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CounterPunch
March 22,
2003
"I'd Like
to Report a Revolution"
The Battle In San Francisco
By ANN HARRISON
Over 1,400 demonstrators were arrested on the
streets of San Francisco yesterday, and protests condemning the
U.S. military action in Iraq continue to rage across the city
Friday. Thursday's protest was a turning point for San Francisco's
anti-war demonstrators, who expressed far greater anger and encountered
heavier police resistance than any past anti-war protests in
recent memory.
Amid wailing sirens and hovering helicopters,
activists marched through the financial district, massed in front
of City Hall, chained themselves together at intersections, shut
down the San Francisco Federal Building and stormed the Bay Bridge.
More than 100 people were arrested after surrounding the entrance
to the Bechtel Corporation, a prominent defense contractor. ''No
business as usual, walkouts and refusal chanted one crowd.''
Some of the most violent confrontations
between police and protesters took place at the entrances to
the I80 on ramps leading to the Bay Bridge, and outside the Federal
Building which was ringed by U.S. Marshals, and officers of the
Federal Protective Service under the Department of Homeland Security.
City officials put much of the blame for the clashes on protesters.
Assistant Police Chief Alex Fagan Sr. described the protests
as, ''absolute anarchy,'' and Mayor Willie Brown issued a statement
lashing out at protesters ''who have chosen to specifically try
to disrupt this city rather than gather peacefully.''
The violent incidents witnessed by this
reporter were carried out by officials who were outflanked by
both fast-moving groups of demonstrators, and clusters of activists
who held their ground at strategic locations. The most serious
incident took place at 2:50 in the afternoon yesterday when protesters
blocking the entrance to an underground parking garage at the
west side of Federal Building were rammed by an exiting federal
park ranger truck. The protesters, who had formed a human chain,
were briefly stopping vehicles before letting them pass. When
the driver of the truck encountered the group, he did not stop,
but instead gunned the engine striking Nadya Williams who was
sitting on the ground cross legged. Williams was pulled out from
under the truck's front left wheel by fellow protester John Mason.
''The bumper and the tire pushed me over,
the bumper was against my head,'' said Williams who was bruised
and shaken by the incident.
''She might have been run over if I
hadn't pulled her out,'' said Mason. ''He didn't see her and
he didn't stop for anybody.''
After striking Williams, the truck stopped
on Polk Street. As I ran behind the truck to get the license
number (07824), the driver saw me, threw the truck into reverse,
and hit the gas, backing up for the entire length of Polk Street.
I jumped out of the way.
Williams flagged down a San Francisco
police officer and reported the incident. ''It's not my jurisdiction,''
said Lt. Choy of the SFPD who nevertheless agreed to gather more
information for a complaint. When informed of the incident, an
officer at the U.S. Park Police refused to comment. ''We don't
have time for this,'' said the officer. ''We are busy.''
More Attacks At The
Federal Building
At 3:30, as the protesters in front of
the garage entrance were still recoiling from the truck assault,
a thin, determined man in a pinstrip suit attempted to push aside
14-year-old Anastasha Nunes who was guarding the low wall surrounding
the garage entrance. Nunes and the man wrestled with each other,
and the man retreated angrily up Polk Street leaving Nunes in
tears. ''She's been shoved by many cops all over town today,''
said her mother Aline Nunes who comforted her sobbing daughter.
At the east end of the Federal Building,
where another group blocked one of the main side entrances, protesters
were assaulted several times by officers. Jean Stewart of El
Sobrante sat in her wheelchair next to her friend 75-year-old
Robert Miller who sat in his chair beside her. As the wheelchairs
were being chained together at 10 am by protester Iryna Kwasng,
she said one of the U.S. Marshals guarding the entrance grabbed
the chain and punched her in the face. Miller then took hold
of the chain and engage in a tug of war with officers while seated
in his chair. He too was stuck in the head and suffered a minor
wound. ''I asked him for his name and his ID number but he
refused to give it to me,'' said Kwasng. ''We do have his face
on video.''
At 3:30, another scuffle occurred at
the east entrance when Federal prosecutor George Bevan, who recently
tried medical marijuana grower Ed Rosenthal in a high profile
case, arrived at the north entrance and found it had been shut
down by demonstrators. Bevan proceeded to the east entrance.
Together with a small group of attorneys, he climbed over Stewart,
Miller, and the other protesters. U.S. Marshals shoved at the
demonstrators. Bevan was knocked to the ground during the struggle
and had to be dragged to his feet through the human barricade.
By 4:30 over 1,500 protesters had marched
from City Hall to the north entrance of the Federal Building.
Pinned between federal police guarding the entrance, and a phalanx
of motorcycle police lining the other side of the Turk Street,
the demonstrators sat down in on Turk Street. The action included
seven anti-war demonstrators who emerged from the building after
being arrested in mid-morning as they tried to block
employees and visitors from entering. ''This is what democracy
looks like,'' chanted the crowd. ''Show me what democracy looks
like.''
Attorney Bob Waggener, stood in the crowd
of demonstrators, conspicuous in his suit. Waggener said he supported
the protesters, but had a client inside that he
was concerned about. ''I don't support this war and the demonstrators
send a message,'' he said. ''But I'm here to help my client,
he is in jail and that is not a good thing.''
Field medics Damien McAnany and Alex
Haddad watched the crowd carefully. The two men said they had
been all over the city that day, but were particularly concerned
about police actions at the federal building where they had treated
three protesters for minor injuries. ''The worse brutality we've
seen is here,'' said McAnany.
The federal building has been the site
of protests since 7 am Thursday morning when
a group of protesters offered a prize of five bus passes for
the person who could drink the most red, white and blue tinted
milk in 30 seconds, and then puke the fluid back up on command.
The plaza in front of the federal building was marked by drying
pools of vomit. Amid the stench, a group of lithe people serenely
pulled out mats early in the afternoon, and practiced yoga in
front of the assembled officers at the building entrance.
''Militarism makes me sick,'' explained
Dan Abbott, one of the vomit action organizers. ''Puking was
the most disgusting display of emotion I could think of. What
is the point of trying to appeal to people's sensitivities when
other people are dying? You have to smell the bile within me.''
Marching On The Freeway
Ramps
By 6 pm, protesters at the Federal Building
had converged back on Market Street. Several thousand demonstrators
than circled Union Square, San Francisco's main shopping district.
Marching past the elegant boutiques and the photos of chic hollow
cheeked models, the group again crossed Market Street and headed
towards the freeway.
With darkness falling, protesters could
see that the California Highway Patrol had blocked off the freeway
on ramps to the Bay Bridge which protesters had been attempting
to seize and shut down throughout most of the day. By 6:20 CHP
had engaged demonstrators in a tense standoff at Harrison and
Fremont Streets. Wearing full riot gear, the offers were backed
by a line of tightly packed motorcycle police. ''This is not
democracy!'' chanted protesters who sat and lay down in front
of the police line.
Two observers from the city Office of
Citizens Complaints narrated the scene into their hand held voice
recorders. ''CHP officers on motorcycles need to back off,''
they said. ''They are now arresting a man in a sleeveless t-shirt
with 'Fuck Bush' painted on the front.''
Minutes later another group of CHP officers
encircled the protesters from the other side of Fremont Street
closing off the group who were now surrounded and penned on the
sides by chain link fence. Realizing that they were being caught
in a pincer action by nervous highway patrol officers who were
not accustomed to engaging protesters, the crowd knew that the
confrontation was about to get very ugly. ''We will let the fascist
cops beat us and we will take it smiling,'' yelled one man. ''Peace!
Now!''
As officers on foot and on motorcycle
began advancing toward the crowd, protesters retreatred quickly
down the hill towards the second group of police on Howard Street
who waited by two buses intended for detainees. Fleeing protesters
cheered runners above on the overhead freeway who were sprinting
towards the bridge. But once under the freeway overpass, protesters
found themselves herded together in a panicked crush.
Officers then began beating protesters
with their nightsticks. One man who was hit dragged himself to
the side of the fence where he lay in shock surrounded by a group
of demonstrators calling for a medic. They were ignored by police,
who protesters said unleashed pepper spray on those who did not
flee fast enough. Dozens of people sat handcuffed on the ground.
Distracted by the mayhem, the line of officers at Howard Street
broke their wall of blue to make arrests, allowing hundreds of
demonstrators to slip past the police cordon.
Cheryl Savan crawled out of the crowd
after being beaten to the ground. ''They hit me once and they
kept hitting me until I went down,'' said Savan as she limped
painfully up Market Street at 6:40 p.m.. ''I started chanting,
'Peaceful Protest,' and they came directly at me hitting me in
the left knee and left arm and on the right side. I called the
medic number for the protest, but they said they had no medics
to dispatch.''
According to several demonstrators, police
were also assaulted yesterday. Protester Michael Hernandez said
he witnessed two police officers being attacked by a crowd of
200 protesters at 8th and Mission about 3 p.m. Thursday. Hernandez
said the crowd beat the officers with the mobile barricades set
up to contain the demonstrations. Police were not available to
comment on incident. Hernandez said he did not join in because
his group, the International Socialist Organization does not
support such action. ''We're for peace,'' said Hernandez.
Demonstrators also took out their frustration
on the press. Newspaper boxes on Market Street were smashed,
and both boxes and TV satellite trucks were spray painted with
the word, ''lies.'' Demonstrator Steve Freed showed a photo he
had just taken minutes earlier of a sleek blond Channel 2 news
reporter before, and after, a cream pie was heaved at her face.
''There was a big dispute and she was accused of not reporting
accurately of what was going on here,'' said Freed.
By 7 pm, protesters were back on Market
and Montgomery blocking a long black limo that was attempted
to turn right on to Market Street. Businessman John Holmes was
on the corner arguing with protesters that the occupants of the
limo should be allowed to pass. ''This sucks. I'm totally into
free speech but you shouldn't block him,'' he's just trying to
get to work,'' said Holmes. ''It's about oil dude,'' yelled back
one protester. ''So you can wear your three piece suits and drive
your SUV.''
In front of the San Francisco Shopping
Center at Powell and Market, two young men held signs, one of
which said, ''God Bless Our Troops.'' They were surrounded by
a group of anti-war protesters. ''We support our government leaders,
they are protecting us,'' said Eric Young, of the two pro-war
protesters. Young said that he and his friend were on a spring
break road trip from Minneapolis, and planned to go to West Point
next year.
''We are stopping Hussein from hurting
his own people,'' said his friend who added that he was a devout
Christian.
''Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you, don't kill,'' shot back an anti-war protester named
River. ''What part of the bible to your edit, and what part to
you leave in?''
''I think he's very brave to come out
here,'' said Meil Bacon of the pro-war protesters. She who held
a sign that said ''Respect our troops, don't make them murderers.''
As the night wore on, groups of protesters
continued to assemble on Market Street were they blocked intersections
and were dispersed by police. ''The whole point of today was
to shut the city down,'' said a demonstrator named Davor, standing
on the street with his megaphone. ''I might not have the opportunity
to do this next week, we don't know how intense the oppression
will get.''
At about 7 pm, a group of thirty police
officers approached a dozen protesters standing on Market Street
near Market and Montgomery. The protesters included a a man with
a young child on his shoulders. A police commander approached
and asked the man to leave before he gave the order to arrest.
Other protesters begged the man not to get his child involved.
''Somebody could accidentally hit your child,'' they pleaded.
The man did not move. ''It's not an accident when bombs are dropping
on Iraqi children,'' he replied.
Both sides held their ground until it
was clear that the police were not going to advance. The man
with the child then turned away. ''I'd like to report a revolution,''
said one observer as he watched a journalist reach for their
cell phone.
Ann Harrison
is a freelance journalist, in the Bay Area. She can be reached
at: ah@well.com
Yesterday's
Features
Ben Tripp
Blood
for Oil: the Exchange Rate
Cathy Breens
Report from Baghdad: Mothers, Kids and Crash Kits
Scott Handleman
Fourth
Generation Protesting: Shutting Down San Francisco
Vanessa Jones
Paint
Them Red
Brian J. Foley
Patriotic
Protest for Professors
Zoltan Grossman
After Saddam, a War on Iraqi Rebels?
Philip S. Golub
Inventing Demons
Richard Lichtman
On the Current Experience of Terror
Milan Rai
Blitz-Coup
Pepe Escobar
A Cheap Family Farce
Floyd Rudmin
The Nightmare at the Back Door: Nuclear Plant's as Terror Targets
Chris Floyd
See Rome (poem)
Website of the War
Iraq
Body Count
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