Overzealous Swat Team Prevails At Atlanta Anonymous Protest, Arrests Made, Motorists Pulled Over For Honking

In stark contrast to the very laid back police officers at the D.C. Anon protests, the Atlanta police (notoriously in the pocket of the local Scientology org) arrested two Anonymous protesters at yesterday’s March 15th raid. See the above video. I am not sure why those two protesters were arrested, but at the 4:06 mark on the video, you can see the eager police force pulling over a motorist for honking while driving by the subdued Anon crowd.

Really, was that necessary? This is the kind of nonsense that makes people question the authorities role in protecting Scientology. Thankfully, Atlanta ridiculous and overzealous need to crack down on peaceful protests is aberration, as most authorities keep a neutral distance.

You’d think they’d be used to clocked figures in Atlanta.

Here’s more from WikiNews on the Atlanta Anon incident:

While protesting outside the Scientology Church of Georgia in Atlanta, two members of the group Anonymous were arrested by DeKalb County riot police while standing opposite the Church of Scientology-owned building.

The two protesters, who earlier on participated in the delivery of a ‘global speech’ collaboratively written and read by members of Anonymous at protests worldwide, were arrested are believed to have been charged by Atlanta police for protesting without a permit and causing ‘offensive or hazardous conditions’. However, other members of Anonymous who took leading roles in arranging the protest are adamant that the Atlanta police had previously told them they did not need a permit to protest.

The arrests were filmed by other members of Anonymous who subsequently posted the videos onto popular video-sharing website YouTube. The videos show a very quick arrest in which the arresting officers failed to read the Miranda rights of the protesters. This was confirmed by other members of the group who say they didn’t hear their rights being read before they were lead away.

Members of Anonymous have composed an open letter to Atlanta’s Chief of Police, asking if such a show of police strength was really needed at a non-violent protest organised and attended mainly by college students and young Americans.

Drivers showing their support for the protesters by honking their car horns while driving past were followed by police bikes waiting in the Scientology building’s driveway and given tickets for violating noise ordinance laws. However, many members of Anonymous have voiced confusion over these tickets, as the honks of support were only 2-3 seconds in duration at most, and noise ordinance laws state a horn must be sounded for longer than 60 seconds to count as a violation of the law. When, after the arrests were made, the police started to adopt the policy of ticketing drivers who honked, members of Anonymous quickly raised “Don’t Honk” signs to drivers.

Both of the members of Anonymous have been released, one with a bail of $763.00. There are confirmed to be two charges standing against one. No information has been released from the police department at this point.

They were NOT read their Miranda Rights - where’s the ACLU? Even if they violated the “permission to protest” code by not getting a permit, they should still be read their Miranda Rights. Perhaps they did it later, but on the video they essentially arrested them with no word as to why. That does not look good in the public eye.

• Scientology Totally Overreacts to peaceful protestors
• How I Got Arrested for Holding an IMPEACH Sign
• Masked protesters rally against Scientology
• Scientology accuses protesters of threats
• Anonymous increases pressure on Scientology in third protest