Police in Pittsburgh have been rolling out their new toys and dressing up like stormtroopers at the G20 protests. (Much more at Pittsburgh Indymedia).There have been reports of direct action in the streets, with activists rolling dumpsters into the paths of oncoming riot police and police pepper-spraying, beating, arresting, and surveilling activists. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports police following activists in unmarked cars, but that’s clearly not the full scope of what is going on right now in Pittsburgh.
Check out this video of two men in military fatigues grabbing an activist out of the crowd, throwing him into an unmarked car, and driving on through the lines of riot police.
I’ve reported previously on local police buying tanks, and an influx of “anti-terrorism” money being used to militarize local police departments. And in the RNC 8 case, police and attorneys used “anti-terrorism” resources and rhetoric to target protest organizers. It should be strikingly, undeniably clear by now that the lines between police and military have been completely eroded. The police have been militarized, the military is policing.
There is a reason police and military operations are separated. It’s the same reason that the foreign intelligence operations of the CIA are kept separate from the domestic intelligence operations of the FBI: Even if you believe that the tactics, violence, and black ops used abroad are justifiable, they have no place at home. They are incompatible with any semblance of a democracy.