Some question police tactics in biotech protests

ST. LOUIS -- Police chief Joe Mokwa described a difficult balancing act Tuesday when it came to handling a protest over the weekend.

If police hadn't had a strong presence, they could be seen as unprepared. Too many officers, and protesters feel police were overreacting. "You're in an untenable position," he said.

Mokwa said the department learned from the experience. But he said the bottom line was that safety was protected, and the protest remained peaceful.

But many protesters remain angry, and said precaution didn't justify what they viewed as pre-emptive arrests.

Police were worried that a demonstration against genetically altered food would be large and could turn violent. But the protest outside a World Agricultural Forum conference Sunday drew only a few hundred demonstrators, all were peaceful. Just a handful protested in the final two days of the event.

On Friday, police made arrests many demonstrators viewed as pre-emptive and unfair; they also saw the 100 or so officers at the protest as unnecessary and intimidating.

The American Civil Liberties Union of eastern Missouri is gathering information, and its executive director said the concerns won't leave town when some of the protesters do.

"I think the show of force probably scared away some people who wanted to protest," said Matt LeMieux. He said the group is looking into how the arrests were made.

The chief said police met with local protest leaders before the event, but he said it had been difficult to gauge exactly how many people would be in town to demonstrate. He said the department had expected more.

On Friday, before any protesting began, police arrested 15 people on housing occupancy violations, saying they received complaints from neighbors, and those arrested had been staying in condemned or uninhabitable buildings.

Those arrested maintained they'd just been spending a few days in cooperative living housing.

Also arrested were nine bicyclists -- members of a bicycle circus who were in town to perform at Biodevastation 7, a gathering for opponents of genetic engineering.

They said police initially told them it was for bicycling without a license, a law that's no longer on the books. They ultimately were issued summons for impeding the flow of traffic.

"I wish we wouldn't have detained the people on bicycles," the chief said Tuesday. "I wish we could reconsider that community contact."

At a press conference on Friday, police revealed a table of confiscated items that could turn a protest violent: items like roofing nails; tubes and bike locks that protesters could use to chain themselves to each other or buildings; torches and combustible items.

On Tuesday, protesters and lawyers representing them said there were reasonable explanations for the items. Many of them had been removed from buildings under renovation, they said. And, "They arrested a bicycle circus," said lawyer Justin Meehan. "They juggle torches."

Mokwa said items like the ones police confiscated could hurt someone. He explained Tuesday that an item like a torch could certainly be a concern in a crowd situation. No weapons charges were brought against anyone.

The chief said he'd spoken Tuesday with lawyers representing those who had been arrested, and he thought relations were improving from where they'd been a few days ago. Meehan agreed.

Ben Majchrzak, 28, was among the bicyclists arrested. He said it was unfortunate the arrests had taken so much attention away from the protesters' real concern, their beliefs about the dangers of genetically engineered food and seeds.

Lawyer Rory Ellinger said the arrests should be quashed and all property returned. And he said, "Their constitutional rights have clearly been violated. That's for another day."