4 ms·

This is exactly what should happen. The success of any protest is based on media coverage. If no one was arrested, this wouldn't have been a story. If this cov

This is exactly what should happen. The success of any protest is based on media coverage. If no one was arrested, this wouldn't have been a story. If this coverage reaches a few who are willing to get arrested for the cause, they'll launch additional protests hoping for more exposure. If protesters manage to keep themselves in the news cycle, they may actually make a difference.

sp332 13y ago
Maybe the protesters who locked themselves in a doorway were looking for coverage, but it looks like the two who hung up the banner weren't interested in making a story.
kelnos 13y ago
There's a line, though. On one side you have the risk of serious trumped-up felony charges that can land you in prison and make you basically unemployable. On the other side you have an arrest and release with no charges filed. If the likelihood of the former is too high, the gov't might succeed in frightening away enough would-be protesters.
grecy 13y ago
Imagine what will happen if they are found guilty and actually get a 10 year sentence. Every single person will think twice about attending a protest next time, which would be the end of democracy (if it isn't already gone in the USA)
- greenyoda 13y ago
  It will probably never happen, since if the charges aren't dropped, dozens of prominent civil rights lawyers will probably offer to defend these guys pro bono. And it would be hard to convince a jury that these guys actually intended to perpetrate a terrorism hoax. Who'd believe that someone could mistake glitter that fell off a sign for a dangerous substance?
  - 1457389 13y ago
    That's all fine and well, but it reveals an underlying system of anti-democratic behavior by our security services. This is certainly not the first or last instance they have used counterterrorism as a justification to go after activists.
  - vkou 13y ago
    Alas, with the explosion in the number of statutory crimes on the books, intent is about the last thing that's necessary to end up a felon.
- memracom 13y ago
  You could always emigrate to a country that celebrates their constitution and whose president publicly states that people have a right to speak out. In Russia, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Consitution of the Russian Federation, they are freeing many convicted prisoners including some of those who were arrested at political protests during the last election. As one politician said, those who were called to the protest and misguidedly agreed but are now apologetic will be freed, but those who organized the violence and incited others to join in will not. And the president of Russia, addressing a meeting of leaders of the various regions and republics in the Federation as well as church, mosque and synagogue leaders, made it a point to state that Russian, unlike the EU and the IMF, will not demand Ukraine to take any particular internal actions in return for financial help and is only offering it to join in a customs union as a partner. The above is all paraphrased from a couple of news reports in Russian that I watched last week. There is a well known phenomenon in politics and society of the pendulum swing. Childhood friends who discovered politics in University and hated each other because one was socialist and the other capitalist, find that after 40 years they have EACH reversed their positions and still can't reconcile. Or the USA who used to hold up the Soviet Union as an example of the wrong way to do things and consequently avoided doing things that might appear to be Soviet style. But now that there is no Soviet Union to compare itself to, the USA has copied the worst excesses of Stalin's KGB. Meanwhile, the Russian Federation still holds out the Soviet Union as a standard of comparison -- it is their history after all -- and actively moves away from Soviet style solutions embracing capitalism and individual liberty to a far greater degree than Western countries. While corruption in the USA grows unchallenged, the Russian Federation is in the second decade of a campaign to root it out both high and low.
  - chris_wot 13y ago
    It's rare that I've ever read such unadulterated bullshit on Hacker News.
    - milesskorpen 13y ago
      This. To suggest that Putin's Russia is a freedom-loving country beggars belief.

sp332 13y ago

Maybe the protesters who locked themselves in a doorway were looking for coverage, but it looks like the two who hung up the banner weren't interested in making a story.

kelnos 13y ago

There's a line, though. On one side you have the risk of serious trumped-up felony charges that can land you in prison and make you basically unemployable. On the other side you have an arrest and release with no charges filed. If the likelihood of the former is too high, the gov't might succeed in frightening away enough would-be protesters.

grecy 13y ago

Imagine what will happen if they are found guilty and actually get a 10 year sentence. Every single person will think twice about attending a protest next time, which would be the end of democracy (if it isn't already gone in the USA)

greenyoda 13y ago
It will probably never happen, since if the charges aren't dropped, dozens of prominent civil rights lawyers will probably offer to defend these guys pro bono. And it would be hard to convince a jury that these guys actually intended to perpetrate a terrorism hoax. Who'd believe that someone could mistake glitter that fell off a sign for a dangerous substance?
- 1457389 13y ago
  That's all fine and well, but it reveals an underlying system of anti-democratic behavior by our security services. This is certainly not the first or last instance they have used counterterrorism as a justification to go after activists.
- vkou 13y ago
  Alas, with the explosion in the number of statutory crimes on the books, intent is about the last thing that's necessary to end up a felon.
memracom 13y ago
You could always emigrate to a country that celebrates their constitution and whose president publicly states that people have a right to speak out. In Russia, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Consitution of the Russian Federation, they are freeing many convicted prisoners including some of those who were arrested at political protests during the last election. As one politician said, those who were called to the protest and misguidedly agreed but are now apologetic will be freed, but those who organized the violence and incited others to join in will not. And the president of Russia, addressing a meeting of leaders of the various regions and republics in the Federation as well as church, mosque and synagogue leaders, made it a point to state that Russian, unlike the EU and the IMF, will not demand Ukraine to take any particular internal actions in return for financial help and is only offering it to join in a customs union as a partner. The above is all paraphrased from a couple of news reports in Russian that I watched last week. There is a well known phenomenon in politics and society of the pendulum swing. Childhood friends who discovered politics in University and hated each other because one was socialist and the other capitalist, find that after 40 years they have EACH reversed their positions and still can't reconcile. Or the USA who used to hold up the Soviet Union as an example of the wrong way to do things and consequently avoided doing things that might appear to be Soviet style. But now that there is no Soviet Union to compare itself to, the USA has copied the worst excesses of Stalin's KGB. Meanwhile, the Russian Federation still holds out the Soviet Union as a standard of comparison -- it is their history after all -- and actively moves away from Soviet style solutions embracing capitalism and individual liberty to a far greater degree than Western countries. While corruption in the USA grows unchallenged, the Russian Federation is in the second decade of a campaign to root it out both high and low.
- chris_wot 13y ago
  It's rare that I've ever read such unadulterated bullshit on Hacker News.
  - milesskorpen 13y ago
    This. To suggest that Putin's Russia is a freedom-loving country beggars belief.