New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said “it’s not supposed to be Club Med.”

Detainees describe it as filthy, cramped, and contaminated with asbestos.

Pier 57, on the Hudson River, has become the detention center for hundreds of protestors from this week’s Republican National Convention. The three-story tall building was once a garage for buses – now, razor wire and chain link fences create holding pens for detainees.

On Wednesday morning, Democracy Now!, an independent radio and TV program, received a call from a detainee who had smuggled a cell phone into the holding pen. The phone was passed amongst several of those apprehended to give each a chance to describe their experiences.

A detainee who identified herself as “Emily” was arrested off Union Square East on Tuesday. She told Democracy Now!, “We’ve been in jail for over 13 hours right now. In our first nine hours, the only food we received was an apple. In our first four hours here we weren’t allowed to go to the bathroom or get water. None of us were read our rights; we haven’t been able to talk to any lawyers.” Inside Pier 57, she said, the floors are covered with oil stains and chemical warning signs are tacked on the walls. “A lot of people are forming rashes on their skin,” Emily added. In the background, someone yelled, “I need medical attention!”

Janet, another detainee, said, “There are signs everywhere saying we should be wearing masks and goggles and I have this really bad rash on my hand that’s getting worse and worse. It feels like I just stuck my hand in an oven, it burns so bad, and my arms are tingling and my other hand is getting it, too.”

Veepa Majamutar, shopping as protesters marched passed her, was arrested as police cordoned off the street. She tried to show a receipt of her purchase to policemen, but was ignored and handcuffed. Describing the conditions in the containment facility, Majamutar said, “We are freezing. Some of us need medical attention but…nobody’s listening to us…We don’t have a blanket. We don’t have something to sit on. There are chemicals around us…They don’t even give anything to lie down on.”

In the weeks before the national conventions, FBI agents questioned dozens of protestors about possible violent acts. In Boston, at the Democratic National Convention, protestors were confined to a “protest zone” that a federal judge likened to an “internment camp.” Fences and barbed wire surrounded demonstrators as armed guards stood watching the enclosure.

In New York, city officials put trampling the grass in Central Park over trampling the right of free speech. Detained protestors have been held without access to lawyers, phones, or medical care.

The ability to dissent has been trod upon in the last four years under a guise of security and national unity. The capacity to speak one’s mind has been labeled as “un-American.” Yet not since the 1968 Democratic Convention have such brutal methods to stifle opposing viewpoints been so clearly sanctioned by both major parties.

Free speech extends far beyond the capacity to speak one’s mind.

Free

speech includes the right to be treated with dignity and respect when opposing the actions of one’s government.

No one was expecting “Club Med,” Mayor Bloomberg. Just a little decency would do.

Jeb Koogler is a Senior at the Northwest High School in Seattle

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