According to Raw Story and the video details of the footage you will see below, Iraq war veteran Emily Yates was arrested on Friday after a dispute with police about where she could stand while playing her banjo during a protest against U.S. military action in Syria.
Yates was asking the Federal Parks Police why they were demanding she move from a shady area at Independence Mall in Philadelphia.
After repeatedly asking them as well as talking to those around her, the cops over a park bench and handcuffed her, with her screaming "We live in a police state." We live in a f*cking police state! They're damaging my body and my personal property! I went to war for this country! Stop manhandling me! Stop! Stop! Help! Help!"
By the end as they were dragging Yates away, eight cops were participating.
According to a web page claiming to be a defence fund for Yates, the description of the event is as follows:
On the evening of August 30th, Emily Yates, an Iraq war veteran, was just illegally arrested, choked and brutalized by park police at Independence Mall in Philadelphia. She was not engaged in any illegal activity and was not told why she was being attacked. While she was busy playing a song, park rangers accosted her. When she demanded an explanation for their aggression, they pinned her first to a park bench then to the pavement for an extended period before dragging her off to the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center.
Emily, an organizer with Iraq Veterans Against the War, was out in the streets in Philadelphia today with many others protesting the impending war in Syria. She marched peacefully with the protest to Independence Mall and there commenced playing her banjo, as she does all over the country. Now she’s in jail. She has not been allowed any communication with the outside world. We are raising money to pay for both her legal defense and the incidental expenses of her unjust imprisonment.
Our Veterans can fight for our constitutional rights, offer their lives for ours, but asking questions and demanding answers, peacefully, is now a reason to be arrested in today's police state.
The original video was uploaded to Live Leak - Aug. 31, 2013
Cross posted at Before It's News
