After a couple hours it was FFH’s time to speak. A couple speakers were upset by the lack of respect being displayed by council and the general apathy we witnessed. As one of the speakers stormed out of the back of the hall he said aloud something along the lines of “city council is bullshit!”. He walked out the door and a cop ran after him. I began filming and followed outside. I witnessed the cop grab and accost him without communication as to what was happening. I filmed the whole thing and attempted to defend him and chill the cop out.

I was unsuccessful. I went back to council.

Moments later two officers entered the hall and I felt they were there for me so I began filming. One officer repeatedly told me to get up and come out to the hall. He would not tell me why or answer any questions. He kept telling me to leave my stuff behind. He grabbed me by the arm and attempted to drag me to the hall. I walked out to the hall and stood against a wall. My camera was smacked several times. I was shoved around. All of this before I was finally told I was being accused of flicking someone off.

When the cop got more aggressive I sat down and stopped cooperating. They forced me down the hall. Eventually someone confirmed that it was not me and the cop let me go. I looked him in the face and said “You owe me a fucking apology.” He grabbed me again and handcuffed me and said I was under arrest. I was shoved into the elevator and taken downstairs to be harassed some more. Eventually they let me go and wrote me a ticket for “disorderly conduct, abusive language”.