Demonstrators beaten after arrests – Americans included
Contrary to what much of the media reported, the breaking up earlier this week of the Occupy Tijuana protest was a lot harsher than originally reported. On Tuesday, October 18th, it was reported that up to 50 Mexican law enforcement agents broke up the encampment at 2:30 in the morning, an encampment that had been going on since Saturday, the 15th, and that 26 people were arrested.
However, according to an American present at the protest in Tijuana, the cops came at 7:30 to 8 pm, and ended up arresting as many as 60 people, many of them from this side of the border. David Fugate was at the site, and he told me that they were very peaceful, were holding signs and some were chanting near the intersection of Revolucion and 8th Street, on a grassy area.
The cops arrived and arrested him along with about 25 others. They were taken a local jail, after the men and women had been separated. David told me that he witnessed many others arrested being brought to the same jail – for a total of up to sixty. He told me while he was handcuffed, he was beaten up, and thrown down on the floor. Many of the younger men arrested were also beaten and roughed up by the cops at the jail.
Fugate showed me injuries to his face and jaw. He said deputies hit him in the face, broke a tooth, and knocked him unconscious.
After a couple of days, David was released, and driven to the US-Mexico border by American ICE agents where he was released.
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David has been under the heel & has lived.