CHICAGO 1/31 -- On Sunday, Occupy Chicago took to the streets in response to the violent treatment of Occupy Oakland protesters at the hands of the Oakland Police the night before, gathering at at LaSalle and Jackson before setting off on a fast-moving march around the Loop.
“As the march progressed, clearly having no planned route or direction, the police’s aggressive behavior erupted.” said Micah Philbrook of Occupy Chicago. “They began to forcefully push and shove peaceful protesters in an effort to get them off the street.”
Keilah Becker, a member of Occupy Chicago Social Media Team, says she was subjected to extremely aggressive treatment at the hands of an unidentified CPD officer.
“The cop came up behind me, grabbed me by the arm and pushed me onto the sidewalk.” said Becker, who was recording and livestreaming the march at the time. “I told him, ‘You can’t touch me, get your hands off me,’ to which he responded by pushing me onto a trashcan and began yelling extremely sexist and verbally abusive comments at me...I was streaming all of this.”
When another man attempted to come to Becker’s aid, the officer threw him to the ground and proceeded to arrest him.
“I was streaming all of this and then my phone was taken from me.” said Becker. “A woman officer grabbed my phone and turned off the stream. She deleted the footage and told me I could not record officers and that it was a class 4 felony.”
The officer was referring to the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, widely regarded as the most restrictive law of its kind anywhere in the Nation. It makes any type of audio recording of an individual or group without their express permission a Class 4 felony. In Becker’s case it could be much worse. Under this law, audio recording law enforcement personnel is a Class 1 felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Videotaping without audio is not covered under the Act.
