If you have been watching the New York Indymedia you know the tensions are high and the police have become the thugs on the street. Yesterday there was a march that lasted over two hours when, for no reason, the police pulled a fence through the middle of the crowd. They then opened a small hole in the gates and two plain clothed police officers drove two motor scooters into the crowd, running into people and hurting them. Today during several protests people followed the directions of the police department and were lead into fenced areas where they were arrested. Three of the people arrested are well known to the Los Angels area. Gene, Kim, and Joe are in a room down at the pier waiting to go in front of a judge. They are registered with Independent Media and are working in the role of media reporter and were covering the march starting from Union Park. The police directed them down a side road, when the march reached the end of the block police blocked their way and did not let them go any further and put up the gates behind them. The only reason people are being arrested is because they are abiding by the law and listening to law enforcement personal. The lessons learned here are that you never enter a caged protest and that you never, I repeat, never listen to an officer of the law when you are protesting anything in the capitalist system. The room that they are being housed in has a floor covered in oil and gas. They provide small metal benches that are also covered in oil. They should be out by tomorrow sometime. I will post more updates when I hear them.

It would mean a lot to the people arrested here if there is another show of solidarity back home.

This is taken from a distance, but she is sitting to the right waiting to be taken into custody.

Here is another picture of the thug cops charging the peaceful protesters.

Here the police are jabbing their Billy Clubs into people.

OK. So, I get on this indymedia site, and there's a picture of my sister Jo. And I'm thinking. Wait. She's in New York, in jail??? And then there's this picture below it with cops brandishing clubs. Did they touch my sister, because if they did....(@#$%^--use your imagination) Anyway. Mom and Dad are upset. Can someone tell Jo to call my folks who live in the San Gabriel Valley? My dear friend and I are running a music program out here in God's forbidden land, and can't do any footwork to figure out what happened to Jo.

LOVE YOU JO. But I'm sorry, someone's gotta call Mom.

Hello. This is a friend of Jo's from LA. I have been in contact with other friend's that are in NY and we are trying to find out more information as to when her release will be, I know she was arrested yesterday, but I talked to her right before that and she was ok. Due to the amount of arrests in NY yesterday it is taking awhile to get through and out. As soon as I have more information, I will post again. Don't worry. She has a great amount of support there from people we know there and we are keeping in constant contact. I will write more when I know more info. In Peace.

Thanks for the update. Mom was worried what to do. I figure, nothing to do except to wait it out. I am in the Middle East, and can't do very much vis-a-vis telephone communication. But can you call my Mom and tell her not to worry? I just have no idea what the situation is out there, and can't give my mother any calming words. I think it's a bit much to have two daughters kind of in this vortex, and not know what is going on. Thanks...

No worries, sweetie. Please email me at my email address with your mom's number and I will contact her as soon as I recieve her number. I will keep you posted as well. Stay strong - she has a lot of support and EVERYONE in NY has been very helpful. In Peace.

Hello friend. Somehow, neither of our emails show up. Mine is summerclara@yahoo.com

My sister did call mom collect today, that's all I know. But otherwise my mom is pretty much kind of floundering.

I know I posted that without very much information. I didn't really have a lot at the time and didn't have contact numbers for everyone, but I knew that people may be following indymedia and wanted to at least put the word out as to what happened. By now you know the story, I am sure, and know that everyone is okay. If Jo's sister is reading this, keep safe in the middle east and I hope you understand that we all did our best on the front lines to make sure everyone was okay. The cops out here are lawless thugs, we never expected this. The struggle continues.....