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Pictures Of Mass Arrest At Fulton And Franklin

by Z
Mass arrests for sidewalk protests show how little freedom we really have.
p_n_m.jpg
An antiwar march with over 2000 people started at Powell and Market at 5 and moved up the sidewalk to Civic Center (obeying all cross walk lights as there were hundreds of police acting aggressive in the street) As the crowd moved into Civic Center, people marched in the street around the Auditorium to prevent a disruption of the event and the police quickly moved in breaking the protest in half. The front half of the march was then boxed in near Fulton and Franklin by several hundred riot police. No order to disperse was given and about 50% of the crowd was on the sidewalk but just about everyone was not allowed to leave (including a journalists from a mainstream publication). The rest of the march then moved back to market as the police tried to drive away anyone watching. One or two people tried hiding into trees to prevent arrest, so the police brought in fire trucks to fish them out. But, with such a large group boxed in the protesters in the trees were able to climb back down into the crowd. The use of large fire engines to arrest political dissenters struck hollow the KRON propaganda that emergency vehicles were unable to do work due to protests (emergency vehicles have in fact been in use for days to arrest opponents of Bush and could have easily been used to do their real jobs). After about an hour, a MUNI came in and started to take people away. Even after several trips to jail with full buses, the size of the crowd was still large. In all several hundred people were arrested.

As of 8AM Saturday morning many protesters who were arrested twice are still in jail and will be held until Monday. The police have blocked of the jail windows to muffle sound but prisoners say they would love groups to come by to show support but it will require being very load for them to hear. We must show support for our political prisoners since soon we may all be locked up for our opposition to the Bush dictatorship.
§One of the worst acting cops of the night
by Z
better_run.jpg
This cop was walking through the crowd of those outside of the boxed in group and making threatening gestures at random people. At one point he lunged at a young activist and taunted him with the words "go ahead, run" before running after him. His attitude towards dissidents seemed a little too much like that of a predator towards prey.

The same cop was interviewed on KRON4 news later the same night and they listed his name as "Bob LaMonde" or something similar to that. As with the cop to his left with the bald head and the video camera Bob did not have a badge number anywhere visible and was not wearing a normal uniform. It would be interesting to know what Bob and his friend's positions are since they have seemed to be in control in some of the more questionable confrontations with dissidents.
§Picture of portion of boxed in crowd
by Z
crowd_surrounded.jpg
§Cops used Herbst Theater As Staging Area
by Z
herbst_theater.jpg
arrests_muni.jpg
MUNI was bad before, but now we will always associate MUNI with carrying riot police and hauling us to jail
§Van Jones From Police Watch Talks To The Press
by Z
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When the mainstream press arrived to cover the arrest, few people were left not behind police lines and Van Jones from Police Watch gave a good overview of why the arrests were illegal. While the police may have listened and acted nervous after the interviews, the arrests restarted about a half an hour later. As Jones stated "why do [we] always have to fight against the police breaking the law"
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miks
Fri, Mar 28, 2003 10:58PM
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