A Brawl in the Balcony:

In the meantime, while City Council attempted to bore dozens of us into comas as we waited patiently to be bored by Mayor Nutter's own boring lecture on the budget, most of us had wild hopes that something out of the ordinary might happen. Instead, we were reminded once again of some of the indignities that have come to be accepted as normal.

When the Frankford Chargers football team was being honored by City Council National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement activists brought attention to the team member who wasn't there, stating in clear calm words: "We remember Shareef Lee Jones, killed by Philadelphia police."

Shareef Jones, who played on the Frankford Chargers was shot last August. The ex-cop accused Shareef of trying to rob him while delivering pizza and gunned him down. When police responded, instead of  driving Shareef to the hospital, they drove his bullet riddled body around in circles before dropping his dead body off to the hospital.

Civil Affairs (our well dressed political police), made an initial attempt to politely shut up the protesters, but was met with near panic when someone in the balcony noticed they had come heavily armed screaming:"They've got a gun!" and scrambling for safety. Obviously confused when confronted with the obvious, the officer left the scene, only to return with possibly the entire (now less polite) Civil Affairs crew. This time, orders were for the Uhuru members to sit down immediately or be removed. In response the entire balcony stood up with them. Within seconds, a Civil Affairs cop, had his fingers around Uhuru organizer Diop Olugbala's neck , fists flew liberally and cops recklessly shoved and beat their way through the crowd. Several elderly protesters in the crowd were injured by police, one of whom went to the hospital with a broken hip.  Both Diop and Shabbaka Mnombatha, also with Uhuru were arrested and charged with aggravated assault, obstructing justice and resisting arrest. All three charges are typical fare when being charged as a victim of police violence.

It certainly wasn't the first time Philly cops brutalized someone while protesting the brutality of Philadelphia police, but I cringed when I heard Nutter name the Philly PD as being among the few to come out of the massive ongoing corporate looting unscathed. Like the greedy elites and corporations that police protect, somehow it's the police that manage to get awarded and protected every time they ruin someone's life. This year alone, Philly cops have already killed at least nine, and if we can use history as a guide, they will continue to get away with murder.