Police Attack Portland Anti-Bush Protest

[kpete]

Police attack Portland anti-Bush protest
by varro
Fri Oct 06, 2006

Portland Police attacked peaceful protesters yesterday afternoon in Portland, Oregon.

Protesters were penned in near the intersection of 12th and SW Jefferson, just west of downtown, when police rode horses into the crowd on the sidewalk, nearly trampling several people.

Police then used pepper spray, bean bag guns, and pepper balls indiscriminately on the crowd. Protesters and even some police were affected - one man (who wasn't directly hit by any of the weapons) inhaled pepper spray and had an asthma attack, and had to be taken to a nearby medical clinic.

Video from KGW news is here: http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_100506_news_portland_protest.caee759.html
Notice the kick one cop gives a woman whose back is turned at 0:46 of the video.

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/6/143514/245

[AX10]

1. Oink, Oink, Portland PD!

:argh:

Police are more than fairly compensated. Seeing that all they do is keep the status quo, their $35k and full health benefits is more than fair. Keeping the status quo is nothing honorable.

[Arugula Latte]

50. Well, they probably have other things they should be doing.

Like beating the shit out of a mentally ill man until he dies. Or shooting to death a teenager whose mom had called the police so they could help her calm him down. Both of those things happened in Portland within the past month.

[sarcasmo]

2. Kick and Nom. The new Theocratic Amerika where Protesting can get you

Killed.

[nam78_two]

3. repulsive/nt

[HereSince1628]

4. One question, did the protesters have a permit?

[me b zola]

9. Yes, they had a permit

I wasn't able to be there because I am now caring for Mr Zola's grandmother during the days.

[malaise]

5. Send the video to KO

Kick kick kick.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Oh, the joys of living in a police state...I miss the Constitution, don't

you?

[ThomCat]

7. That linked article is completely one-sided.

It absolutely gives the impression that someone tried to punch a cop, so everything the cops did is justified.

[me b zola]

10. On the evening news last night...

They showed a cop kicking a woman who was sitting on the curb. The cops here act like thugs.

[ThomCat]

16. I hope your local DA has a conscience and kicks their asses!

[MsMagnificent]

44. The accompanying video

Seems to tell a different story

...one version for the ReNAMBLAcans and one version for the Democrats, perhaps?

Maybe the "Librul Media" aka the organ (one of them, anyways) of the Republican party is finally just beginning to give each side equal time?

Wish it were so but being rightfully pessimistic, seeing how "Fair and Balanced" the media has been these past fascist years, it's probably just an anomaly.

[liberalmuse]

8. Again?

What's wrong with the police there? They live in one of the most liberal cities in the U.S. I think they need some tolerance training!

[sakabatou]

11. Any idependent link

Or at least so we can possibly see what actually happened?

[Jcrowley]

19. Some more details

I have been to many protests, witnessed countless acts of police brutality, but none compare to what I saw today. Bean bag guns, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and billy clubs; all of them used to attack peaceful protestors. Friends of mine were trampled by horses, beaten by billy clubs, and peppersprayed severely. All in an disgusting display of extreme police brutality. My hands are still shaking and my eye still hurts from pepper spray so I will try to write this as best as I can...
The rally began at 12:00, in Park and Main. Around 18 students in my school (located on 12th and Main) walked out of school to participate in the protest. Prior to the protest some students and I were deeply dissatisfied with World Can't Waits comments about discouraging direct action, and had absolutely no idea what the protest would be like. We arrived at the park blocks seeing a crowd of maybe 500 people listening to speeches. The majority of the population was middle aged liberals, but there were also a good number of students there as well. After a couple speeches, an incredibly inspiring woman gave a speech about the importance of direct action. She questioned world can't wait about their ridiculous statements discouraging direct action. Some world can't wait organizers booed her, which was incredibly disrespectful and rude.

After what seemed like eternity, the march finally began. Almost half the crowd left during the speeches, but more and more people started joining the protest as we were marching. I would guess, but I'm not sure, that there were about 550 people there. As we walked about 6 blocks from the park, people started asking why we were following the police in what looked like a parade. Every single speaker talked about taking action to create change, but yet we were still following oppressive police barriers for our permitted marches. People began becoming confused on where to go, and we walked in a loop all the way down from the park and then back up it. As we took the next turn, it was visible that we were walking down a street that wasn't permitted. The police tried to cut in front of us, but eventually got orders to let us through, this happened two times. The crowd was ecstatic; we had successfully taken the streets, for a short time anyway. The police had lined up on bikes against a street and we stood there for awhile wondering if they would still let us through. I strongly believe they would have, if the liberal peace police didn't try to get all the protestors back on the permitted streets. One man with a megaphone talked about how the government had now given access to schools to strip search students. He also talked about how we should protect the students. Ironically, he said all of this while abandoning students who were at risk of being attacked by police. I screamed for people to protect us, the students, and that change begins now. Many liberals argued with me that civil disobedience is wrong and what the crowd was doing was stupid. I informed them about how MLK had been arrested upwards 20 times for acts of civil disobedience, they didn't really argue past that.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/347079.shtml

And here:
http://portland.indymedia.org/

[civildisoBDence]

46. Civil disobedience RULES!! Uh, it doesn't rule so much as negate rule.

There were two protestors tasered in Pittsburgh this week.

Story from Pittsburgh Gazette

But that's nothing. In Broward County a few months ago, a woman named Elizabeth Ritter was shot twice with rubber bullets, once in the leg and once in the head...police were seen laughing about it in a video taped the next day.

Here's the story from Broward County

Here's the video from ABC News, including the piggies laughing about it

To the (virtual) barricades!

Here's what passive resistance will getcha

[Swamp Rat]

12. k&r

[helderheid]

13. woah!!

[Seen the light]

14. I hate the America that exists in 2006. I hate it. nt

[Greyhound]

15. Has anyone that DOESN'T use IE been able to view this video?

If so, please tell me which browser/plug-in is working for you. I hate M$ so much... :grr:

[IntravenousDemilo]

20. I had no trouble on my Macintosh

My browser is Safari. No MicroSoft for me.

[mcscajun]

27. Watched the video using Firefox 1.5.0.7

No problems.

[Greyhound]

33. Media player version? That seems to be the problem for me.

The specified stream type is not recognized. (Error=C00D07E2)

Cannot open. Please verify that the path and filename are correct and try again. (Error=C00D07E2)

Typical

[mcscajun]

36. Windows Media 10 n/t

.

[Greyhound]

42. Thanks. n/t

[mantis49]

29. Firefox here.

no problem

[Greyhound]

34. Same as above. I can't view video or vote on MSNBC either. Thanks. n/t

[Stand and Fight]

17. Americans need to stand up against this madness.

Hit them back. Hard. Enough is about fucking enough.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. We were lucky in Minneapolis

The cops were on our side, blocked streets for us, and provided mounted escorts.

But I remember attending demonstrations in Portland where extra cops were called in from the suburbs and suited up like Darth Vader, billy clubs at hand. I also saw unprovoked tear gassing and roughing of protestors who were allegedly trying to break down a barrer. (I was there. The protestors were doing no such thing.)

[AX10]

30. You are kidding me, right? The police actually accomodated your...

protest and offered escorts? Do you have any links about this? Thank you for your consideration.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. No, I don't have any links, but I was there

:shrug:

We had no interference from the cops, the buses were rerouted from Hennepin Avenue (one of the main downtown streets), and we marched in the bus lane. I think the mounted police were there to make sure we stayed in the bus lane and didn't block other traffic.

[IntravenousDemilo]

21. Ah, yes, send in the Cossacks, eh?

Bush should take a lesson from the story of Nicholas II and what happened to him.

[Supersedeas]

22. Bushist Brownshirts

[cui bono]

23. I'm surprised about this in Portland...

here in Los Angeles I had the feeling the cops were with us on this one. They were smiling and conversing with the protesters. And there were hardly any around during the rally after the march save for the row of riot geared cops across the doors of the Federal Building. But even they seemed only concerned about keeping the building from getting vandalized.

[Parche]

24. PDX

I was there watching, I know the police have a job to do, but sometimes they get out of hand
and I saw a few bad apples in the protest too, at least it was peaceful.

[DTinAZ]

38. "Bad apples" = anarchists?

The video wasn't all that comprehensive, but it seemed that one of the people being led away was dressed in a manner consistent with the "Black bloc" tactics used by anarchists. See this URL:

http://www.infoshop.org/blackbloc.html

Their usual tactic is to attach themselves to a peaceful protest (like parasites) and then break off and cause trouble, often in a violent manner. The net effect is to cause bad publicity for the protest itself, resulting in mistaken conceptions in the media and public about the nature and intent of the rest of the protestors.

I wonder if there isn't a way for protest organizers to work more closely *with* the police to identify and isolate the anarchists BEFORE they pull their destructive stunts?

DT

[MsMagnificent]

43. Excuse me?

I wonder if there isn't a way for protest organizers to work more closely *with* the police to identify and isolate the anarchists BEFORE they pull their destructive stunts?

The same police that infiltrate, undercover, peaceful anti-war groups? Give them the power of veto, let them hand-pick who can march in a public mass protest in an allegedly 'Free' country??

Are you serious or just being sarcastic?

[DTinAZ]

49. Very serious...the anarchists are clearly an obstacle.

I didn't say anything about giving the police any "veto powers." I've been involved with some anti-homophobia demonstrators (they work to stop religious persecution of GLBT people in churches) who generally meet ahead of time with the police officials in the cities in which they conduct demonstrations, in order to clearly communicate their non-violent intentions, and to go over what the arrest procedures and processing will be if it comes to that....and it often does.

I'm suggesting that similar discussions/communication could help in keeping the interference from the anarchists from ruining otherwise excellent protests.

DT

[MsMagnificent]

52. ah

Well I can sure understand that reasoning!
But it almost (from what I got from your post) sounded like with the group's blessing, the police could be told that even above veto powers, they could/should be able to forbid American citizens --anarchists or not-- the right to gather in protest.
Note I didn't say peaceful, but preemptiveness when there is no surety about the future --even IF the behavior is likely-- hopefully belongs to the ReNAMBLAcan's alone.

I've been leery since the recinding of Habeas Corpus, along with the myriad other fears, that this Preemptive pResident could easily start incarcerating US citizens because they MIGHT do something. With those jokers, it's very possible :scared:
(Don't know why that line break is in there -- is none on the composing page. Strange.)

Dang, now where are Nancy Reagan's psychics & astrologers when you really need them?? :eyes:

[Ferret Annica]

25. go to Portland Indymedia

They cover stuff like this that happens up in 'Little Beirut' quite well usually.

http://portland.indymedia.org/

[Imagevision]

26. This is Bush's Amerika, the GOP Amerirka - This Amerika needs to change!

[cascadiance]

28. Amerika! Amerika!

[progressoid]

31. What's the deal with the Portland police?

[Greyhound]

35. Anybody found the video anyplace else? Youtube and crooks&liars

don't seem to have it yet.

[Imagevision]

37. Will Bushco "outdo" Kent State?!!

[jazzjunkysue]

39. "Back in the USSR. You don't know how lucky you are, boys, "

This is not the land of the free and the home of the brave. K&R

[earth mom]

40. Unbelievable!

:(

Where has America gone?

[grasswire]

41. a letter to the editor in today's Oregonian..

...written by a protester explains that someone who spoke at Pioneer Square prior to the march advocated some unplanned breaking off from the group, and this confusion and diversion caused police to raise their response.

[happydreams]

45. I was at a protest march in Seattle a couple of years ago and this cop

tried to give me the "stare down". Being a Vietnam Era vet I went into fight mode. I exchanged eye contact with him, held his gaze and he backed down. It was all real primitive instinctual shit and happened very quickly. Then the bastards tried to intimidate the crowd with some close order drill. I just stood there and glared at them.
I talked to some other vets and the march about it and we concluded that our experiences in hostile situations helps in "communicating" that we aren't taking any shit from the fascist bastids. One older vet said: "Its our duty to help the protesters".

Very moving experience.

[civildisoBDence]

47. All of a sudden these Neil Young lyrics really hit home: "OHIO"

"Ohio"

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Have you seen the little piggies?

[BeHereNow]

48. Anyone seen my country? I can't seem to find it.

I recently heard a clip on Democracy Now about a
man who was arrested and charged with "assaulting the Vice President."
His offense? Approaching Cheney in a public
space with his young son and telling Cheney he found
his policies and war on Iraq to be "reprehensible."

The charges were dropped but he is filing a civil suit against the FBI agent
who arrested him, in front of his son.

The corporate dictators must go.
NOW.
There will be nothing left of America if we do not
rid our government of these thugs and criminals.
They are, by the way, on BOTH sides of the aisle.
BHN

[insanerepubs]

51. I was

Unable to view the video but I did read the story. The story stated that there was violence used against a Police Officer which resulted in an escalation. Can anyone who was there confirm or deny this?