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fuckrobertfrost) wrote2012-02-03 04:25 pm
fuckrobertfrost) wrote2012-02-03 04:25 pm
rough draft: militia article
Video footage and photographs of Militia raids on Baedal citizens were widely distributed on Tuesday via the city network. At least six different assaults have been documented and transmitted by CiDs registered to federal employees, seemingly at random.
Angelika Caswell, People's Independence Front spokesperson, said, "This is a powerful example of why the Milita's power should be regulated. If these raids are in our best interest and meant to protect us, information on what happened and why should be available. Seeing footage like this without context will anger and disturb people."
These transmissions come less than a month after the anonymous broadcast of the Militia raid on a pharmacy in Bonetown. More than a dozen people were beaten and detained, and some of them have not been seen since — an unsurprising occurrence for longtime Baedal residents, but a shock to some new arrivals.
"I'm really scared," said a citizen of of only a few months, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "And I guess that's the point, that I stay too scared to do anything illegal. But even if every single one of these raids was justified, the Militia's show of force was absolutely brutal. How they were treating the women, I just can't see how that's allowable."
[Photograph from transmission #4 of the Militia agent posing with the nude women detainees. The women's faces and genitals have been censored, but the agent's face has not. No caption.]
In one series of photographs, a male Militia agent poses with unconscious or otherwise disabled detainees, most of whom are nude young women. He smiles, touches their breasts, and even takes his own photos. In another video, a male Militia member drags a xenian woman by her hair and into a carriage, her shirt ripped.
One transmission consisted of financial data of stores north of the river, two of which have been raided in the past month.
One video shows the Militia shooting prisoners trying to escape capture; another, the discovery of a woman in a cellar hidden under a rug. A series of photos show Militia members delivering figures with black bags over their heads to an address in Mafaton. Another series of photos identifies a male Militia agent who beat an elderly man in the Bonetown raid.
In three of these transmissions, Militia members display a light-hearted, self-congratulatory attitude. More rarely, a Militia member appears less enthusiastic.
[Photograph from transmission #3 of two Militia members high-fiving each other; photograph from transmission #6 of the two Militia members laughing but the third looking disturbed.]
These raids have been happening with regularity for years throughout the city and notoriously in Badside. It is the gathering and distribution of the evidence that is unprecedented. However, True Unity hardliners like Xuân A. Tahmoh feel that the Militia does whatever is necessary for our protection.
"Their methods may be tough, but they get the job done, they keep us safe. We would be at the mercy of gangs and criminals without them. When I walk down the street in Gidd, it's clean and quiet, and children can play. Every part of the city could be like that if the Militia had more resources."
But the price may be more than money, according to Caswell.
"I do not question the Militia's right to act against criminal elements on our behalf," she said, "nor their right to secrecy in order to do so. What I and many people I've spoken to want is both safety and for our rights as citizens to be upheld. We cannot sacrifice one for the other."
Angelika Caswell, People's Independence Front spokesperson, said, "This is a powerful example of why the Milita's power should be regulated. If these raids are in our best interest and meant to protect us, information on what happened and why should be available. Seeing footage like this without context will anger and disturb people."
These transmissions come less than a month after the anonymous broadcast of the Militia raid on a pharmacy in Bonetown. More than a dozen people were beaten and detained, and some of them have not been seen since — an unsurprising occurrence for longtime Baedal residents, but a shock to some new arrivals.
"I'm really scared," said a citizen of of only a few months, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "And I guess that's the point, that I stay too scared to do anything illegal. But even if every single one of these raids was justified, the Militia's show of force was absolutely brutal. How they were treating the women, I just can't see how that's allowable."
[Photograph from transmission #4 of the Militia agent posing with the nude women detainees. The women's faces and genitals have been censored, but the agent's face has not. No caption.]
In one series of photographs, a male Militia agent poses with unconscious or otherwise disabled detainees, most of whom are nude young women. He smiles, touches their breasts, and even takes his own photos. In another video, a male Militia member drags a xenian woman by her hair and into a carriage, her shirt ripped.
One transmission consisted of financial data of stores north of the river, two of which have been raided in the past month.
One video shows the Militia shooting prisoners trying to escape capture; another, the discovery of a woman in a cellar hidden under a rug. A series of photos show Militia members delivering figures with black bags over their heads to an address in Mafaton. Another series of photos identifies a male Militia agent who beat an elderly man in the Bonetown raid.
In three of these transmissions, Militia members display a light-hearted, self-congratulatory attitude. More rarely, a Militia member appears less enthusiastic.
[Photograph from transmission #3 of two Militia members high-fiving each other; photograph from transmission #6 of the two Militia members laughing but the third looking disturbed.]
These raids have been happening with regularity for years throughout the city and notoriously in Badside. It is the gathering and distribution of the evidence that is unprecedented. However, True Unity hardliners like Xuân A. Tahmoh feel that the Militia does whatever is necessary for our protection.
"Their methods may be tough, but they get the job done, they keep us safe. We would be at the mercy of gangs and criminals without them. When I walk down the street in Gidd, it's clean and quiet, and children can play. Every part of the city could be like that if the Militia had more resources."
But the price may be more than money, according to Caswell.
"I do not question the Militia's right to act against criminal elements on our behalf," she said, "nor their right to secrecy in order to do so. What I and many people I've spoken to want is both safety and for our rights as citizens to be upheld. We cannot sacrifice one for the other."