Protest Reports
Activists have been under heavy surveillance through body cams, street cameras and their social media, and many were explicitly targeted for arrest while on downtown streets over the previous several weeks, but Columbus police have entered a new strategic phase to end the protests and kill the movement.
The Free Press has confirmed the Columbus police began issuing warrants about a week ago against activists without the individual knowing, which is common practice for some serious crimes, but not for peacefully protesting.
After one warrant was secretly issued, the activist was then arrested several days later while protesting.
Several more activists, after discovering a warrant had been issued for their arrest, decided to turn themselves in, said a defense attorney who is representing these activists.
But instead of turning themselves into police, says the defense attorney, they decided on seeing the duty judge. The judge then set the warrant aside, or they plead not guilty and a recognizance bond was set.
During the first weeks of July, the intensity of the protests resulting from the murder of George Floyd, had gradually faded. This has been a matter of reflection for many people, who see the need to have and understand a goal beyond what is immediate when going out and protesting.
To understand that goal, it is necessary to take into account phenomena that are happening daily, and are reinforced by events such as the Stand for America 2020 rally at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, July 18. It is incredible and unthinkable that civilians carry automatic guns in a public protest under the pretext of fighting for freedom. It is unthinkable that the fight for freedom be limited to the "right" not to wear a mask to protect others or to bear arms without any kind of control. It is incredible how this supremacist, macho and racist society has degraded the word Freedom.
It was spring 1970, the world was ablaze with anti-establishment expression: free speech, women’s rights, civil/human rights, anti-war were all movements of the day. On the Ohio State University (https://library.osu.edu/site/dissent/), Kent State (https://www.kent.edu/may-4-1970), and Jackson State (https://www2.kenyon.edu/Khistory/60s/webpage.htm) campuses, like many other campuses across the globe, there was active student rebellion. While the “don’t trust anyone over 30” motif was prevalent, the movement gained support from many communities in Central Ohio, especially OSU students, faculty, and administration. In historic moments, however, the OSU administration had to be challenged to meet student, faculty, and community demands. In 2020, OSU administration was presented with over 500 faculty member signatures concerned by the re-opening of the OSU campus among COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice issues.
On Sunday morning, June 14 there was a Short North demonstration in support of North Star and Brassica restaurant staff who have quit in protest of the 50% discount given to police officers, as well as the refusal of the owners to sign on to a Columbus City Council Resolution declaring racism a public health issue.
The march began Wednesday, June 3 with a rally at 12:00 noon at the north end of the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington, a six-minute walk north of where I live. At about 12:40 p.m., following the rally [that had included several speakers], the group of thousands marched, on the streets, through several neighborhoods of Upper Arlington [including a section of the historic "Old Arlington" neighborhood south of Lane Ave.] and eventually returned to the Kingsdale Shopping Center.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine captured the national spotlight in early March when he issued bold directives that moved the state to the forefront of battling the COVID-19 pandemic. DeWine pushed for Ohioʼs spring primary election to be postponed and changed to mail-in ballots. He banned mass gatherings and ordered the closure of schools, theaters, gyms, bowling alleys, bars, and restaurants.
COLUMBUS, OHIO (May 11, 2020) - On May 1, 2020, the Columbus City Council chose to flatly deny a citizen group’s request to place the Columbus Community Bill of Rights (CCBOR) charter amendment on the November 2020 ballot. After the coronavirus shutdown froze signature gathering in mid-March, the group had secured almost 9,000 signatures, and so the group asked City Council to vote to place it on the ballot. The current deadline to turn in 9,870 valid signatures is June 18.
In response to COVID-19, the community group made the difficult, yet necessary decision to cease signature gathering on March 12.
The 1970 killings by National Guardsmen of four students during a peaceful anti-war demonstration at Kent State University have now been shown to be cold-blooded, premeditated official murder. But the definitive proof of this monumental historic reality is not, apparently, worthy of significant analysis or comment in today's mainstream media.
After 37 years of official denial and cover-up, tape-recorded evidence, that has existed for decades and has been in the possession of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has finally been made public.
It proves what "conspiracy theorists" have argued since 1970---that there was a direct military order leading to the unprovoked assassination of unarmed students. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents show collusion between Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes and the FBI that aimed to terrorize anti-war demonstrators and their protests that were raging throughout the nation.