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More rubbet bullets and gas at Tacoma port protests
Last week a protest at the port of Tacoma , where a Stryker brigade from Fort Lewis, WA is being loaded onto a ship for deployment to Iraq, turned violent when police arrested an Iraqi veteran, two community members and a videographer, a series of additional daily protests have been planned at the port. Most activity involving loading supplies on the ship has occurred at night, and antiwar protesters have come from the whole region, including Portland, to reinforce this statement against the surge in Iraq.
On Friday evening, more rubber bullets and gas were deployed against protesters. Here are several appended reports from participants, and links to video on Youtube.
-------------------------------------
As Resistance to Stryker Shipment Grows, Police Turn Violent on Peaceful Protesters
Following an afternoon rally at the Federal Courthouse in Tacoma on Friday, members of Port Militarization Resistance staged a peaceful demonstration at the Port of Tacoma, where they were met by Tacoma Police. Later, police turned violent and launched tear gas and rubber bullets at activists as they sat chanting peace slogans.
Tacoma, WA, March 10, 2007 ― Activists opposed to a military shipment bound for Iraq continued their week long campaign with a rally in downtown Tacoma and a demonstration at the Port of Tacoma. They are protesting the deployment of a Ft. Lewis-based Stryker brigade deploying to Iraq as part of the US escalation of the conflict.
At an afternoon rally at the Federal Courthouse, anti-war activists from throughout Western Washington and Oregon held signs and listened to speakers denounce the US mission in Iraq and call for active resistance to the escalation.
Among those at the Port of Tacoma Friday night was TJ Johnson, an Olympia City councilman who is a part of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance. Johnson, the winner of the 2006 Dr. Paul Beeson award from Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and a well-known anti-nuclear activist, told the crowd “We have a moral obligation and a growing sense of urgency to make it clear that we want to keep soldiers safe at home, and spend our tax dollars to meet humanitarian needs, here and in the Middle East.”
Also speaking at the rally was Lynn Stewart, a nationally renowned New York civil rights attorney.
After the rally hundreds of activists from Bellingham, Port Townsend, South Sound and Portland converged on the Port of Tacoma to continue to demonstrate their opposition to the military shipments. The large crowd vowed to continue the protest, and has issued a broad appeal to opponents of the war to come to Tacoma to join in this public demonstration of dissent from the Bush administration's Iraq policy.
Later in the evening one of the activists was arrested for trying to enter the protest zone with a backpack full of food and medical supplies. Police said Tom McCarthy of Tacoma had violated a police ban on backpacks in the area, and they confiscated his backpack. A large crowd gathered, challenging the arrest just before 11:37 pm. Police continue to refuse backpacks inside the designated “protest zone” even after repeated admonitions from at least two attorneys citing Ninth Circuit legal precedent determining that such bans violate Fourth Amendment privacy rights.
According to Mark Jensenof Pierce United for Peace and Justice, “Around midnight, the crowd was still growing. As police donned gas masks and distributed ammunition for crowd control, an additional unit of about 70 riot police made up of personnel from various nearby police departments arrived by bus. Massing near a fence on 11th Ave around 1:00 am, a few young people tested its strength, causing it to swing wildly. Police fired what one person believed to be pepper spray, briefly scattering the crowd while police moved quickly to reinforce the fence.”
Demonstrators then began walking away from the fence and south on Thorne Ave. Mike Pinson of Tacoma reports that “We went on a long march back around to another access point. There were at least 250 people chanting the entire time while a police car in reverse and one moving forward paced the head of the pack as we advanced.”
When demonstrators reached the other access point following a one mile walk, they were met with a large police presence. The police were in full riot gear, including gas masks.
Some of the demonstrators crossed a yellow tape-line police set up, sat down and began chanting and singing songs. According to Phan Nguyen, a member of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, “At this point riot police responded by launching multiple volleys of tear gas and rapid firing rubber bullets into the crowd.”
Independent media videographers were present, and films of the event have already been posted on http://www.youtube.com. Local television stations that have been covering the Port of Tacoma demonstrations were not present Friday night.
Despite the police violence on Friday, demonstrators have no plans to discontinue their campaign. “The fact that they had to choose a different, less accessible port and then sneak the equipment in under cover of darkness shows just how little public support there is for the ongoing quagmire in Iraq” said Wes Hamilton, a Vietnam veteran and member of the Olympia chapter of Veterans for Peace. He added, “The best way to support the troops is to prevent them from being placed into the midst of a civil war where they have a high risk of killing or being killed. We have a moral and humanitarian obligation to resist the use of our port.”
The port resistance campaign has been endorsed by the Veterans for Peace #109 (Rachel Corrie Chapter), Olympia Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Green Party of South Puget Sound, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, Students for a Democratic Society, Olympia Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee, United for Peace Pierce County, Students for a Democratic Society, the Alliance for Democracy, the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, and the Movement Against War and Occupation in Vancouver BC.
One YouTube link where video of Port of Tacoma actions are being posted is here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=Acumensch
Two specific clips so far are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIIuJK_Uh8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfhUaUuG1sM
-------------------------------------
As Resistance to Stryker Shipment Grows, Police Turn Violent on Peaceful Protesters
Following an afternoon rally at the Federal Courthouse in Tacoma on Friday, members of Port Militarization Resistance staged a peaceful demonstration at the Port of Tacoma, where they were met by Tacoma Police. Later, police turned violent and launched tear gas and rubber bullets at activists as they sat chanting peace slogans.
Tacoma, WA, March 10, 2007 ― Activists opposed to a military shipment bound for Iraq continued their week long campaign with a rally in downtown Tacoma and a demonstration at the Port of Tacoma. They are protesting the deployment of a Ft. Lewis-based Stryker brigade deploying to Iraq as part of the US escalation of the conflict.
At an afternoon rally at the Federal Courthouse, anti-war activists from throughout Western Washington and Oregon held signs and listened to speakers denounce the US mission in Iraq and call for active resistance to the escalation.
Among those at the Port of Tacoma Friday night was TJ Johnson, an Olympia City councilman who is a part of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance. Johnson, the winner of the 2006 Dr. Paul Beeson award from Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and a well-known anti-nuclear activist, told the crowd “We have a moral obligation and a growing sense of urgency to make it clear that we want to keep soldiers safe at home, and spend our tax dollars to meet humanitarian needs, here and in the Middle East.”
Also speaking at the rally was Lynn Stewart, a nationally renowned New York civil rights attorney.
After the rally hundreds of activists from Bellingham, Port Townsend, South Sound and Portland converged on the Port of Tacoma to continue to demonstrate their opposition to the military shipments. The large crowd vowed to continue the protest, and has issued a broad appeal to opponents of the war to come to Tacoma to join in this public demonstration of dissent from the Bush administration's Iraq policy.
Later in the evening one of the activists was arrested for trying to enter the protest zone with a backpack full of food and medical supplies. Police said Tom McCarthy of Tacoma had violated a police ban on backpacks in the area, and they confiscated his backpack. A large crowd gathered, challenging the arrest just before 11:37 pm. Police continue to refuse backpacks inside the designated “protest zone” even after repeated admonitions from at least two attorneys citing Ninth Circuit legal precedent determining that such bans violate Fourth Amendment privacy rights.
According to Mark Jensenof Pierce United for Peace and Justice, “Around midnight, the crowd was still growing. As police donned gas masks and distributed ammunition for crowd control, an additional unit of about 70 riot police made up of personnel from various nearby police departments arrived by bus. Massing near a fence on 11th Ave around 1:00 am, a few young people tested its strength, causing it to swing wildly. Police fired what one person believed to be pepper spray, briefly scattering the crowd while police moved quickly to reinforce the fence.”
Demonstrators then began walking away from the fence and south on Thorne Ave. Mike Pinson of Tacoma reports that “We went on a long march back around to another access point. There were at least 250 people chanting the entire time while a police car in reverse and one moving forward paced the head of the pack as we advanced.”
When demonstrators reached the other access point following a one mile walk, they were met with a large police presence. The police were in full riot gear, including gas masks.
Some of the demonstrators crossed a yellow tape-line police set up, sat down and began chanting and singing songs. According to Phan Nguyen, a member of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, “At this point riot police responded by launching multiple volleys of tear gas and rapid firing rubber bullets into the crowd.”
Independent media videographers were present, and films of the event have already been posted on http://www.youtube.com. Local television stations that have been covering the Port of Tacoma demonstrations were not present Friday night.
Despite the police violence on Friday, demonstrators have no plans to discontinue their campaign. “The fact that they had to choose a different, less accessible port and then sneak the equipment in under cover of darkness shows just how little public support there is for the ongoing quagmire in Iraq” said Wes Hamilton, a Vietnam veteran and member of the Olympia chapter of Veterans for Peace. He added, “The best way to support the troops is to prevent them from being placed into the midst of a civil war where they have a high risk of killing or being killed. We have a moral and humanitarian obligation to resist the use of our port.”
The port resistance campaign has been endorsed by the Veterans for Peace #109 (Rachel Corrie Chapter), Olympia Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Green Party of South Puget Sound, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, Students for a Democratic Society, Olympia Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee, United for Peace Pierce County, Students for a Democratic Society, the Alliance for Democracy, the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, and the Movement Against War and Occupation in Vancouver BC.
One YouTube link where video of Port of Tacoma actions are being posted is here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=Acumensch
Two specific clips so far are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIIuJK_Uh8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfhUaUuG1sM
For more information:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/03/25...
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
Mar 11, 2007 12:09
Be there on Monday night.
Hello everybody,
As you may or may not know, the boat is in and the Strykers are being loaded onto it. We had one intense night in Friday but after Friday things fell apart. There was no plan, no definite meeting spot and no communicaton between different affinity groups. But on Friday the one thing we did was pick one solid location.
Being that we cannot get close to where the Strykers are, there is no point in doing anything symbolic that the longshoreman who are driving the military vehicles would see.
We will meet at the corner of Lincoln and Milawakee, the intersection where everyone got gassed. Let's show these rutheless, bloodthirsty pigs that we are not afraid of going back to where the confrontation happened and that we will not stop. The boat will be gone soon and if we do nothing, especially after what they did to us, we will all regret it later. Bring all of your friends, tell them to bring all of their friends, and be there at the corner of Lincoln and Milawakee at 9pm. From there, after or before, we will figure out what to do on Tuesday, but let's just worry about being there tomorrow.
Please spread this widely.
Meetup: Corner of Lincoln and Milawakee @ 9pm.
Take 136B exit off of I-5
Follow Port of Tacoma Road towards Port.
Take a left on Lincoln.
Follow Lincoln until you hit Milawakee.
At intersection, take a left.
Parking will be to your right immediately after taking that left.
Once there, wait for enough people.
And then the magic will start...
Love you all,
Ray Kavick
Early at 3:00 am 3/10/07 the police used chemical weapons and violence to break up a non violent peaceful protest street sit in.
A protest organized by the olympia/tacoma port militarization resistance and the tacoma sds ended in violence at 3:30 early this morning. Protesters moved from one heavily reinforced police barricade (about 250 riot police) to another in the hopes of participating in a non violent act of civil disobedience by sitting in a street and allowing themselves to be arrested. The police responded by firing into the group with pepper spray pellets, bean bags and rubber bullets followed by CS (tear) gas and pepper spray dispersal gas. A few protesters returned the canisters back to the police line to keep them out of the unsuspecting crowd who was not participating in the action. The police then advanced through the cloud of gas and opened fire on the fleeing protesters, chasing them three blocks and launching at least 20 canisters of gas.
the action ended in a standoff when the police allowed protesters separated from their friends and their rides to pass the police line five at a time with their hands up. eventually the cops only allowed those with car keys to pass and the drivers picked up their friends from the end of the street.
I can't say for sure how many were wounded, but no one required an ambulance and there were no arrests. At least two people were beaten with wooden clubs and five were fired upon at point blank range, mostly towards the chest and face.
Instead of using the courts and legal system, the only legal way to handle these actions, the police responded with an organized act of violence and repression. The protest against the stryker convoy and troop build up "surge" has been promised to continue until the military ships leave the port of tacoma. Organizers have called for a mass convergence at the tacoma federal building in downtown at 4:00 today (3/10/07).
In the event the police repeat the actions of this morning, it is highly advised that each person attending bring the following things:
A rag soaked in vinegar to neutralize the CS gas
A water bottle filled half and half with an antacid (like malox) and water as well as a bottle of fresh water. In the event you are exposed to pepper spray, wash your eyes first with the antacid solution, then with A LOT of water.
A heavy coat or card board sign to deflect bean bags and bullets
Some type of groin and head protection
please keep in mind, civil disobedience IS, by definition, non violent. Fences, streets and barricades are not people, you cannot harm them. Occupying them for the purpose of protest is NOT a violent act. Please do so RESPONSIBLY, with regard to your neighbor and fellow protester. If you do not want to be arrested or exposed to chemical weapons, then use common sense and DON'T STAND FACE A LINE A RIOT POLICE AND EXPECT THEM NOT TO USE THEIR WEAPONS AGAINST YOU. These police are part of the domestic war on terror and even if we see them as human beings with choices and heart beats, they see us as an enemy to be taken out. Do not assume that remaining non violent will protect you from them.
please visit
http://www.tacomasds.org
http://www.olyblog.net
http://www.portland.indymedia.org
http://www.seattle.indymedia.org
for more information.
A protest organized by the olympia/tacoma port militarization resistance and the tacoma sds ended in violence at 3:30 early this morning. Protesters moved from one heavily reinforced police barricade (about 250 riot police) to another in the hopes of participating in a non violent act of civil disobedience by sitting in a street and allowing themselves to be arrested. The police responded by firing into the group with pepper spray pellets, bean bags and rubber bullets followed by CS (tear) gas and pepper spray dispersal gas. A few protesters returned the canisters back to the police line to keep them out of the unsuspecting crowd who was not participating in the action. The police then advanced through the cloud of gas and opened fire on the fleeing protesters, chasing them three blocks and launching at least 20 canisters of gas.
the action ended in a standoff when the police allowed protesters separated from their friends and their rides to pass the police line five at a time with their hands up. eventually the cops only allowed those with car keys to pass and the drivers picked up their friends from the end of the street.
I can't say for sure how many were wounded, but no one required an ambulance and there were no arrests. At least two people were beaten with wooden clubs and five were fired upon at point blank range, mostly towards the chest and face.
Instead of using the courts and legal system, the only legal way to handle these actions, the police responded with an organized act of violence and repression. The protest against the stryker convoy and troop build up "surge" has been promised to continue until the military ships leave the port of tacoma. Organizers have called for a mass convergence at the tacoma federal building in downtown at 4:00 today (3/10/07).
In the event the police repeat the actions of this morning, it is highly advised that each person attending bring the following things:
A rag soaked in vinegar to neutralize the CS gas
A water bottle filled half and half with an antacid (like malox) and water as well as a bottle of fresh water. In the event you are exposed to pepper spray, wash your eyes first with the antacid solution, then with A LOT of water.
A heavy coat or card board sign to deflect bean bags and bullets
Some type of groin and head protection
please keep in mind, civil disobedience IS, by definition, non violent. Fences, streets and barricades are not people, you cannot harm them. Occupying them for the purpose of protest is NOT a violent act. Please do so RESPONSIBLY, with regard to your neighbor and fellow protester. If you do not want to be arrested or exposed to chemical weapons, then use common sense and DON'T STAND FACE A LINE A RIOT POLICE AND EXPECT THEM NOT TO USE THEIR WEAPONS AGAINST YOU. These police are part of the domestic war on terror and even if we see them as human beings with choices and heart beats, they see us as an enemy to be taken out. Do not assume that remaining non violent will protect you from them.
please visit
http://www.tacomasds.org
http://www.olyblog.net
http://www.portland.indymedia.org
http://www.seattle.indymedia.org
for more information.
on ''sam trans'' bus near south san francisco , a bus full of passengers was held hostage for one hour because CHP police aressteda black man who allegedly scared 2 passengers. passengers were questioned and carded even after policeman said it was okay , nothing to worry about , because no one saw anything and said so . but passengers were STILL questioned, even though many were terrified and upset about the whole situation. a RIFLE was pointed at the black man handcuffed face down on side of freeway. the man was not resisting and was half asleep slumped in his seat when police commandered the bus. police state in action , be careful what you do.irrationality is on the street with rifles being used to instigate fear.
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