CodePink Protester Attacked at DNC

Sorted under politics, random acts of activism, violence against women on August 30, 2008

I saw this early yesterday morning and am still angry (well, angry doesn’t really cover it; it’s more like seething) disgusted and thoroughly sickened by this.

A few days ago at the Democratic National Convention, a CodePink protester was the victim of obscene police brutality as she was shoved to the ground with a baton of a police officer with excessive force while the police officer yelled “back it up, bitch.” While talking to reporters about how she (and other protesters) were treated during the protest, the cop then went over to her, grabbed her by the arm and violently pulled her away from the reporters.

The CodePink protester, Alicia Forrest, 24, of Los Angeles, was arrested on charges of “interference.” But what is this interference they speak of? Forrest had allegedly witnessed the arrest of an unidentified man in the street near the Denver Civic Center Park when she and others nearby asked police why the man was being arrested. So one man gets arrested for obviously nothing, since officers were being asked why the man was being arrested and because of this they also get arrested. Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me!

Forrest was transferred to the Denver City Jail where bond was posted for $580 bail and was held for the night. After getting out of jail, Forrest said this:

“I was standing up for my free speech rights, showing support for a fellow activist,” Forrest said. “If anything, this showed me how powerful standing up for your beliefs can be, and how necessary it is for the truth to get out even in the face of resistance.”

CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans called watching the video footage distressing.

“Here we are CODEPINK activists, here to deliver the message of peace, and how ironic that we would witness the exact violence we oppose,” Evans said. “How is it that a Denver cop would be afraid of a peace activist with a pink crown on her head? What have we become?”

The video of the violence against Forrest and her arrest are below, but I wouldn’t recommend going to the YouTube page to read the comments–They are full of sexism and misogyny and very triggering.

Who else thinks it’s kind of ironic that I was listening to the song What’s Going On when I was reading about this and again when I started writing it?


Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
What’s going on



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  • Megan
    I can't remember when this happened exactly, but a couple months ago some Denver cops stopped a man riding a bicycle, and they ended up beating the crap out of him, and then they lied through their teeth about it. They said that the man threw a punch and assaulted one of the officers, but someone caught the fight on tape and the man the cops attacked didn't do anything; he didn't even defend himself when they were punching him in the head. The case went to trial and the cops were caught in their lies when the tape was played as evidence.

    TO PARAPHRASE - This doesn't surprise me in the least.
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