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Indybay Feature
Immigrants' Rights Protesters Attacked in Fremont AGAIN
About 75 anti-racists confronted anti-immigrant racists in Fremont. At this bi-weekly counter-protest against the anti-immigrant hate group, Bay Area Coalition for Border Security, 5 Latino/Latina activists were assaulted by racists and arrested by Fremont Police--and taken to Santa Rita prison.
Immigrant Rights activists gathered tonight at Fremont and Mowry Blvds. tonight to counter the bi-weekly rally called by the racist "Bay Area Coalition for Border Security," which is looking to become an affiliate of the vigilante group, the Minutemen. Starting at 4:30pm, about 75 protesters claimed the intersection that in previous weeks, the racists had used to draw attention to their message of hate. By 5:20 or so, a couple of them showed up on a different corner, in front of the Valero gas station, holding signs and US flags. When the immigrant supporters realized we could overwhelm them, we crossed the street, and they decided to leave. We escorted them off the sidewalk and they shamfefully drove away. There were no cops present.
As more locals showed up, we found out that this victory would be short-lived, since they reported having seen a sizeable crowd (10-20) of Minutemen a couple miles away, at Fremont and Washington, in front of the Blockbusters at that intersection. As people got in their cars to drive down there, other folks decided to take the crowd on a march there.
It was on this march down Fremont that we ran into a carload of Latino/as who had been part of our protest, and who had been pulled over by the cops on some bullshit charges of "registration," which we only found out later, since the cops wouldn't let us near them. Of course some car registration problem requires no less than 6 pigs to resolve, when you're talking about racially profiling people headed over to protest racists in their own town. We heard reports that the cops were very calculated and may have arrested at least one of the men for some warrent, except that there were no less than 50 people witnessing the whole thing, taking pictures, recording the badge numbers of the cops doing the harrassing, and chanting, "Migra, Policia, la misma porqueria" (INS/Police: The same reason) and "Let them go!" and "The Cops and the Klan Go Hand in Hand!" There was a debate among the protesters about if you could call it "brutality," since no one was obviously being physically assaulted. You ask me, racial profiling and forcing them all to sit on the ground like criminals is brutal.
So our second victory of the evening was that they let those guys go, so they got back in their car and kept driving toward the other site of the racists' rally. We kept marching but stopped at one point so people could get their cars, since we realized the march still had quite a ways to go to get there.
I heard the next things that went down second hand, but I can tell you that while I rode my bike ahead, I heard all the cops in Fremont on their bikes and cars rushing ahead, so I knew something was happening, and it wasn't good. By the time I got there, they had--not surprisingly--some of the same guys that got pulled over earlier about to be arrested at that intersection. All I know is that one of the lead Minutemen, with NAZI TATTOOS, an open racist, had brought a lead pipe and had beat up some activists. You better believe he was confident since he beat people up last time and didn't get arrested then, so he went for it again this time--yeah, he wasn't the one arrested! So the racists instigated the violence, and they arrested 4 young men, some of them under 18. I saw them arrest the woman they were with, too. It was outrageous. They're charging HER with assaulting a cop because she got in the crossfire as they were hauling her friends off.
All the other folks then caught up, after all the people had been detained in the paddywagon. We rallied for a bit, yelling at the few remaining bigots across the street and the cops they were hanging out with, with our side getting lots of support from people driving by, happy to see a pro-immigrant presence in their town. Then we made plans to go to the jail we thought they would take them, about a mile or two away, on Stevenson St. It was there that we found out that the National Lawyers Guild Legal Observers who had stayed with the arrested folks that this is what the effing cops did: they took the activists out of the paddywagon, one at a time and PARADED them in front of the racists, asking them what these Latinos did TO THEM. the NLG folks tried to intervene, saying they had witnesses too, but of course the cops didn't want to hear our side of the story, because it would implicate the violent racists.
Once the NLG folks saw that the paddywagon was leaving, with our folks inside, they met up with us at the jail, but we heard from a (the lone) reporter that showed up that the cops told her they had taken the folks to Santa Rita jail, and they wouln't be likely to be relased until Monday. We have legal representation on it, and updates will be posted about their legal status, so we can stand with them at the araignment. We won't leave our brothers and sisters out to dry.
And come out next time, on August 11, to stand against the racists, both those in uniform and not.
As more locals showed up, we found out that this victory would be short-lived, since they reported having seen a sizeable crowd (10-20) of Minutemen a couple miles away, at Fremont and Washington, in front of the Blockbusters at that intersection. As people got in their cars to drive down there, other folks decided to take the crowd on a march there.
It was on this march down Fremont that we ran into a carload of Latino/as who had been part of our protest, and who had been pulled over by the cops on some bullshit charges of "registration," which we only found out later, since the cops wouldn't let us near them. Of course some car registration problem requires no less than 6 pigs to resolve, when you're talking about racially profiling people headed over to protest racists in their own town. We heard reports that the cops were very calculated and may have arrested at least one of the men for some warrent, except that there were no less than 50 people witnessing the whole thing, taking pictures, recording the badge numbers of the cops doing the harrassing, and chanting, "Migra, Policia, la misma porqueria" (INS/Police: The same reason) and "Let them go!" and "The Cops and the Klan Go Hand in Hand!" There was a debate among the protesters about if you could call it "brutality," since no one was obviously being physically assaulted. You ask me, racial profiling and forcing them all to sit on the ground like criminals is brutal.
So our second victory of the evening was that they let those guys go, so they got back in their car and kept driving toward the other site of the racists' rally. We kept marching but stopped at one point so people could get their cars, since we realized the march still had quite a ways to go to get there.
I heard the next things that went down second hand, but I can tell you that while I rode my bike ahead, I heard all the cops in Fremont on their bikes and cars rushing ahead, so I knew something was happening, and it wasn't good. By the time I got there, they had--not surprisingly--some of the same guys that got pulled over earlier about to be arrested at that intersection. All I know is that one of the lead Minutemen, with NAZI TATTOOS, an open racist, had brought a lead pipe and had beat up some activists. You better believe he was confident since he beat people up last time and didn't get arrested then, so he went for it again this time--yeah, he wasn't the one arrested! So the racists instigated the violence, and they arrested 4 young men, some of them under 18. I saw them arrest the woman they were with, too. It was outrageous. They're charging HER with assaulting a cop because she got in the crossfire as they were hauling her friends off.
All the other folks then caught up, after all the people had been detained in the paddywagon. We rallied for a bit, yelling at the few remaining bigots across the street and the cops they were hanging out with, with our side getting lots of support from people driving by, happy to see a pro-immigrant presence in their town. Then we made plans to go to the jail we thought they would take them, about a mile or two away, on Stevenson St. It was there that we found out that the National Lawyers Guild Legal Observers who had stayed with the arrested folks that this is what the effing cops did: they took the activists out of the paddywagon, one at a time and PARADED them in front of the racists, asking them what these Latinos did TO THEM. the NLG folks tried to intervene, saying they had witnesses too, but of course the cops didn't want to hear our side of the story, because it would implicate the violent racists.
Once the NLG folks saw that the paddywagon was leaving, with our folks inside, they met up with us at the jail, but we heard from a (the lone) reporter that showed up that the cops told her they had taken the folks to Santa Rita jail, and they wouln't be likely to be relased until Monday. We have legal representation on it, and updates will be posted about their legal status, so we can stand with them at the araignment. We won't leave our brothers and sisters out to dry.
And come out next time, on August 11, to stand against the racists, both those in uniform and not.
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I was pretty disapointed with the protest tonight. While I have not taken steps to organize in advance, it is still with displeasure what I observed this afternoon. To begin, I would like to say that driving away the minutemen is not my idea of ultimate victory, more like preventing their ideals from gaining momentum in my community or others. I am against their movement,their agenda, but I am personally not against them as human beings. Except Don Grundmann as I will discuss later. I really don't know if alienating a group of people with shouting and signs in their face really achieves that goal, but nor am I suggesting that we try to work or debate with them calmly, because I doubt that will work either. I was annoyed by several things. Maybe I am iritable, who is to say.
For one, You can't chant "whos streets, our streets!" when the crowd is on the sidewalk, the corner, or on the sidewalk. There was no Direct Action, There was no mass will to be in the street, there was no one in the street period.
Second, the police harassing the young gentlemen were not brutalizing them. Who are we to even know what was going on? Am I taking the cops side, hell no, There are probably a million better things for them to do... but I think also same goes for an organized group of minds, its really as an important of a tool.
This brings me to the access road on fremont blvd marching twoards washingtons blockbuster... Why wasn't anybody in the street? Its a bike route, low traffic area,and access/side road whatever its called.... What power is there with the sidewalk? You have to let fremont know that you have purpose, and solidarity. Its a suburb, nothing would happen anyway!!! I tried to rally people into the streets but then it came into question what was going on at all. I really don't know the discussions that took place, but a march, in a street, in fremont, would have helped our cause and shown local traffic a sight indeed!!! I road ahead to washington to find out what was going on, and yes the minutemen were there, and they were attacked first... A group of individuals, the one who got arrested reportly from my friend who saw it first hand.... went to confront the minutemen with their signs and such, and a gentlemen swatted at their sign thus provoking the gentlemen into violence. A human reaction no doubt to signs in your face, and to getting swatted at... What real injustice was that there was a minutemen with a mini baseball bat, not a pipe, who started to hit one of the girls or gentlemen... I honestly don't know which individual. Why were the individuals were arrested and not the guy with the bat?
The immigration crowd was then beginning to mass on the opposite side of the street of the save our state dudes, and protesting went on... Amoung the people who regularly make it out to fremont is Don J. Grundmann, which if you google his name will take you to his personal website. Amoungst the readings on his website you will find that he essentially slanders homsexuals as nothing more then a scheme to molest children. I use slander because at the very first library protest agains their movement in fremont he called my sign slanderous and not worthy of debate. Well, I guess a public website is alot better then a public sign!! So look out for this homophobe.
Third, the police were profiling the crowd twoards the end with a video camera. The minutemen are loosley organized, the police are a whole lot more!!! Measures may be in order to counteract Fremont Police organizing against our protests?
Final thoughts:
I don't want to buy your socialist newspaper.
We need better more effective chants.
More locals from the tri city area.
I hope the individuals get out of jail asap.
Always go with direct action when possible!!!
See you in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!
email me if you want to discuss anything.
For one, You can't chant "whos streets, our streets!" when the crowd is on the sidewalk, the corner, or on the sidewalk. There was no Direct Action, There was no mass will to be in the street, there was no one in the street period.
Second, the police harassing the young gentlemen were not brutalizing them. Who are we to even know what was going on? Am I taking the cops side, hell no, There are probably a million better things for them to do... but I think also same goes for an organized group of minds, its really as an important of a tool.
This brings me to the access road on fremont blvd marching twoards washingtons blockbuster... Why wasn't anybody in the street? Its a bike route, low traffic area,and access/side road whatever its called.... What power is there with the sidewalk? You have to let fremont know that you have purpose, and solidarity. Its a suburb, nothing would happen anyway!!! I tried to rally people into the streets but then it came into question what was going on at all. I really don't know the discussions that took place, but a march, in a street, in fremont, would have helped our cause and shown local traffic a sight indeed!!! I road ahead to washington to find out what was going on, and yes the minutemen were there, and they were attacked first... A group of individuals, the one who got arrested reportly from my friend who saw it first hand.... went to confront the minutemen with their signs and such, and a gentlemen swatted at their sign thus provoking the gentlemen into violence. A human reaction no doubt to signs in your face, and to getting swatted at... What real injustice was that there was a minutemen with a mini baseball bat, not a pipe, who started to hit one of the girls or gentlemen... I honestly don't know which individual. Why were the individuals were arrested and not the guy with the bat?
The immigration crowd was then beginning to mass on the opposite side of the street of the save our state dudes, and protesting went on... Amoung the people who regularly make it out to fremont is Don J. Grundmann, which if you google his name will take you to his personal website. Amoungst the readings on his website you will find that he essentially slanders homsexuals as nothing more then a scheme to molest children. I use slander because at the very first library protest agains their movement in fremont he called my sign slanderous and not worthy of debate. Well, I guess a public website is alot better then a public sign!! So look out for this homophobe.
Third, the police were profiling the crowd twoards the end with a video camera. The minutemen are loosley organized, the police are a whole lot more!!! Measures may be in order to counteract Fremont Police organizing against our protests?
Final thoughts:
I don't want to buy your socialist newspaper.
We need better more effective chants.
More locals from the tri city area.
I hope the individuals get out of jail asap.
Always go with direct action when possible!!!
See you in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!
email me if you want to discuss anything.
Sorry about the brief disagreement when people were claiming "police brutality" while the cops had detained those 5 people on the side of the road. I thought that "police brutality" meant police violence, but now I understand that the term means much more than violence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_brutality
Police brutality is a term used to describe the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks, and threats by police officers. Widespread, systematic police brutality exists in many countries, even those which prosecute it. Brutality is one of several forms of police misconduct which include; false arrest, intimidation, racial profiling, political repression, surveillance abuse, sexual abuse, and police corruption.
Use of force and authority by police to some groups can be - or be perceived to be - disproportionate. Differences in race, religion, politics, and socioeconomic status between police and the citizenry can contribute to the creation of a relationship in which a significant number of police officers view the population (or a particular subset thereof) as generally deserving punishment while these portions of the population view the police as oppressors.
Police are employed by society to maintain order but by dealing largely with disorderly elements of the society, people working in police often gradually develop an attitude or sense of authority over society. The growing number of cases of police brutality is usually attributed not to increased awareness within police ranks, but merely to more widespread use of video cameras.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_brutality
Police brutality is a term used to describe the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks, and threats by police officers. Widespread, systematic police brutality exists in many countries, even those which prosecute it. Brutality is one of several forms of police misconduct which include; false arrest, intimidation, racial profiling, political repression, surveillance abuse, sexual abuse, and police corruption.
Use of force and authority by police to some groups can be - or be perceived to be - disproportionate. Differences in race, religion, politics, and socioeconomic status between police and the citizenry can contribute to the creation of a relationship in which a significant number of police officers view the population (or a particular subset thereof) as generally deserving punishment while these portions of the population view the police as oppressors.
Police are employed by society to maintain order but by dealing largely with disorderly elements of the society, people working in police often gradually develop an attitude or sense of authority over society. The growing number of cases of police brutality is usually attributed not to increased awareness within police ranks, but merely to more widespread use of video cameras.
Look.... I've heard the other side of that attack. So, don't go and try to make my dad (who is the man in blue) seem like the bad guy. When it's YOU guys! Right here in your article, you claim to use your numbers to scare off the other side. MY GOD! it's a protest not a god damn war! Everyone has the right to speak their opinion! You guys have completly lost the whole point of your protest. You have gotten so involved into calling others racists, or minutemen that you've forgotten the reason you are there protesting. You've all become a large group of slandering Protest-nazi's. Yes, you are all nazi's as well! You only want your side to be heard, so you do what you can (probably secretly to make it all seem you all are innocent) to get rid of the opposing side.
NAZI'S!!! o: and to think you all are sitting here trying to seem like the innocent crowd. tsk tsk. Seriously. I think you all need to have another group meeting and rething your tacktics. Stop the slandering. Calling others names isn't going to help you get anymore votes your way. So, yea. I've said what I needed to say.
you all need some help with your protesting. Because you all just.. slander way to much.
NAZI'S!!! o: and to think you all are sitting here trying to seem like the innocent crowd. tsk tsk. Seriously. I think you all need to have another group meeting and rething your tacktics. Stop the slandering. Calling others names isn't going to help you get anymore votes your way. So, yea. I've said what I needed to say.
you all need some help with your protesting. Because you all just.. slander way to much.
In a just society racism would not be taught,tolerated or sanctioned by the state..it would be illegal. Free speech does not include advocating and promoting violence or opppression of a people based on race. In a righteous society the police would be sent to protect the immigrant and the worker. In a just society the police would not guard the gates of corporations who profit in the trillions off the blood of young soldiers and lives innocent men,women and children. In a just society those waving the flags of the oppressor, those advocating the exclusivuty of their race and the massacre of another, would be arrested and those young people (August 12,2006 San Francisco Civic Center) the young people who's homeland is being destroyed and people being slaughtered would not be beaten again and again and again by the batons of the police.
If white, privileged America wants to continue in arrogance and ignorance to think they are somehow more valuable than the rest of us, then all I can say is there couldn't possibly be enough cops in the world to protect you "when the chickens come home to roost," Lisa Roellig
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