arestee speaks

I mean, get real. After the violence at the past marches, you really think you can go down there and not get hassled by the police? Sure, be pissed that they got you, but be surprised?

Whoa. Here's a newsflash for you -- Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny aren't real.

Give us a break - what a useless comment.

Gimme a break. This has been SOP for decades.

What it is, though, is absolute confirmation that it doesn't matter whether you are law abiding or not. Either way, if you express politically incorrect opinions, the police are going to treat you the same way.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COME TO SF AND BURN GARBAGE CANS, SPRAY GRAFFITTI, STEAL FROM THE ELDERLY, AND OTHER FELONIOUS ATROCITIES."
>>>.....and when exactly did this happen at all today at the march? No vandalism whatsoever was reported. Maybe your precious pigs should have instead gone and stopped actual crime done by your fellow San Franciscans, not get worked up over a peaceful protest.

"THE PEOPLE OF SAN FRANCISCO HAVE THE RIGHT TO LIVE IN PEACE."
>>>So does the rest of the world. But that right has been stripped from them by oppressive and corrupt leaders like Hussein and Bush.

" ASSHOLES LIKE YOU NEED TO BE TAKEN OUT OF CIRCULATION. EITHER THE PEOPLE OF SF DO IT THEMSELVES AND CARRY GUNS AROUND AND CAP YOU IN THE HEAD AS THE NEED ARISES, OR THE SF CITIZENS HIRE THE POLICE TO DO IT."
>>>Weren't you just talking about how the people of SF have the right to live in peace? And supposedly "carrying around guns and capping people in the head" is peaceful? Stop being such a dumbass. Thanks.

They'd know that certain people on here warned that the 'box-in' would happen.

I kept trying to hang back to avoid having cops on either side of me. They basically line up on both sides of the sidewalk so the only way to move forward is to move through them. I chose to turn down an alley generally when they got too close. I didn't get arrested.

Cops don't care about sidewalks, obviously, except at prominent corners like Market Street jammed with shoppers. The area where they made this arrest was fronted by a few smaller businesses, a parking garage, etc. They aren't under a lot of public scrutiny in places like Mission, or side streets. But on Market they are.

I haven't yet heard of orders that people who were arrested cannot participate in day-after events. It seems like it would be good for people to post that info so others could learn from it.

I always thought that it was legal to walk on a sidewalk and to protest when you believe there is injustice in the world....I was extremely surprised at the ammount of criticism that the arestee recieved. Most of the comments were rather harsh to say the least, and few had any sort of point. I want to give props and support to otilija for still standing up for the right to free speech and protest that this country seems to have forgotten about. I would also challenge those who seem to be opposed to our freedom rights to come up with some kind of intellegent argument that does not involve fifth grade name calling. Peace.

do you see this quote from the Chronicle. The numbers in their story don't add up. Pictures from earlier on clearly show a huge group, where someone could easily not be able to locate specific people in the crowd. 161 people were arrested. Then they say that there were 150 protesters total and only 60 were encircled by the liquor store on 3rd? This doesn't work. A small fraction went down 3rd street. Most marchers were circling the block at 4th street at the time. Is this one of their famous helicopter counts, or were they only counting people with monster masks as protesters. I had a pink shirt on:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/03/16/MN85413.DTL
"By about 4 p.m., the police split a crowd of about 150 demonstrators into three separate groups, encircling two near Fourth and Market. A third contingent of about 60 was surrounded and detained near Third and Market."

Yet the cops arrested *more* people than they did when there was vandalism. What does this teach us about the value of obeying the law?

I have never posted here, but visit daily

I was arrested for standing on the sidewalk
standing in front of a store

yes i was in the streets
yes i have done it before
yes i will do it again

Next time I will
1) do something that is actually a 'crime'
2) be a LOT more involved & aware of situations

My court date is 5/7
i know they are scattered around
but it is so IMPORTANT
that there is support at all of these court dates
ESPECAILLY the felony charges & my buddy the jaywalker

I would like to say one more thing
I LOVE 924 GILMAN!!
you kids rock...raised bail for Smitty!!!

YAY

I told you so. Have you learned yet? Bunch up and you are vulnerable to mass arrest. If you had spread out, and kept moving,most of you would have been safe. They can pick off a few of you, but they can't snag everybody, at least not unless you save them the trouble of rounding you up, by rounding yourselves up into to tight bunch, trapped where you have no room to maneuver.

See also:

http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/02/1575289_comment.php#1581091

This time the cops sure were ready for the breakaway march! When we got boxed in on Mission, I saw that about two people just sat down in the street, and since I'm not one to really jump fences (too big and my ankle's too screwy) or throw stuff or hit cops, I sat down with them. About 17 others joined us, and we all linked arms and refused to move. I had expected more people to do so, but oh well. People cheered us on anyhow. Eventually, we got to experience some lovely police choke holds and ear pulling to get us to let go of each other, and I got first-hand experience of some weird jaw-grinding submission hold. My face is kind of blue now, and it hurts to eat. Then, my new glasses got smashed under some big combat boots, and as I was dragged off there was some really lovely comment by one of them about how large my ass was. I guess what I am trying to say is that although I had been feeling kind of peacy and empowered, the whole process left me pretty pissed off- especially when people showed up at 850 for jaywalking and other ridiculous shit. Anyhow, we all got driven to the jail and they had these weird corrales set up outside where we were made to wait for hours. I was probably arrested at 3 o'clock or so, and got out at about 8:30. It turns out that I had an open container warrant from about 2 years ago that Drug Court had failed to clear, contrary to what they had told me. So, I ended up with two court dates. No big deal. It was better to be in jail with so many beautiful rebellious faces, of all ages (15 being the youngest), ethnicities, political beliefs, spiritualites. etc. that were chanting and feeling empowered in a weird way than to be in jail in the situations and head-spaces I had in the past. I kind of wish I had gotten on the sidewalk and continued marching some more, but the cops eventually arrested those in that area which had been guaranteed safety anyway. I guess that I had just been serving food behind the scenes so often that this time I wanted to be in the front lines. For some reason, the "don't get caught" thing didn't kick in- and I am always moved by non-violent civil disobedience. It seemed like the time and place. It would have been cool if all those people sat down on Market...though I guess the cops still would have picked us off one by one. I guess it comes down to what tactics you feel work best. I hope those of us that sat down at least created a diversion- maybe so, as the march went on. Anyhow, thought I would give you the narrative. Though I felt "inconvenienced" by being in jail, once I stopped and thought about how small a deal it was compared to the struggles many people face around the world everyday, it was a small price indeed to pay to stand up (or more appropriately sit down) for what is right.

Sarah/ Sphinx

This time the cops sure were ready for the breakaway march! When we got boxed in on Mission, I saw that about two people just sat down in the street, and since I'm not one to really jump fences (too big and my ankle's too screwy) or throw stuff or hit cops, I sat down with them. About 17 others joined us, and we all linked arms and refused to move. I had expected more people to do so, but oh well. People cheered us on anyhow. Eventually, we got to experience some lovely police choke holds and ear pulling to get us to let go of each other, and I got first-hand experience of some weird jaw-grinding submission hold. My face is kind of blue now, and it hurts to eat. Then, my new glasses got smashed under some big combat boots, and as I was dragged off there was some really lovely comment by one of them about how large my ass was. I guess what I am trying to say is that although I had been feeling kind of peacy and empowered, the whole process left me pretty pissed off- especially when people showed up at 850 for jaywalking and other ridiculous shit. Anyhow, we all got driven to the jail and they had these weird corrales set up outside where we were made to wait for hours. I was probably arrested at 3 o'clock or so, and got out at about 8:30. It turns out that I had an open container warrant from about 2 years ago that Drug Court had failed to clear, contrary to what they had told me. So, I ended up with two court dates. No big deal. It was better to be in jail with so many beautiful rebellious faces, of all ages (15 being the youngest), ethnicities, political beliefs, spiritualites. etc. that were chanting and feeling empowered in a weird way than to be in jail in the situations and head-spaces I had in the past. I kind of wish I had gotten on the sidewalk and continued marching some more, but the cops eventually arrested those in that area which had been guaranteed safety anyway. I guess that I had just been serving food behind the scenes so often that this time I wanted to be in the front lines. For some reason, the "don't get caught" thing didn't kick in- and I am always moved by non-violent civil disobedience. It seemed like the time and place. It would have been cool if all those people sat down on Market...though I guess the cops still would have picked us off one by one. I guess it comes down to what tactics you feel work best. I hope those of us that sat down at least created a diversion- maybe so, as the march went on. Anyhow, thought I would give you the narrative. Though I felt "inconvenienced" by being in jail, once I stopped and thought about how small a deal it was compared to the struggles many people face around the world everyday, it was a small price indeed to pay to stand up (or more appropriately sit down) for what is right.

Sarah/ Sphinx

I was swept in on 3rd near market after I decided to get a closer look to take pictures on my digital camera. I had completely lost the crowd on Market St. sometime before the arrests and wasn't even there at the time the police said it was an illegal assembly.... The police actually pushed me into the crowd and later I got a charge for "failure to disperse...." Ridiculous.

I expect my charges along with most of them will get dismissed, but now I actually wish we had put up a little more resistance. A friend of mine thought we would have been better off engaging in de-arresting tactics. I wish I had encouraged people to lock arms rather than just standing there. I feel stupid for just standing there and going along with the police's authority when they were engaging in such a basic violation of the right to free assembly, and when we could have all taken a stand against them.

Anything to buy time and allow the police to become distracted would have been good. That would have allowed more by-standers to gather outside the ranks, more protesters to catch up on the edges, and more distractions in general.

My thoughts on this whole staying together vs. keeping moving thing are mixed. If the crowd is large enough and tight-knit enough, like the previous time, there seems to be a critical mass beyond which people can't be rounded up. Once it gets smaller and sparser, like this time, there's no point in sticking with it, because it can be split into smaller groups and that are easy to surround and arrest.

One thought is that if someone set up an info number, people could just split up when the police presence gets too strong, call, and get an announcement about where to recongregate later.... Hopefully somewhere nice and open with plenty of ways in and out.

I'm not so sure marches are really the right tactic anymore. The main permitted march sure wasn't allowed to go anywhere where people could really see it. When the breakaway march tried to excercise their right to express themselves on Market St., they just got arrested. Now may be a time for more dispersed and individual action -- both grassroots educational outreach and autonomous acts of sabotage.

If we're not allowed to act publicly, we may have to do so anonymously.... Imagine stickers with anarchy signs and wheatpasted flyers explaing our ideas showing up all over the place, all the time. For the braver, imagine windows smashed clandestinely at night, gas station nozzles dismantled, police vehicles sabotaged, etc. Imagine all this done with the only large scale organization done entirely anonymously over the internet. Flyers and stickers could be designed and posted anonymous by one person, and downloaded anonymously to use by another. Ideas and tactics could be exchanged without ever exchanging a name. The only cells that meet in person could be people who already know and trust each other.

Imagine invisible armies of autonomous agents engagine in anonymous acts of resistance.

And when the time is right, people can engage in the occasional collective, public act of disobedience too, but this is largely symbolic, and can only work to the extent that people can for a time keep the police from excercising their normal daily authority.

oh, I think when the war is over and you have court dates and sort this out, you can collect the same payoff for false arrest that the Rodney King false arrestees got. They got from $200 to $1000 for a street sweep.

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Sarah, way to go! I think I saw you being carried/walked off (were you the one limping on the 1200 block of Mission?) Anyway, I collected some badge numbers and names.

It would be great if whenever anyone saw a sfpd|sherriff|fbi|other-state-lackey they photograph them if possible, and get the badge number and name. Then we could match them up in public, and name 'em and shame 'em (after all, isn't little shrub always going on about "accountability"? I'm all for it, starting at the top!)

So, here's my contribution (all SFPD):

769, dimapasoc
1410 margetts, c
134 anderson, m
1156 northridge
4223 g. thompson
1539 kwan
4056 rodatos

Here are badges which I could see from the illegal arrests on 3rd&market, unfortunately I couldn't see names (some didn't have names visible, and some were in the wrong position). These are all SFPD, most were part of the cluster of cops surrounding the group closer to Market (the smaller of the two groups penned on the sidewalk on either side of quizno's).

706
1904
533
1223
974
468
2004
1814

War protesters are paid by the billionaire, Saddam Hussein to do his work for him. The CIA, FBI, and SFPD have orders to shoot on site any protester when war starts. They got legal cooperation from the U.S. Supreme Court.