Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Group "W" Bench

Based on what police and detainees said August 19, police placed five protesters, including a 27-year-old office worker by the name of Goh, in a holding cell after they were apprehended in a candlelight demonstration August 15. There, they were asked to remove their bras. They at first refused, but police continued to demand they do so, saying the detainees could use the bras to kill themselves. In the end, they took off their bras, and spent about 40 hours in detention until they were released Sunday evening.

-- "Women detained by police forced to remove bras after demo", The Hankyoreh, 2008

After the ordeal we went back to the jail. Obie said he was going to put us in the cell. Said, "Kid, I'm going to put you in the cell, I want your wallet and your belt." And I said, "Obie, I can understand you wanting my wallet so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you want my belt for?" And he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangings." I said, "Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?" Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars roll out the - roll the toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape.

-- Arlo Guthrie, Alice's Restaurant Massacree, 1967