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Bush protest report
My report from the May 2nd Bush Protest in Santa Clara.
Report from bush protest
8:30am - There are about 500 people here at Lafayette Park. Things seem pretty up beat and more and more people keep coming in. People inside the park are listening to speeches and others are standing along the streets with their signs.
9ish - The march sets out down El Camino. At first there is some confusion about which way to go but within a few minutes we get moving. People are chanting and the marching band is playing ‘when the saints come marching in’. (Later a friend in San Jose Food Not Bombs told me the pro-war people at the protest site were trying to chant ‘U-S-A U-S-A’ as they heard us getting closer, but by the time we came off the exit we were so big and loud we drown them out.) There are about 1,000 anti-Bush and 25 pro-Bush people. We fill in the street/protest zone up to the police line but the cops start pushing us onto one side of the road and then onto the sidewalk. The cops and horses seem pretty on edge and are making peaceful situation hostile. At one point I saw a person lying down on the street behind the police line- I don’t know if they were hurt or were being arrested.
After things settle down a little people start dancing, chanting and doing yoga. A huge ‘smart bomb balloon’ appears out of nowhere- I can’t really see what it says on it but this thing is massive- about the length of a swimming pool. As usual there is a lot of creativity on display- the 'republican guard' are here and many homemade signs & banners ranging from 'fuck bush' to 'Bush, a kinder gentler war criminal'. One girl had a sign that read, “Bush is coming, so what?”-not much love for that guy even here in the south bay.
10:00 - I see some American flag people trying to pull down an ANSWER banner and I head over there to check it out. There is a woman and man with two children in a stroller trying to block the view of the answer sign (?) I’m not really clear what they are trying to do. Their sign reads something about supporting Bush and the war on terror. I don’t get what is so ‘American’ about trying to block free speech so I ask the lady if she believes in the 1st amendment. ‘Honey, I’ve been here for two hours’ she replies (?!). As they try to use their flags to pull down the banner the cops just stand there- if it were the other way around there probably would be arrests. At one point it seems like two people (the lady I talked to and an anti-war girl) are fighting over a flag but it gets worked out. I ask the anti-war girl what happened and she says the flag got stuck in her purse (not clear what was going on with this).
11:00 - Over by the Starbuck$ police barricade area there is a mix between pro and anti bush people. Half a dozen or so children start chanting ‘we love Bush’. Some cars drive by in the distance and the whole crowd starts making noise -maybe it was Bush? After that we start walking back to the park. The police still insist on making a big deal where there is none and keep us in our place by pushing us onto the sidewalk to protect the empty street and horseshit. On my way back, there are a few pro-Bush people in front of me talking and laughing - I realize one of them is carrying an NBC microphone- as if there was any question what side the media is on. Coming down the off ramp I see an undercover police car parked on the empty street with 3 sunglass clad men in it. I wave, and they smile back from their secret squirrel style hiding spot. Even down at the park a squad block of about 20 cops in riot gear comes out to regulate on the 30 or so protesters who are trying to pack up and go home. This time they force us off the sidewalk and onto the park ‘property’.
8:30am - There are about 500 people here at Lafayette Park. Things seem pretty up beat and more and more people keep coming in. People inside the park are listening to speeches and others are standing along the streets with their signs.
9ish - The march sets out down El Camino. At first there is some confusion about which way to go but within a few minutes we get moving. People are chanting and the marching band is playing ‘when the saints come marching in’. (Later a friend in San Jose Food Not Bombs told me the pro-war people at the protest site were trying to chant ‘U-S-A U-S-A’ as they heard us getting closer, but by the time we came off the exit we were so big and loud we drown them out.) There are about 1,000 anti-Bush and 25 pro-Bush people. We fill in the street/protest zone up to the police line but the cops start pushing us onto one side of the road and then onto the sidewalk. The cops and horses seem pretty on edge and are making peaceful situation hostile. At one point I saw a person lying down on the street behind the police line- I don’t know if they were hurt or were being arrested.
After things settle down a little people start dancing, chanting and doing yoga. A huge ‘smart bomb balloon’ appears out of nowhere- I can’t really see what it says on it but this thing is massive- about the length of a swimming pool. As usual there is a lot of creativity on display- the 'republican guard' are here and many homemade signs & banners ranging from 'fuck bush' to 'Bush, a kinder gentler war criminal'. One girl had a sign that read, “Bush is coming, so what?”-not much love for that guy even here in the south bay.
10:00 - I see some American flag people trying to pull down an ANSWER banner and I head over there to check it out. There is a woman and man with two children in a stroller trying to block the view of the answer sign (?) I’m not really clear what they are trying to do. Their sign reads something about supporting Bush and the war on terror. I don’t get what is so ‘American’ about trying to block free speech so I ask the lady if she believes in the 1st amendment. ‘Honey, I’ve been here for two hours’ she replies (?!). As they try to use their flags to pull down the banner the cops just stand there- if it were the other way around there probably would be arrests. At one point it seems like two people (the lady I talked to and an anti-war girl) are fighting over a flag but it gets worked out. I ask the anti-war girl what happened and she says the flag got stuck in her purse (not clear what was going on with this).
11:00 - Over by the Starbuck$ police barricade area there is a mix between pro and anti bush people. Half a dozen or so children start chanting ‘we love Bush’. Some cars drive by in the distance and the whole crowd starts making noise -maybe it was Bush? After that we start walking back to the park. The police still insist on making a big deal where there is none and keep us in our place by pushing us onto the sidewalk to protect the empty street and horseshit. On my way back, there are a few pro-Bush people in front of me talking and laughing - I realize one of them is carrying an NBC microphone- as if there was any question what side the media is on. Coming down the off ramp I see an undercover police car parked on the empty street with 3 sunglass clad men in it. I wave, and they smile back from their secret squirrel style hiding spot. Even down at the park a squad block of about 20 cops in riot gear comes out to regulate on the 30 or so protesters who are trying to pack up and go home. This time they force us off the sidewalk and onto the park ‘property’.
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That woman at 10:00 (with the guy and with the flag) was Alice Hoglan (mother of Mark Bingham from Flight 93) according to news reports. You can see a pic of her on the Mercury News web site.
I was surprised at how hostile and aggressive she was. It was obvious that she was seeking a confrontation. And I witnessed the guy that she was with assault one of the anti-war people. I'm pretty sure that a cop also witnessed the assault but did nothing. Obviously, that guy was also hostile and aggressive.
I was surprised at how hostile and aggressive she was. It was obvious that she was seeking a confrontation. And I witnessed the guy that she was with assault one of the anti-war people. I'm pretty sure that a cop also witnessed the assault but did nothing. Obviously, that guy was also hostile and aggressive.
Good report! Thank God somebody can count accurately I think the Mercury News counted two hundred people on the Northeast sidewalk and assumed all of them were Bush supporters. You were right. Only about twenty-five (or fewer) of them were protesters.
I just posted this on markbingham.org in response to a post about Alice standing with GRACE amongst *peaceniks* who were not peaceful but were anti-American cowards.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I was at that protest on Friday and while I didn't know Mark Bingham, I do know plenty of gay men in the Bay Area and I feel confident in saying Mark probably would have been embarrassed by his family's actions that day.
Instead of standing on the side of the street where the other pro-Bush people had gathered, "Team Bingham" used an American flag as a weapon to carve out a spot for themselves right in front of the protesters. Mark's uncle and the unidentified woman on his right repeatedly hit people with their flags, their bodies and their hands. They repeatedly shouted at the people around them using curse words and insults. When the unidentified woman (who was holding a small child) exclaimed "They're all under 23 and have never done a f**cking thing in their lives, except for all these f**cking hippies.", I said "excuse me?" and she responded by shouting "I wasn't f**cking talking to you sister."
They brought three small children with them, needlessly put them in harms way, and unnecessarily scared them. They used the children as shields and often got so carried away with all the shouting and pushing they were doing that they trampled over their own children!
I saw (and so did many other people) Mark's uncle kick a man that was kneeling, into the street. I also saw him attack and hit an elderly woman. Each time things got tense with the Bingham family the protesters would begin chanting "Peace, No Violence".
Numerous protesters went up to them and offered their condolences and their support. I heard at least ten different protesters tell them they were happy they were there and that they had a right to be there. Protesters were bending over backwards to accommodate them and give them space. A girl I met said she had approached them and said she was sorry for their loss and that she had lost two cousins in the World Trade Towers. The woman responded by saying she wanted names because she didn’t believe her. The girl was crying when she told me this.
When a person to the right of their group left, I moved into the empty spot. I had one sign in each of my hands and the woman I mentioned earlier put her flag in front of the sign closest to her. I didn't shout at her or say anything to her for that matter, I simply moved the sign out from behind the flag. When she noticed, she put the flag in front of my sign again. Again, I said nothing and moved my sign. She noticed and moved her flag in front of the sign once more. I moved the sign and said "Look, we both have our space here. Can we just agree to stand in our space and not cover each other's things?" She didn't respond but she did let the pole from her flag hit me in the head. All in all her flag pole hit me in the head ten times. Not once did I touch her or her flag.
A few minutes later some protesters that were acting as legal observers suggested I move to the right and give the family more space. I explained to them that there was plenty of space and that the woman was intentionally hitting me and covering my sign. To illustrate this point I asked for a show of hands from people who had been assaulted by the family that morning. At least 20 hands went into the air, at which point Mark's uncle turned to the woman at my side and said "Well, at least we have something to feel good about!"
I understand their pain, but I do not understand their actions. They were an embarrassment to Mark Bingham's memory and they were definitely the most aggressive and violent people at the protest that day.
The most shocking thing in all of this is the fact that Mark was a gay man. And the president his family is willing to turn over his memory in support of, is one that the gay community is truly outraged by. Neither George Bush nor his administration think gays should have the equal rights or protections that the Constitution affords them. When Alice Hoaglan chants "God Bless Bush" it is an affront to all gay people.
Maybe "Team Bingham" would like to reconsider their position. Maybe next time they'll stand with those of us that want a president who believes in freedom for all Americans, who cares about the economy and working families, or the growing deficit and its impact on our children, or the environment and its survival (again for our children). Or maybe they'll question why George Bush is working so hard to conceal investigative documents about 9-11. Maybe they'll ask us what we know about George Bush's close relationship with the Bin Laden family. Perhaps they'll realize that Iraq had nothing to do with Mark's death and as tragic and painful as it was for them, they've given their support to a President who just killed thousands of innocent Iraqi people in an attempt to distract and dupe the American people.
For the record, I am 33 years old. I have been consistently employed since I was 16 years old. I work in a professional, corporate advertising agency in San Francisco. My face was not covered. I was peaceful and even accommodating of "Team Bingham". Everything I have said here is the truth.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I was at that protest on Friday and while I didn't know Mark Bingham, I do know plenty of gay men in the Bay Area and I feel confident in saying Mark probably would have been embarrassed by his family's actions that day.
Instead of standing on the side of the street where the other pro-Bush people had gathered, "Team Bingham" used an American flag as a weapon to carve out a spot for themselves right in front of the protesters. Mark's uncle and the unidentified woman on his right repeatedly hit people with their flags, their bodies and their hands. They repeatedly shouted at the people around them using curse words and insults. When the unidentified woman (who was holding a small child) exclaimed "They're all under 23 and have never done a f**cking thing in their lives, except for all these f**cking hippies.", I said "excuse me?" and she responded by shouting "I wasn't f**cking talking to you sister."
They brought three small children with them, needlessly put them in harms way, and unnecessarily scared them. They used the children as shields and often got so carried away with all the shouting and pushing they were doing that they trampled over their own children!
I saw (and so did many other people) Mark's uncle kick a man that was kneeling, into the street. I also saw him attack and hit an elderly woman. Each time things got tense with the Bingham family the protesters would begin chanting "Peace, No Violence".
Numerous protesters went up to them and offered their condolences and their support. I heard at least ten different protesters tell them they were happy they were there and that they had a right to be there. Protesters were bending over backwards to accommodate them and give them space. A girl I met said she had approached them and said she was sorry for their loss and that she had lost two cousins in the World Trade Towers. The woman responded by saying she wanted names because she didn’t believe her. The girl was crying when she told me this.
When a person to the right of their group left, I moved into the empty spot. I had one sign in each of my hands and the woman I mentioned earlier put her flag in front of the sign closest to her. I didn't shout at her or say anything to her for that matter, I simply moved the sign out from behind the flag. When she noticed, she put the flag in front of my sign again. Again, I said nothing and moved my sign. She noticed and moved her flag in front of the sign once more. I moved the sign and said "Look, we both have our space here. Can we just agree to stand in our space and not cover each other's things?" She didn't respond but she did let the pole from her flag hit me in the head. All in all her flag pole hit me in the head ten times. Not once did I touch her or her flag.
A few minutes later some protesters that were acting as legal observers suggested I move to the right and give the family more space. I explained to them that there was plenty of space and that the woman was intentionally hitting me and covering my sign. To illustrate this point I asked for a show of hands from people who had been assaulted by the family that morning. At least 20 hands went into the air, at which point Mark's uncle turned to the woman at my side and said "Well, at least we have something to feel good about!"
I understand their pain, but I do not understand their actions. They were an embarrassment to Mark Bingham's memory and they were definitely the most aggressive and violent people at the protest that day.
The most shocking thing in all of this is the fact that Mark was a gay man. And the president his family is willing to turn over his memory in support of, is one that the gay community is truly outraged by. Neither George Bush nor his administration think gays should have the equal rights or protections that the Constitution affords them. When Alice Hoaglan chants "God Bless Bush" it is an affront to all gay people.
Maybe "Team Bingham" would like to reconsider their position. Maybe next time they'll stand with those of us that want a president who believes in freedom for all Americans, who cares about the economy and working families, or the growing deficit and its impact on our children, or the environment and its survival (again for our children). Or maybe they'll question why George Bush is working so hard to conceal investigative documents about 9-11. Maybe they'll ask us what we know about George Bush's close relationship with the Bin Laden family. Perhaps they'll realize that Iraq had nothing to do with Mark's death and as tragic and painful as it was for them, they've given their support to a President who just killed thousands of innocent Iraqi people in an attempt to distract and dupe the American people.
For the record, I am 33 years old. I have been consistently employed since I was 16 years old. I work in a professional, corporate advertising agency in San Francisco. My face was not covered. I was peaceful and even accommodating of "Team Bingham". Everything I have said here is the truth.
For more information:
http://www.markbingham.org
Some of you may be interested in helping remove Bush from office. Visit NotBush.com if interested...
For more information:
http://NotBush.com
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