Snipers and Riot Police Confront Tea Party Protesters in Quincy

Well not adherents of this new Tea Party is racist or extremists; indeed, I’d argue that the majority are not. But I have seen signs bearing the “n” word (which was humorously misspelled) as well as other strong racial remarks.

In the same way, the activity at protests against the Arizona immigration law does not characterize everyone who opposes it.

Every group has its extremists.

Eric,

I don’t have cable so I rely on rabbit ear television and what I saw in my old hometown of Phoenix was a riot.

Rocks and all sorts of debris being thrown by hooded delinquents unnerved me.

Yes there are extremists on both sides, but the coverage is disproportionate to what is actually happening on the ground.

Especially when there have yet to have any ‘racist’ verbiage captured on audio or video tape from the ObamaCare protests outside the capitol a few weeks ago.

Scrolling Byline – - – Tense moment at the White House this morning when Obama daughters discovered having a tea party in their room

Before you all get bent out of shape — I was at Obama’s announcement of his presidential run at the Old State Capitol in Springfield in 2007 (at the request of a newspaper I used to work for, to cover the event) and there were plenty of snipers on rooftops then too.

Now bear in mind that was a highly friendly crowd — not tea partiers, no visible opposition outside of a few pro-life protesters — and Obama wasn’t even president yet (just a candidate), although at that point he became entitled to Secret Service protection. This is probably routine at ANY large event he attends with crowds outdoors.

Elaine,

I also hope you’re right, but I don’t remember seeing riot police in Portland protecting President ‘W’ when his own limousine was attacked by leftist wingnuts.

So until I get hard evidence, ie, I”ll believe it when I see it, then it isn’t true.

President Obama is inane enough to do this and has no compulsion to the expense he will incur.

Considering his romp to New York on the government dime after inauguration for a “dinner” with his wife and his one and a half day foray to Copenhagen on the government dime, he wouldn’t hesitate to pull these kind of stunts hoping to provoke tea partiers if cost is any consideration.

The Quincy Police Department has issued a CYA statement (Commentary by Gateway Pundit):

Oops! The Quincy Police Department released a bogus statement calling the SWAT Team on the the protesting grandmothers yesterday. Unfortunately, they forgot about the army of videographers that filmed this incident.

The Quincy Police Department released a statement today following the embarrassing incident yesterday when they called in the SWAT squad to quash the peaceful tea party protest outside the convention center during Barack Obama’s visit.

During President Obama’s address, at approximately 1530 hours, the MFFT was deployed. A group of individuals positioned themselves on the south side of York Street near 3rd Street. This was within the area that was to be kept secure at the request of the U. S. Secret Service agents in charge of the site. Prior to the event only ticketed individuals were to be in this area; during the event it was restricted to the general public completely. Secret Service personnel requested these individuals leave the area and to go back to the north side of York Street. They did not comply. Quincy Police Department personnel made the same requests and again they did not comply. At that time the MFFT was deployed to stand post between the individuals and the site and, if necessary, remove the individuals. Once the MFFT was in place, the individuals agreed to move. Once everyone complied and the site was again secure, the MFFT returned to their staging point. No physical force was used during this deployment.

Of course, this ludicrous statement is a complete fabrication. We are currently contacting the police department to retract their statement.
We strongly object to these points.

1. Prior to the event only ticketed individuals were to be in this area; during the event it was restricted to the general public completely.
From the videos below it is clear that the restricted area was not roped off or marked as restricted. The protesters repeatedly checked with the police to make sure that they were not being disruptive.

2. “Secret Service personnel requested these individuals leave the area and to go back to the north side of York Street. They did not comply.”
We have at least three videos below that prove that the protesters asked and double-checked with the police to make sure we were following orders.

3. “Once the MFFT was in place, the individuals agreed to move.”
Once again the video shows that we were already moving from the corner to the middle of York Street before the MFFT marched into place.

The first video produced by Adam Sharp shows Adam checking and double-checking with the police to make sure that we are in the correct area. You’ll also notice that Adam was polite at all times.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/04/oops-quincy-pd-releases-bogus-statement-lashes-out-at-violent-granma-protesters-forgets-about-army-of-videographers/

What happened here is that the Quincy Police Department hugely overreacted and went into full Barney Fife mode. Ludicrous.