand up for our right to free speech and an independent, free press. Demand that police immediately drop all charges against Amy Goodman and her colleagues.
I am outraged that Ramsey County police arrested journalists Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Nicole Salazar, and Amy Goodman. I demand that all charges be dropped immediately.
Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on "suspicion of rioting" according to Sherrif Fletcher, yet they were simply doing their jobs as journalists and reporting on the street protests at the Republican National Convention. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! and internationally acclaimed journalist, was simply trying to get information on her colleagues' arrest and defend their right to do their job without police persecution. She was arrested for defending the freedom of the press.
