Quote:
My son was arrested Tuesday night at a demonstration. A peaceful, non-violent demonstration. He wasn't allowed to disperse. They threw the nets up on one end of the block, and then the other end of the block, and swept up everybody on the block. I have not been in contact with him that Tuesday night. I know he hasn't seen a lawyer. This morning, I went, I have been here to wait for him to get out, to find out some kind of information. I went this morning and pinned a note on the fence back at the parking lot. I got to admit that's something that I thought would happen in another country under a dictatorship, that when parents have children that are disappeared by the state, that they pin a note to their child on a fence saying if you get out, please contact me at this number. I never thought I would ever do that in this country to have to do that to my child, exercising his freedom to be able to demonstrate in this country. We talked to a parent who also, her son was just recently released. That son spent a day in the hospital and the parent had no idea that he was taken to the hospital or spent the day in the hospital. When my son was arrested, we got an arrest number for him, we took the number to try to get an arraignment time for that. We said he hadn't been processed. When we showed we had an arrest number, they said where did you get that from? Later on that night that number disappeared off of the computer. They said well maybe your son has been released. We went to the place where we knew would he go. He wasn't there. We came back this morning and found out that the arrest number had been changed from what it was previously. No one has any information. I am now in a situation where my son has been disappeared by this state, by the government of this country, by the police force. And I am pinning notes to a fence in the city park saying, “Son, if you get out, please contact me. Love, Dad.” I never thought I would ever have to do that in this country. It breaks my heart for where we live and it breaks my heart for what my son is going through right now.
preventitive incarcaration.