The anti-capitalista march gathered Monday evening around 1800 at civic center park, and by 1830 they were organized and marched out of civic center Park onto Banock street. There they advanced a half block before encountering a line of riot police. The strom troopers were well armed, with CO spray tanks (it looks like a red fire extinguisher), four foot clubs, bean bag guns (which looked like gernade launchers), tear gas, pepper ballguns (remember that girl that was murdered by the police at the 2004 Red Sox victory? That same type of gun), and full riot gear.
With the bloc advancing, the first two rows linked arms and shouted "whos streets!" "Our streets!" an "No justice! No Peace!". There was good moral and momentum, which broke when the bloc got within five feet of the police. The storm troopers then sprayed clouds of CO spray into the anti-capitialists who had no weapons or armor of any sort. The police also attacked reporters on the scene, targeting their cameras and bulbs.
The protestors recoiled, causing an accordian effect where the bloc was
pushed foward into the attacking police, before breaking into a falling
back towards the middle of the park. there were a few who were running, but a few well minded affinity groups rallied the bloc with shouts of "walk! Don't run!" and "Slow down! Face them!". The bloc regrouped quickly, but not very organized. Tere was a discussion of forming a wedge, which gave way quickly to the typical arm linked formation in rows.
At this point, the bloc pushed what few police who advanced into the park out. There were a few moments of intense stand off before word circulated that there would be a break-out attempt towards the back of the park, which was fifty yards away. The break out was a success in the sense that the bloc got onto the streets at 16th Market Mall, where it soon advanced towards Court Pl., where the previous day's march had started to gain momentum. The bloc marched into a corodoned area, where two dozen riot police were in place at the intersection of 16th and Court, with more riot police rolling in behind them.
The march advanced in face of this confrontation, aware or not of the
police organizing behind them. When the bloc marched down 16th street, an armored SUV with ten facist storm troopers were riding on the back and sides. At this point the bloc was seperating in the face of this advancing behemoth, but held a thin middle line. The riot police then dismounted, and police on either side of the bloc started to fan into the blocs flanks, which were on the sidewalk. They were pushed backa small distance, exposing the middle on its flanks now. This is when the police started to attack, nibbling at the sides of the bloc, attacking people with clubs and pepper spray.
On the right side facing down 16th, the bloc were pushed against the side of a building, which was a hotel. Some people attempted to leave, people apart of the bloc and those not apart of it, but the police prevented their exit with force. It was at this point that the police demanded all the media leave and started to usher or force out many of the photo and video media out of the police circle and away from the victims of police violence. These are some of the same journalists that the police attacked earlier, smashing cameras and recording devices with their long clubs. A few brave media people resisted and remained within the bloc as the police readied to close in.
With most of the media gone, the police attacked. They began to club
protestors, and spraying OC into certian parts of the crowd. Carbines that shot balls of pepper spray straffed the center of the crowd as the police charged into the thinning center.
At this point there was a great drop in moral as some members of the bloc tried to leave, but were brutilized by the police and pushed back into the surrounded pocket. With the protest split, the left side sat down and attempted to stay merry with the sword of arrest over our heads. There were some old wobblie classics carried on by two men from the West, but the most popular was "Folsom Prison Blues", where almost everyone joined in at some point of the song.
In the face of this uniting song, the police shifted uneasily. Some
pointed their bean bag guns at singing individuals, other slapped their
sticksinto their armored hands or on the ground. None of this dettered the tense, and quasi-positive mood of the seated bloc, where only four indy media folks were left in the crowd. Then came a rattling cry of "let them go!" from a group of a few hundred supporters outside the police corodon in a show of solidarity for those trapped by the police.
The pigs then announced that they would "let anyone go" who gave them their ID. They stayed true to their word forthe first three who came
forward, they were free to go. Then came the mass (but painstakingly slow) arrest.
It was 2030 when the police had complete control of the situation. They
began to split the crowd more (I call it a crowd at this point because
there were civilians not involved with the protest, who the police were
arresting), and pick off individuals. The mood was very tense as the pigs
came in to arrest someone. There was no resistence to the arrests, only
the solidarity of knowing your comrade would be in the cell with you. As
each person was pulled up, there would be pats of support, the occasional clapping, and some "See ya soon!"'s. Everyone knew they were going to be arrested,and acted in solidarity with one another.
<>
See you in the streets!
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