HPD has released its report of how it handled the recent Halliburton protest and, shockingly, the groups who protested don’t agree with the report:
Houston police deny mistreating protesters at the annual meeting of Halliburton shareholders last month, according to a report by the department released Wednesday amid accusations of officer misconduct.
Members of the groups that gathered May 18 to protest the involvement of the world’s largest oil-field contractor in Iraq disagreed with the report and contend that officers acted aggressively toward the protesters.
[snip]
The majority of protesters followed police direction, but several smaller groups grew violent with officers after being blocked from leaving the protest area near the Four Seasons Hotel, where the Halliburton meeting was held, according to the HPD report.
In one incident, a mounted officer was knocked off a horse by a hurled bicycle. One police horse was severely cut, Ready said.
Sixteen protesters were arrested, including three charged with felony assault of a peace officer.
[snip]
Several groups, including Houston Global Awareness, one of the main organizers of the protest, planned to gather written testimonials and videos.
Of course, we can already see quite a bit of video courtesy of KHOU-11. I still can’t understand why these “peaceful” protesters injured a police officer and a horse. And I love how at the end of the story Code Pink is innocuously called a “social action group.” If Code Pink were a conservative group, you can bet it would be labeled in a much more dramatic fashion.
CALLIE MARKANTONIS ADDS: Last night, the full HPD report referenced above was available under HPD Press Releases on the City of Houston website. Today, the link doesn’t work, and a public affairs spokesman told me that it was removed per the “administration.”
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: We should have furled that one when it first posted so we would have a copy of our own, but thankfully, the Houston IndyMedia site has a copy of the report up (with a link back to HPD that no longer works).
Why in the world would the administration of MayorWhiteChiefHurtt order the removal of a PUBLIC document from the City of Houston website?
