Video (5min 13sec): RNC: Amy Goodman on Being Arrested. Link TV's John Hamilton talks to "Democracy Now!" host Amy Goodman about her recent arrest at the RNC (Republican National Convention), as well as that of her producers. Amy Goodman: "Well, It was monday night. monday late afternoon, I was here at the convention center on the convention floor interviewing, well, what has become the hottest coldest state and that is Alaska, delegates from there.
"And I was headed over to the Minnesota delegation. I got a call from Democracy Now producer Mike Burke. He said 'Nicole and Sharif have just been arrested and they are bloodied.' And I said, 'What are you talking about?' Well, we raced off. I was with Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films doing interviews on the floor. We raced to 7th and Jackson here in St. Paul where Mike said Sharif and Nicole had been covering a protest. So, when we got there, there was just riot police lined up and I didn't see Sharif or Nicole anywhere.
"I went up to the riot police and I asked them. I wanted to speak to a commanding officer and I needed to get our reporters out, that they had been arrested, they needed to be freed. They immediately took me. Within seconds they pulled me through the police line, they pulled my arms forcibly back, put the plastic handcuffs on, those very rigid handcuffs that dig into your wrists and they shoved me against the wall and pushed me down on the ground. This is ridiculous, I said. I mean I have my..., we were all wearing our corporate / government top security credentials..."