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Add an EventSF GATE: CRAZY ANTIWAR ANARCHISTS GO ON RAMPAGE!
Police Sgt. Jim Seim said it appeared that 40 to 50 members of the group were responsible for most of the evening's mischief.
The breakaway crowd seemed to be mostly made up of young "Black Bloc" anarchists like those who broke windows and spray-painted buildings during last month's march.
Many wore masks and black clothing, and they seemed to favor hit-and-run tactics, engaging in random acts of vandalism and violence, then racing away from pursuing officers.
35-40 arrested after smashing windows, refusing to disperse
Anastasia Hendrix, Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writers Monday, February 17, 2003
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San Francisco -- A group of demonstrators broke away from the huge crowd at San Francisco's Civic Center area at the end of Sunday's anti-war march and clashed later with police on Market Street during a four-hour confrontation marked by hit-and-run vandalism.
Members of the group broke windows at several businesses and on a pair of police cars during their rampage. They spray-painted buildings and other objects with graffiti. They burned trash, climbed onto a cable car, and later tossed bottles and other objects at mounted police who were trying to control them.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Eileen Hirst said late Sunday night that 46 people were arrested -- 28 men and 18 women. All but five people were cited and released on misdemeanor charges of causing a public disturbance.
The five people -- all men -- remained behind bars facing multiple felony charges, including assault, assaulting a peace officer, assaulting a police horse, climbing on top of a moving cable car and resisting arrest, Hirst said.
The group began with about 1,000 people and dwindled to about 200 people, who took over the intersection of Market and Eighth streets.
Around 7 p.m., dozens of police in riot gear surrounded demonstrators and began arresting those who refused police orders to clear the intersection. By 8 p.m., the intersection was reopened to traffic.
After the arrests, about 70 demonstrators marched to the new jail at 425 Seventh St., where they rallied in support of those arrested.
Police said two officers were injured during the confrontation and taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where they were treated and released.
Deputy Police Chief Greg Suhr said the day's earlier, enormous anti-war march had been peaceful, "but the second demonstration is probably the worst (we've had) with assaults on officers and malicious mischief.
"It's anti-war," Suhr said. "It's kind of like anti-everything."
Police Sgt. Jim Seim said it appeared that 40 to 50 members of the group were responsible for most of the evening's mischief.
The breakaway crowd seemed to be mostly made up of young "Black Bloc" anarchists like those who broke windows and spray-painted buildings during last month's march.
Many wore masks and black clothing, and they seemed to favor hit-and-run tactics, engaging in random acts of vandalism and violence, then racing away from pursuing officers.
The group pulled out of the Civic Center area when the main demonstration was all but finished and many of the original participants had left the area.
Around 4 p.m., a group that Suhr estimated at around 1,000 began moving down Market Street toward Hallidie Plaza. The group arrived at the foot of Powell Street near the cable car turnaround shortly after 4 p.m.
Vandals broke windows at McDonald's on Powell Street and Old Navy on Market Street, as well as the window front at Abercrombie & Fitch in the San Francisco Centre.
A dozen or so protesters also ran through the main entrance to the mall and threw rocks at some stores to try to break windows, without success.
The protesters then moved back up Market to the intersection of Eighth Street, where they broke the windows of two SFPD patrol cars.
Around 5:15 p.m., some protesters sat down on the Muni tracks on Market Street between Eighth and Ninth. Using bullhorns, police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly, warning people they would be arrested if they did not disperse.
Some protesters left while others began throwing objects -- bottles, sticks and garbage -- at police on horseback. The terrified horses began bumping against each other, and finally the mounted officers galloped away to cheers from the crowd.
Some people present during the arrests accused police of using excessive force.
Andrew Johnson of Santa Cruz, one of the demonstrators, said he was struck on the arm three times by an officer without provocation.
"It was totally unnecessary," he said. "We weren't doing anything."
Chronicle staff writers Bill Wallace, Pam Podger and Kathleen Sullivan contributed to this report. / E-mail the writers at ahendrix [at] sfchronicle.com and tabate [at] sfchronicle.com.
Instead, all we get is a one-sided SNORT-fest, and 3 one liners at the very end of the article from the protesters' point-of-view. Sounds quite fair! I, too, was hit twice with batons by the aggro policemen. Unprovoked.
Notice the use of language to convey a certain view of the entire group of people.
"Members of the group broke windows...during their rampage."
The term "members" makes it sound like everyone there was in on the ploy to destroy property. As if it was an organized effort. This language is intentional.
"They burned trash, climbed onto a cable car, and later tossed bottles and other objects at mounted police who were trying to control them. "
What the reporter(s) fail to mention is how the police were trying to control us. And why were we, collectively, in the need of being controlled? From my perspective, most of us were/are adults in possession of our faculties. An odd lack of information.
I'm going to take the liberty (I still have that... I think) to assert that the San Francisco Police Department in fact provoked the break away marchers with their symbols of aggression and attempts at instilling fear. How am I able to state this in such a matter of fact manner? When one comes at another human being atop a beast in order to block the path of the human on foot, that is an offensive manoeuver. When a truncheon is drawn unprovoked and held in a ready position, that is aggression. When the person wielding said truncheon in such a manner is also mutely and forcingly blocking a peacefully existing individual (meaning not the entire group, only one person) from exiting a confined space, that IS AGGRESSION. So, I was assaulted at least twice (possibly more, it got a little crazy and chaotic for a bit; there are pains and marks I don't remember the source of that weren't there Sunday afternoon). The first time I was charged and rasped hard across the chest following my standing 3-5 feet in front of a 'peace' officer and repeatedly saying "peace" to him while holding my left hand up in a peace symbol. When I questioned why he chose violence and aggression, he answered brashly "FUCK YOU!!" and included some American Sign Language (I think he may have thought me bored and in need of an alternative entertainment source).
The second time was also unprovoked. How am I sure of this? I would only resort to violence if attacked. Meaning, only if someone makes a FIRST STRIKE. This second ASSAULT by a donut-fueled robot was a truncheon across my hand. It appears the word, and hand gesture, "Peace", is some kind of secret word the academy uses to unleash unbridled fury through the mysteries of hypnosis.
Those ATTACKS (1st STRIKES, need I remind you) weren't only on me. I saw several other undeserved attacks on others. Some demonstrators may have taken to actions which were not deemed "peaceful", nor "civilized", but they were by far the minority (maybe 1%-5%). So are we to punish the many for the actions of the few? What a great example these fine upstanding citizens are showing our children! Welcome to the Police State!
Wow! I sure am glad I work hard to pay my bills, and thus my taxes, to pay these people's salaries, so they can assault me for exercising my rights. While the rich folks, whom they were defending, pay little or no taxes because of tax breaks and cuts, etc. That is why I did gladly join in, on several occasions, when people began chanting,"you work for us!"
If only that were true...
In closing, I want to state that the words above are not necessarily directed at all of the police officers involved. Some of the officers were actually doing their job with a smile and were humans. They actually were 'peace officers'. Any derogatory remark towards the S.F.P.D. in the above writing is meant for those who deserve it; the Retarded Robots. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! I hope you can find peace within yourselves and let go of all that pent-up anger from middle and high schools someday in the near future. I am saying this in all sincerity.
PEACE,
P
Thank you for your truth. This is a very educational story. I myself have experienced
the same story. They are always the same. The
police start off with their excessive force and then they
cream themselves when they get to use their weapons on innocent people. When you attend a
protest, you catch a strong vibe from the police that
they can't wait for the riot to begin. As you walk down
the streets and see them lined up in their riot gear,
you can actually distinguish the good ones from the
bad ones. It's hard to believe that we have these kind
of bad people in law enforcement. They're legally
aloud to brutalize us. This is how they get off. I just
want to give Kudos to Mr. P. for speaking the truth.
His perspective is right on and he is as truthful as
truthfull can be. You go P.
Peace,
R.
If we examine history we can clearly see what was and is the main cause of violence; The State.
For some examples It was not the anarchists who incited the nationalistic fervor which ushered in the two World Wars or the state sanctioned Jewish holocaust. It was not the Anarchists who created the Atomic bomb and used it on helpless civilians when the war against the Japanese was all but won thereby insuring it's development by other nations throughout the world. It's also was not the Anarchists who in order to protect their assets and future their political agendas overseas who have spread finance and weapons of war and mass destruction to countless Third World Despots who often then proceeded to use them to murder and terrorize their own populations with nary a remark in protest and in fact often with the encouragement and approval by those who provided them these weapons and funding in first place. Just look at any press photos of third world conflicts and the weapons that you will see in the hands of their soldiers will invariably be from the U.S., Russia, France or even lately from China. Furthermore the worlds governments show little signs of changing their violent ways.
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