On the evening of May 5th, there was a public and peaceful Cinco de Mayo music and spoken word event held on the corner of Story and King in San Jose which was viciously attacked by riot police. Six people were beaten, arrested and had their video footage and property seized at this peaceful, legal gathering on private property.

This is the fulfillment of the threat articulated by Laurie Smith of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's department to the public at a county Human Relations Committee meeting last January on the subject of police brutality. During the meeting, Smith not only defended the beating and arresting of protesters and bystanders at a Colin Powell visit to De Anza College in November, but she added that anyone getting in the way of a sheriff's weapons should be considered a "lynch mob" which carries severe penalties.

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