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Indybay Feature
Police Brutality Reported at San Francisco Anti-War Protests
Police Brutality incident, Thursday M20, New Montgomery & Market Streets, approx 11:30 AM
Over 2200 anti-war demonstrators were arrested in San Francisco Thursday and throughout the weekend as the US military went to war in Iraq. Demonstrators, who had vowed to shut down the city in protest against the war, fanned out across the city, shutting down 28 intersections, blockading the Federal building, the Transamerica pyramid, and closing the Bay Bridge. Police raced to catch up with groups of fast-moving protesters, often unsuccessfully, as traffic backed up and business came to a standstill.
Most police and demonstrators reported both peaceful protest tactics and peaceful arrests. Reports of more violent clashes between police and protestors, however, continue to come in from areas around the city.
In one incident, as the "Queers out against the War" contingent joined a larger group at the intersection of Market & Montgomery streets at 11AM, riot police surrounded protesters in the center of the intersection. As tensions rose between police and the crowd, one officer pushed a 21-year old into a line of riot police. One officer seized the demonstrator and struck him repeatedly with his baton; he fell face down to the ground with his arms over his head. Several other officers joined the beating and others formed a line, preventing onlookers from intervening. The demonstrator now faces charges of felony assault against a police officer.
The surrounding crowd chanted "Shame! Shame!" as mounted officers joined the scene and the incident became a melée of police clubbing protestors. Police struck this reporter with batons in the breast, arms, hands and ribs. Police used their batons on Jennifer Allen, 25, then flung her to the ground, breaking her wrist. They then denied her requests for medical attention, cuffed her, and bused her to the county jail with others arrested at the scene. She was later released.
Chainsaws buzzed as officers cut the pipes joining the arms of a group of protesters in the center of the intersection. An officer seized one young woman by her hair as she gave her contact information to a legal observer, pulling her to the ground, kicking and then cuffing her. Another woman curled into a fetal position in passive resistance to her arrest, and was twisted into extreme pain compliance holds after one officer said "This is one of those dykes who likes to be hurt."
Arrested demonstrators were taken to holding locations including Pier 27 and the San Francisco County jail. Most were charged with misdemeanors, including refusal to obey an officer and failure to disperse.
Anyone witnessing or having photos or video of the incident is encouraged to contact the e-mail address above.
Most police and demonstrators reported both peaceful protest tactics and peaceful arrests. Reports of more violent clashes between police and protestors, however, continue to come in from areas around the city.
In one incident, as the "Queers out against the War" contingent joined a larger group at the intersection of Market & Montgomery streets at 11AM, riot police surrounded protesters in the center of the intersection. As tensions rose between police and the crowd, one officer pushed a 21-year old into a line of riot police. One officer seized the demonstrator and struck him repeatedly with his baton; he fell face down to the ground with his arms over his head. Several other officers joined the beating and others formed a line, preventing onlookers from intervening. The demonstrator now faces charges of felony assault against a police officer.
The surrounding crowd chanted "Shame! Shame!" as mounted officers joined the scene and the incident became a melée of police clubbing protestors. Police struck this reporter with batons in the breast, arms, hands and ribs. Police used their batons on Jennifer Allen, 25, then flung her to the ground, breaking her wrist. They then denied her requests for medical attention, cuffed her, and bused her to the county jail with others arrested at the scene. She was later released.
Chainsaws buzzed as officers cut the pipes joining the arms of a group of protesters in the center of the intersection. An officer seized one young woman by her hair as she gave her contact information to a legal observer, pulling her to the ground, kicking and then cuffing her. Another woman curled into a fetal position in passive resistance to her arrest, and was twisted into extreme pain compliance holds after one officer said "This is one of those dykes who likes to be hurt."
Arrested demonstrators were taken to holding locations including Pier 27 and the San Francisco County jail. Most were charged with misdemeanors, including refusal to obey an officer and failure to disperse.
Anyone witnessing or having photos or video of the incident is encouraged to contact the e-mail address above.
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I am a woman who was also hit on market st. technically i'm not even a woman. I'm a 17 year old girl and was hit sometime between 11 and 11:30 am on thursday march 10th on 4th and market. I have red hair and a white thermal. please, if anybody has any photos/videos of me getting pushed and hit or of an 18 year old guy in a black hoodie, black jeans, and a white and maroon hat please send an e-mail to showsoversynergy and kangadog [at] aol.com. thank you. it would be very helpful. thank you
Here are some badge numbers that i recorded .
166
141
1716
1575
166
141
1716
1575
the nonsense has got to stop. if you don't want to get hit by a cop then don't block intersections or entrances to buildings. i couldn't get to my job because of this bull shit. if cops breaking some lousy liberals arm means i can get to my job and make some money, i am all for it. why don't all you little hooligans go home. i am sure there is a bus leaving for humboldt county soon. god bless the SFPD, god bless George W. and god bless the men and women in iraq who are knocking on husseins door. GO USA!!!
i think i met you at the bear's lair
Do you really believe that you have a god-given right to go to work easily and peacefully? You don't! So instead of bitching and moaning about how inconviniced your life has become, why not try to think for once about why some people would block traffic. I may not agree with everything being done in SF, but I believe that the SFPD is getting way out of hand and should at least remain civil if they want to put protesters in a worse light then themselves. How about thinking about the hundreds of civilians that are dying as you read this rather than about the difficulty you have to go through to be a wage slave?
Do you really believe that you have a god-given right to go to work easily and peacefully? You don't!
I thought you communists (tipoff: "wage slave") don't believe in god?
So instead of bitching and moaning about how inconviniced your life has become, why not try to think for once about why some people would block traffic.
Because they're whiny brats who complain about a "dictatorship" and a "police state" when they're the minority opinion? Because they think their opinion is *so damn important* that they have to be as obnoxious and confrontational as possible UNTIL PEOPLE THINK JUST LIKE THEM? Because they're blind to the evil of Saddam Hussein?
I may not agree with everything being done in SF, but I believe that the SFPD is getting way out of hand and should at least remain civil if they want to put protesters in a worse light then themselves.
Hmm, I take this to mean that like 2/3 of the protesters you're not actually *from* SF and are only here to protest and cost my city $900,000 a day.
Here's the view from a friend of mine who works at Market and Powell:
As I was walking to work today, I saw the massive mess of graffiti, vandalism and garbage left by the protesters last night, as well as the people tasked with cleaning it up: the two Hispanic guys from my building's maintenance team scraping "FUCK WAR" and similar messages off the windows of The Gap; and the young black kids from the Union Square merchants' group picking up garbage, washing the sidewalks and putting the overturned newspaper stands back in place. The overindulged, self-important white middle-class suburbanites got to have their fun and trash someone else's city for a cause they know little about, while the predominantly minority working class is left to clean up their mess.
Stay out of San Francisco, hippie, and protest in your own city.
How about thinking about the hundreds of civilians that are dying as you read this rather than about the difficulty you have to go through to be a wage slave
What "hundreds of civillians"? You mean the people of Basra who are at this moment battling Iraqi troops with axes and knives? They deserve your freedom more than you do.
"Wage slave"...man, I don't even have a job right now, as I suspect you don't either, and I still think that you're full of it.
Hey guy, have you noticed your protests have shrunk down to almost nothing? Could it be that people are sick of your sit-downs, shit-downs, mass vomitings and vandalism? I know people who sympathize with you but won't join you because they DON'T WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH YOU! Could it be, gasp, that some of you guys are wage slaves too?
Let's make my comments a little easier to read...
"Do you really believe that you have a god-given right to go to work easily and peacefully? You don't!"
I thought you communists don't believe in god? And if you do, what makes you so sure she hasn't given us that right?
"So instead of bitching and moaning about how inconviniced your life has become, why not try to think for once about why some people would block traffic."
Because they're whiny brats who complain about a "dictatorship" and a "police state" when they're the minority opinion? Because they think their opinion is *so damn important* that they have to be as obnoxious and confrontational as possible UNTIL PEOPLE THINK JUST LIKE THEM? Because they're blind to the evil of Saddam Hussein?
"I may not agree with everything being done in SF, but I believe that the SFPD is getting way out of hand and should at least remain civil if they want to put protesters in a worse light then themselves."
Hmm, I take this to mean that like 2/3 of the protesters you're not actually *from* SF and are only here to protest and cost my city $900,000 a day.
Here's the view from a friend of mine who works at Market and Powell:
As I was walking to work today, I saw the massive mess of graffiti, vandalism and garbage left by the protesters last night, as well as the people tasked with cleaning it up: the two Hispanic guys from my building's maintenance team scraping "FUCK WAR" and similar messages off the windows of The Gap; and the young black kids from the Union Square merchants' group picking up garbage, washing the sidewalks and putting the overturned newspaper stands back in place. The overindulged, self-important white middle-class suburbanites got to have their fun and trash someone else's city for a cause they know little about, while the predominantly minority working class is left to clean up their mess.
Stay out of San Francisco, hippie, and protest in your own city.
"How about thinking about the hundreds of civilians that are dying as you read this rather than about the difficulty you have to go through to be a wage slave"
What "hundreds of civillians"? You mean the people of Basra who are at this moment battling Iraqi troops with axes and knives? They deserve your freedom more than you do.
"Wage slave"...man, I don't even have a job right now, as I suspect you don't either, and I still think that you're full of it.
Hey guy, have you noticed your protests have shrunk down to almost nothing? Could it be that people are sick of your sit-downs, shit-downs, mass vomitings and vandalism? I know people who sympathize with you but won't join you because they DON'T WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH YOU! Could it be, gasp, that some of you guys are wage slaves too?
"Do you really believe that you have a god-given right to go to work easily and peacefully? You don't!"
I thought you communists don't believe in god? And if you do, what makes you so sure she hasn't given us that right?
"So instead of bitching and moaning about how inconviniced your life has become, why not try to think for once about why some people would block traffic."
Because they're whiny brats who complain about a "dictatorship" and a "police state" when they're the minority opinion? Because they think their opinion is *so damn important* that they have to be as obnoxious and confrontational as possible UNTIL PEOPLE THINK JUST LIKE THEM? Because they're blind to the evil of Saddam Hussein?
"I may not agree with everything being done in SF, but I believe that the SFPD is getting way out of hand and should at least remain civil if they want to put protesters in a worse light then themselves."
Hmm, I take this to mean that like 2/3 of the protesters you're not actually *from* SF and are only here to protest and cost my city $900,000 a day.
Here's the view from a friend of mine who works at Market and Powell:
As I was walking to work today, I saw the massive mess of graffiti, vandalism and garbage left by the protesters last night, as well as the people tasked with cleaning it up: the two Hispanic guys from my building's maintenance team scraping "FUCK WAR" and similar messages off the windows of The Gap; and the young black kids from the Union Square merchants' group picking up garbage, washing the sidewalks and putting the overturned newspaper stands back in place. The overindulged, self-important white middle-class suburbanites got to have their fun and trash someone else's city for a cause they know little about, while the predominantly minority working class is left to clean up their mess.
Stay out of San Francisco, hippie, and protest in your own city.
"How about thinking about the hundreds of civilians that are dying as you read this rather than about the difficulty you have to go through to be a wage slave"
What "hundreds of civillians"? You mean the people of Basra who are at this moment battling Iraqi troops with axes and knives? They deserve your freedom more than you do.
"Wage slave"...man, I don't even have a job right now, as I suspect you don't either, and I still think that you're full of it.
Hey guy, have you noticed your protests have shrunk down to almost nothing? Could it be that people are sick of your sit-downs, shit-downs, mass vomitings and vandalism? I know people who sympathize with you but won't join you because they DON'T WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH YOU! Could it be, gasp, that some of you guys are wage slaves too?
In response to the author's request "Anyone witnessing or having photos or video of the incident is encouraged to contact the e-mail address above."
I hope anyone with pictures burns them AND the negatives
I hope anyone with pictures burns them AND the negatives
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