At least 11 People Arrested at Mexican Consulate Including Indymedia Photographer Erin Siegal

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/78080.html

October 30, 2006 11:57AM EST [general.addtranslation] Download Article (PDF) [ insert language bar ]

At least 11 People Arrested at Mexican Consulate Including Indymedia Photographer Erin Siegal

10/30 | Arrested Photographer Says, "I had some beautiful photos."
By John Tarleton

A crowd of about 200 people gathered outside the Mexican Consulate this morning to protest state-sponsored repression in Oaxaca including the recent murder of NYC Indymedia Jounalist Brad Will by paramilitaries.
Keywords: Analysis, Local, Activism,

A crowd of about 200 people gathered outside the Mexican Consulate this morning to protest state-sponsored repression in Oaxaca including the recent murder of NYC Indymedia Jounalist Brad Will by paramilitaries. At least 11 people have been arrested. Erin Siegal of the NYC Indymedia photo team has also been arrested despite having full press credentials and her camera was taken away by the police.

"They ripped my Indymedia press pass off and then they chased me an ripped off my New York City press pass five minutes later," Siegal said from her cell phone in the back of the police wagon. "The police were brutal and nasty earlier. I had some beautiful photos."

Siegal said that other arrestees included Madeline Nelson, Savitri, Chloe, Tim Doody, Eric M., Joan Roney, Tim Keating, Kevin Skvorak and Brandon Jourdan. Other reports said that Dyan Neary was arrested as well. Skvorak, Neary and Jourdan both previously worked with Will on the NYC Indymedia video team.

According to Siegal, Keating locked himself to the gate at the front entrance to the Consulate while Chloe and Roney blocked another nearby entrance. Doody strapped himself to the top of a lamppost outside the Consulate and hung for over an hour a large poster-banner of Brad Will that read, "One More Night at the Barricades" before he was arrested. Just before he was hauled down, Doody led the crowd in a boisterous call-and-response chant of "Brad Will!"..."Presente!".

A number of Consulate workers watched the protest unfold from the windows of the building.

Note: We just received a call from Raleigh, North Carolina where a dozen people are occupying the Mexican Consulate in solidarity with Brad and the people of Oaxaca.