by Garret Ean
June 4, 2011

At least eight individuals were arrested today at the Manchester police station during an accountability demonstration motivated by both the Manchester police’s beating of a man outside of the Strange Brew tavern, and the recent multi-day standoff which led to the shooting death of a man in his home. Police began confiscating cameras after two chalking arrests were made, and throughout the day individuals were picked off for a variety of reasons. I myself was arrested with two others for allegedly standing on the sidewalk. Yes, this is a crime, according to the police, who cited a city ordinance that you must stay in constant motion on the sidewalk.

Police found a camera in my pocket during booking and were not going to list it with my property and said they were going to seize it as evidence. Upon release (I’m not sure how long I was in custody, it felt like thirty to forty minutes) my camera was listed with the rest of my property and the footage was retained. There will be lots of footage coming soon.

Pete Eyre speaks with WMUR following four arrests and prior to his own arrest later in the day.

Free Keene has the earliest published coverage here:

http://freekeene.com/2011/06/04/mass-arrests-of-activists-in-manchester-cameras-confiscated/

http://freekeene.com/2011/06/04/ridley-gets-video-of-mpds-mass-arrests/

Here’s the meat of the footage from the Free Concord cam that survived a journey through the depths of Manchester PD.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=D3cT_EoxV4c

Oct 3 2011: According to Greg Muller, the man representing ‘the state’ in bringing charges against the Chalking 8, Manchester police allowed their own video recordings from the day to be destroyed, all while they were stealing cameras from private individuals. See:

Manchester Police Destroy Key Evidence in Chalking 8 Case

On December 27, 2011, I was found not guilty of two charges of disorderly conduct. More cases are pending. See the pinged links in the comments section for the continuing updates on this case.