I was one of the first of the over 800 protestors arrested on Thursday. I was arrested some time between 8:30 and 9:00. At Chicago and Michigan, I saw about five cops aggressively arresting someone who had been tackled to the ground. I began chanting �Shame!� and pointing at the arresting officers. There was a row of cops in riot gear between me and the activist who was being arrested. I�m guessing that since I was so loud and that I was right in front of the police line, the cops assumed I was a leader of some sort. One of the cops yelled for me to be arrested and two of them grabbed for me, ripping my coat. I turned around and another protestor grabbed a hold of me to help me get away. Two or three cops grabbed on to me from behind and either tackled me or just accidentally fell on top of me.





When I was pulled back to my feet I saw an arm fly at my face from the corner of my eye. It came from my left side and was clearly a cop, though not one that was holding on to me. I was hit hard in the nose, and I�m not sure if it was the cop�s elbow, arm or fist. Based on the angle that I was hit, I would guess that it was not a billy club. I was the only one being arrested in the area and I was separated from the rest of the crowd at this point. Considering this and the strength of the blow, it was clearly intentional.





I was dragged away and brought to a paddy wagon. At the time, there were one or two other demonstrators in the wagon. Eventually, there were 21 of us total. We sat there for a few minutes until one of the officers asked us to come out one at a time to be searched. My turn to step out of the paddy wagon was coming up and at this point I was gushing blood from my nostrils, the gash on my nose and the cut on my cheek. I had bled all over my shirt and on some of the other activists. Officer Schmidt, the cop escorting us out of the vehicle had been pulled aside by what I assumed to be a superior officer and they briefly discussed something, watching me the whole time. When my turn to step out of the wagon came up, I was instructed by Officer Schmidt to stay in the vehicle and let the next person out. Clearly, the police did not want the thousands of protestors, media and passersby to see a 20 year old covered in blood from a blow inflicted by an officer. I stuck my head out the door and began to yell hoping a camera would see me before Officer Schmidt threw me back into the paddy wagon. Eventually I was searched inside the vehicle and two officers were instructed to block the view at the back door. The search was finished and I tried to stand where I could be seen, but one of the officers slammed me against the wall of paddy wagon.





During this time, the other 20 arrested activists and I demanded that I receive medical attention. The request was either ignored or responded to with a nonchalant statement that I would get help eventually.





We were taken to the station at 111th St. During the ride in the paddy wagon I continued bleeding profusely, though my suffering was nothing compared to the several activists who were cuffed far too tight and were losing circulation. One was a sixteen year old who said that he felt as though he was going to faint.





The first officer told us that if we, �acted like humans, we�d be treated like humans.� He made it appear as though we would be treated with respect and would only be held for an hour or so. Another officer who was much less friendly gave essentially the same speech, but said that if we, �acted like jerkoffs, we�d be treated like jerkoffs.� This logic that we would be treated the way we behaved offered us much comedic fodder later in the evening. One activist joked that we would be treated like robots if we acted like robots. Another suggested that we should act like people who weren�t arrested and we�d be treated as such.





Everyone from our paddy wagon, with the exception of the sixteen year old, were split between two holding cells in Cell Block A. For the first several hours myself and the other eleven activists repeatedly asked for me to receive medical attention, or at least some ice to help the swelling of my nose. The requests were either ignored or met with obnoxious responses. I was kept in the cell the entire time, where there was only a small water fountain that I could have used to rinse off. However, since I had no soap and nothing but my dirty t-shirt to stop the bleeding, I decided not to wash there. Considering there was no mirror, I had no idea how bad the wound was until after I was released. At that point, I felt bad for the eleven protestors who were forced to look at my bloodied face for the entire night.





The entire time we were held, we were routinely lied to and misled as to when we would get out. Despite the fact that we were the first people brought into the cell, we were kept in there longer than most. The officers seemed completely disorganized and appeared to be releasing people arbitrarily. I was finally released after fourteen hours. While I was on my way out, some of the officers suggested that something be done with me. I assumed that they would either force me to clean up or take me out a different exit so the media couldn�t see me. However, one cop just said, �I�ll take him out. There�s not much else we can do.� As I was leaving, one female officer told me that I had been on TV the night before, though I�m not sure if that is true.





I was released without charges, along with another five people and we were all told that we would be arrested immediately if we hung out in front of the station. When I walked out the door, there were two TV cameras and one woman from the Chicago Tribune. I�m from out of town, so I�m not sure whether the interview made it to either of the TV stations. But I did check the Trib, and they didn�t mention anything about what happened to me.





Thankfully, there were people doing jail support who were extremely helpful. One person took pictures and had me write down my story to document what happened. Another activist, Kyle, was extremely helpful. He took me to Cook County Emergency Room and let me make countless phone calls on his cell phone.





At the ER, I was given 5 stiches on my nose, despite the fact that it was about 15 or 16 hours after I was originally hit. I was told that being forced to wait that long meant the stiches were more likely to become infected. Some of the nurses were supportive of our protest and amused by my homemade �Bush Smells� t-shirt which was now covered in blood.





If you have any video or photos of the arrests, please let me know. Also, if I could get a copy of the photo taken of me outside of jail, it would be greatly appreciated. I�m not sure if I will take legal action, but if I do, I could use all the evidence I can get. If you saw what happened or you were in jail with me, please email me at emmaslover (at) hotmail.com to let me know how to get a hold of you. Thank you and thanks to everyone I was in jail with and those people that did jail support.