Green Party ticket, Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, arrested outside debate at Hofstra
Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate, Cheri Honkala were arrested Tuesday evening for trying to enter the grounds of the Hofstra University presidential debate.
Wieland takes a video of potential Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein in the party’s regional convention Sunday afternoon. The Green Party is a national political party that aims to solve climate change immediately. It also throws much support to the Occupy movement and advocates for human rights. Wieland has been a supporter of the party for more than 10 years now. March 2012 Photo/Ardee SN
The Green Party duo tried to enter the debate hall but were pushed back by police. They were eventually arrested for blocking traffic when the two sat down in the street outside the university.
According to a posting by Jill Stein on the website, jillstein.org, the two women were handcuffed to a metal chair for eight hoursin a remote police warehouse on Long Island.
On her release, Dr. Stein said that, “It was painful but symbolic to be handcuffed for all those hours, because that what the Commission on Presidential Debates has essentially done to American democracy.” Stein and Honkala were eventually released into the cold at 10:30pm. Police provided no advance notice of the release to campaign lawyers and staff, and did not allow the two candidates to make any phone calls.
VP candidate,Cheri Honkala said of her incarceration, “it was extremely uncomfortable, but standard for what so many Americans face on a daily basis in our corrections system.”
Stein Campaign Manager Ben Manski added, “These arrests and this treatment are outrageous and disportionate; who do the police think they are protecting here?”
Watch this fantastic critic of the debate and debate analysis, including the Stein arrest on this RT video
