Big Difference In Arrest Numbers Comparing 2016 DNC To 2000 RNC In Philadelphia
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Was it a kinder, gentler DNC protest movement - or just as explosive as the Republican National Convention demonstrations in 2000 - with a different dynamic between police and protesters?
There was a big different in the arrest numbers.
Just over 100 protesters were given citations, rather than arrested and taken into custody during the DNC's four day run.
At the RNC, more than 400 protesters were arrested and faced criminal charges.
The DNC-related citations were both a quarter of the number, and were not entered into the criminal justice system.
The citations, known as CVN's, looked like parking tickets, and carried $50 civil fines.
Civil rights lawyer Larry Krasner represented many of the protesters at the RNC.
"Certainly, it's good to see that we don't have idealistic young people all being warehoused and framed, like happened at the RNC. But what we are seeing a different method, to get at the same thing - that's suppressing their method, by pulling them from where they are, to make sure that they can't be seen."
Defense lawyers who represented protesters at the RNC point out that the conviction rate was below 5 percent, resulting in mostly acquittals and some lawsuits against the city.
For the most part, when protesters faced off against officers, they were mostly uniformed cops, officers on bikes, and others wearing PPD signed polo shirts, not riot-gear clad officers.
At the DNC, 11 people accused of breaching the outer perimeter fence of a Secret Service designated no-go zone, near the Wells Fargo Center, were arrested and face federal charges.
Mayor Kenney signed a bill a month before the DNC to keep peaceful protesters from facing criminal charges. The mayor made it clear to visitors that Philadelphia is not a "lock-'em-up city."
