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Nick Giannone acquitted; was beaten and arrested at Dem convention
Wednesday, June 29— Thanks to those of you who showed up at Nick Giannone's trial for one or all of the last three days. The jury came back this morning with a verdict of not guilty.
On June 27th, in the Edward Brooke Court house, a jury found Nick Giannone not guilty of assaulting a public official on July 29, 2004 during the Democratic National Convention.
The assault was on the officers hat. The hat was not hurt in the alleged attack.
The assault charge carried a 2 1/2 yearsentence. The 8 jury members delborated for a day and half before they came to their verdict of not guilty. The case had been dragged out for almost a year.
So, what happened that Thursday July 29, 2004? Perhaps we should ask what didn’t happen the week of the DNC. The city spent over $22 million on security preparations. Hidden cameras, body armor, road blocks, weaponry.
The Democratic police force was armed for street warfare that never happened. No protester came to the DNC looking for a fight.
Protesters had to endure policemen armed as soldiers, armed with lethal weapons pointed at them. Now, activists and protestors are suppose to accept with humility the fact that our fair city was ready to kill and maim to protect whatever democracy meant to them.
We have to be thankful that the men with guns did not open fire on the unarmed crowd. O, thank you fair city, thank you.
Nick Giannone was arrested on July 29, 2004 at a demonstration on Canal Street during the final day of the Democratic National Convention.
One purpose of the demonstration was to call attention to the complete lack of opposition to or discussion of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars at the Convention.
The arrests that day were entirely provoked by the Boston police. The two hundred demonstrators were outnumbered by police and military personnel five to one. They were completely surrounded and under heavy surveillance.
The purpose of the arrests—all of them arbitrary—was for the Boston police to justify millions of dollars of funding for security at a point on the last day of the convention when it became obvious that there was never any "threat" to justify the money spent.