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Indybay Feature

BREAKING NEWS AS IT HAPPENED

by SF IMC
San Francisco Bay Area Indymedia Breaking News on January 18
5:25pm: Cops are guarding the Gap. Rumours have it that something is happening at the Civic Center/City Hall, so marchers are heading there along with IMC folk.
5:10pm: Around 3-400 people. Cops are everywhere. Reputed leader of the march who was targeted by undercover cops was being violently arrested which caused a melee. Police have decided not to let the demonstrators hit the buildings so are preventing marchers from heading to the Civic Center. Police chasing people down to the Bart. They have blocked and cornered off the marchers in preparation for a potential mass arrest.
4:50pm: Police are getting really aggressive. Motorcycle cops are rushing the demonstators. One violent arrest occurred. Starbucks has been hit.
4:50pm: Black bloc reached the INS building which was graffitied and some windows were broken, The people who did it got away. Police presence increasing. Motocycle cops and horse cops, cops on foot, cops cars cop vans all converging. People are now at the Embarcadero center.
4:35pm: Black bloc is retreating behind a shield of smoke bombs and barricades. The british embassy has been hit. Wells Fargo has been hit. "Black bloc can do anything it wants right now," says one of our reporters in the field.
4:20pm: People are now at Citicorp Bldg at Sansome and Market. Some are distracting the cops while others graffiti the bldg.
4:09pm: The breakaway marchers ran down sixth st. to get away from the police. They came to the SF Chronicle building. One bunch held off the cops at one end of the block, one bunch did the same at the other, while the ones in the center graffited the Chron building. People are now headed back down Market St, toward Embarcadero, with the cops behind them.
3:30pm: The second breakaway march is now getting started. The police are acting very confused
3:15pm: The breakaway march is getting started. About 1000+ people are headed down McAllister towards Hyde
2:20pm 15 bike cops are at Polk & Grove and 2 police vans. The Breakaway march is preparing to start at Polk & Grove at 2:30pm.
1:50pm: Police estimate 200,000 people on the streets. There are small groups of 4-5 cops of riot police stationed around various locations. This is a new response from the SFPD, at the 10/26 demo there were no riot police at the main march. Two prison buses are stationed at McAllister & Van Ness.
1:30pm: The end of the march is at Market & Main. We have reports of 300,000 in D.C. In SF, Civic Center is jam-packed with another 3 1/2 miles of people behind it.
1:08pm: The end of the march just left embarcadero... Market St is completely filled with people.
12:24pm: The front of the ANSWER march has reached Civic Center Plaza. Market Street is nearly filled to capacity.
10:45am: Thousands of people are mobilizing in downtown San Francisco. Colorful signs and a variety of contingents are gathering. Excitement is in the air. On the East Coast, word is that +80,000 are on the streets of DC.


Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by voice against homophobia
I notice that the authors constantly refer to the breakaway march as one large black bloc. This completely ignores the presence of the beautifully fierce Gay Shame sponsored pink bloc. Pink bloc folks were out in force, proving that black masked anarchists aren't the only ones out the fucking shit up. Unfortunately, the boys of indymedia have apparently decided that the pink bloc wasn't worth mentioning, refering only to the black bloc, as if they were responsible for all the post demo actions.

(And I'm not just talking about this post. Nowhere have the editors of indymedia mentioned the pink bloc.)
by an editor
Where would you like us to make a change? Most of us were at the demo so it was just one or two people who actually did the minute by minute update. We can make a change to the blurb in the center column if you have any suggestions (right now it says anticapitalist rather than black bloc etc...)

We dont really edit other peoples posts and most people who post seem to self promote a lot...

But... you can always post your own update

and ... I did get quite a few pics of the pink block In my post:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/01/1562318.php
by pink bloc
I was with the pink bloc and your last comment about how it really was kind of fair coverage doesn't give me enough to whine about. This upsets me. Now I have to pout instead of whine.
by e
Indymedia is a really small group so personal connections will dictate some of the protests that we know about. And, its hard to get new people into a small group since personal relations can get in the way. The best way to deal with biased postings on Indymedia is to comment and post more or even get involved with the collective even if you might not get along perfectly with everyone in the collective.
by one of the editors
>This completely ignores the presence of the beautifully fierce Gay Shame sponsored pink bloc.

The people who wrote that were across town in a practically windowless office. All they knew is what they were told on the phone. People who on the scene cell phoned in reports of what was happening. None of them seemed to care much one way or the other about the presumed sexual orientation of the people in the breakaway march. Maybe they didn't think it mattered.

If you were on the scene there at the time it was happening, and did not phone in a report on what the Pink Bloc was up to, then it's your fault that what the Pink Bloc was up to was not included in the regular updates.

IndyMedia is only as good as its eyes and ears on the street. That's you, my friends. It's up to you. I certainly hope you do a better job of reporting whatever it is that whoever your favorite contingent is up to on the the day the ground war starts.

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