I was thankful for my many years and actual training in being a “peacekeeper” for I was able to tap those skills while responding to a theft of a sign that ended in a scuffle, I believe a clearly wrongful arrest and wrongful accusation. I called the National Lawyers Guild, gathered witness names and phone numbers which lead to a criminal prosecutor willing to represent our “defendant”. Because this is now a criminal case I will not use real names and will state that this story is what I witnessed (or heard from witnesses).

M. J. (a new member of WAND) called me to alert me to President Bush coming to speak at Oakland Community College (OCC), in Farmington Hills, on Wednesday, October 6th. I joined around 75 to 100 anti-Bush peaceful protestors across from the entrance to OCC. I was impressed by the costumes and signs created by some Sierra Club members who are opposed to Bush’s poor record on keeping our air, water and land clean. (See photo)

I felt and saw that this was a peaceful display of our constitutional right to free speech. That is until it was imposed upon and threatened by what appeared to be the theft of some signs. At the top of this page is my picture of a man handing a poster stolen from a young man to a Sheriff on horseback. (The poster read “F…War”- which is what caused the upset.) I saw this Sheriff crumple up then throw the poster to the ground.

I was so shocked by this that I used my cell phone to call the National Lawyers Guild to report that I felt the authorities were getting out of control. A lawyer with NLG listened to some witnesses then asked me to gather their names and phone numbers. Later I heard by other witnesses that apparently it was during this time that C.C. was assaulted by the same man wearing the light blue shirt who had grabbed C.C.’s sign. I could not tell if the latter was a just an avid Bush supporter or someone working for or with the authorities. C.C. was accused of “assault & battery”, released on $200 bail by 7 pm that evening after around 3-4 hours.

I did not see the scuffle though I did hear someone say that a couple of people were being arrested. I saw the man in the light blue shirt, across the street, talking to a policeman as they walked away. I was puzzled by him not having hand cuffs on and being allowed to walk freely.

I gathered a few witness names and numbers, made sure that a constitutional lawyer who happened to be there and a friend of C.C.’s had the crumpled poster as evidence, which they took to the police station. That evening I e-mailed these two pictures to a reporter from “The South End” newspaper who interviewed me on the spot.

It was clear to me that anti-Bush supporters were being moved to just one corner, with the six Sheriffs on their horses blocking the view as Bush and his caravan drove out of OCC. This same caravan of 24 vehicles, including some media, had seen the largest gathering of protestors when they drove in around 2:30 pm. Bush supporters were allowed to stand where we had been, so this felt like a partisan prejudice. I did not witness any anti-Bush protestor do anything to warrant being treated as a threat to Bush.

I believe there were around 50 police or sheriffs standing around or on motorcycles. Overall I felt there was greater tension, fear and potential to violence than I had experienced at previous anti-Bush protests. I have never before experienced signs being stolen and torn or a physical fight being allowed to happen. My subjective feeling is that some Bush supporters are starting to act desperate as they sense Bush just might not win this election.

Kim Joy Bergier

P.S. A small card “What To Do If You Are Stopped By the Police” is available through ACLU. (See www.aclumich.org/ for contact information.) “If you have a police encounter, you can protect yourself.”