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Amtrak Police arrested three Occupy Philly protesters at 30th Street Station this afternoon who were handing out leaflets in opposition to a new Pennsylvania anti-abortion law.
“It was just people handing out flyers,” says organizer Amanda Geraci. “There was no blocking people getting to their trains, there was no civil disobedience. It was just handing out paper.”
Amtrak Police approached the protesters at 12:15pm, according to Occupy, two to three minutes after they began a “mic check.” Amtrak Police allegedly gave no order to disperse before making arrests.
“We walked into 30th Street Station in a group and we started to mic check in reference Senate Bill 732, which is an anti-abortion bill,” says Aine, an arrested protester. “The Amtrak Police just pinned us in in a circle and didn’t tell me anything. I turned around to walk away, and one of the cops grabbed me by the arm and told me I was under arrest.”
The three activists, amongst twenty leafleting at 30th Street Station, were detained for 45 minutes and released with citations charging them with obstructing a highway, defiant trespassing and disorderly conduct. Amtrak Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from City Paper.
The two other arrested protesters say that police assaulted them.
“The cop grabbed me and slammed me on my shoulder blade and stomped on my shoulder blade and elbow,” John Phillips. “The officer was like, ‘I told you you didn’t want to get arrested.’”
“In the middle of the mic check,” says Lex, “they grabbed me put cuffs on my wrists, and shoved a baton into my back.”
Occupy Philly isn’t backing down. They will be handing out more flyers against Senate Bill 732 today at 4:30pm. Republican Governor Tom Corbett signed the legislation, which would require abortion clinics to make extremely costly renovations to stay in business, in December.
Anything that we do that is against the agenda of America`s oppressive machine, will result in arrests and probably in the near future we will be detained indefinitely. I am shocked by what has become of America. Most American citizens don`t even see that America is a fascist regime. The rest of the world has known it for a long time.— straightalk- I was there, and not as part of the effort, was there to take a train and saw it. The police should not have arrested anyone. I was disgusted with them (the police).— susango
- The police are out of control in this city. If you call the police because you witnessed or were victim of a crime, you are just as likely to be arrested or beaten by the Philadelphia police as the perpetrator. I am a law-abiding citizen, but I fear them as much as I do the criminals.— stuyvet
- I hope that their efforts don't go unnoticed, this is a very important bill. Do you think they'd get the same response if they were ONLY handing out leaflets? I know that free speech is important, but does the cause trump strict adherence to the mic check as a medium or will the message fall on deaf ears because they are too busy getting arrested instead of spreading the word.— antMan786
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