Unlawful Arrests on Market St.

Heya Mr. Hell!

Just a quick note to say thanks to you, AliKatt, and Derrick for helping lead the marches and protests yesterday morning, 3/21. I thought it was brave of you all to single yourselves out in such a way, probably knowing that the cops would fuck with you especially for it. It's all the decapitation bullshit, just like how they cordoned off and blockaded (and arrested in many cases) the front of the march where a soundsystem often was.

Thanks also for keeping the vibe very peaceful and cooperative. That's what we're out here for: peace!

Yehat

I was there protesting on Friday March 21, 2003 in the early evening at Powell Street. About 500 people all gathered at Powell and then marched up Market Street. I had my sign, and I was locking elbows with a friend of mine. We vowed that we would do everything NOT to get arrested. We'd protested the day before and seen how the cops were hyped up and blood thirsty. Every protestor was out there for peace, and to support each other in saying "no" to this war peacefully. All age groups there. Some with signs, some with video cameras or regular cameras. We marched up Market from Powell and all the while staying on the wide sidewalk and only crossing at green lights. The police actually ended up blocking traffic more than us. They had a pre-recorded message that repeated itself saying that "all who walked in the street were liable to arrest" We all followed the directions. The police marched in the gutter along side us, as well as on the sidewalk across the street, trying to keep up pace with us. We were motivated and strong, and already chanting things like "not our president, not our war." Around Hyde and Market, the cops all disappeared, who knows how, but I got a little scared at this because once they disappear, and then reappear, they're always a bit stronger and scarier and hold that element of surprise. It's so much better when they're just marching with us and letting us damn be. Once the cops disappeared, some people went walking in the street. We'd made a right turn like we were going to the Main Library and then a left around where the Bill Graham theater is. My friend and I stayed on the sidewalk, as did many others. We had to go slower than the rest of them because my friend recently had hip surgery and couldn't walk quite as fast. I stopped to pet a Tibetan terrier puppy, after we had already passed the Civic Center and Vanness and gotten to the back of the War Memorial. The crowd had made a right turn and slowed down up ahead. As I looked up from petting the dog, I turned around and saw charging from behind me swarms of the police in riot gear with batons up in the air. The protestors up ahead of me started screaming and I ran up to see what was happening, and told the guy with his home video recorder to hold it up high above people's heads so as to get it all on tape. The crowd of protestors didn't seem to have eyes in the backs of their heads, and when they noticed the cops charging them from behind i'm sure they got quite scared and ran and fell. Everyone was on the sidewalk but the police were getting violent. One woman was being beaten. The crowd of protestors shouted in unison, "the world is watching, the world is watching" But KTVU and KRON didn't show up until far later and only interviewed the policemen, and set up their own shots, and pretty much re-wrote "history" in the making to their own liking. So the world wasn't watching, unfortunately. My friend and I escaped by a thread. Half of the group had gone up towards the Castro and escaped as well, but we lost them. My friend went home, and i went back to the war memorial to bare witness. Not once did the KRON or KTVU ask for a statement from me, and so when they went "live" and spouted bullshit lies, and set up the "shot" that they wanted, I yelled in the background "why don't you tell the WHOLE story?" (I seem like a little angel, but I'm turning into a little radical anarchist!) The CA highway patrol was there, 23 of them blocking off one side of the block so that no one could get in. (A little overkill on the number of cops out there, really if you ask me!) It took until 10:30pm for them to arrest everyone there, and I stayed and yelled my support to them when they were carted off in buses. I felt guilty for NOT getting arrested. But I showed them my support. Picture Nazi Germany carting off Jews and you get the picture. Welcome to America in its police state. These people were never warned of their arrest. They were just encircled like cattle and taken away. We're all supposed to be made afraid of going out and protesting. The only thing to fear is the cops in riot gear. Everyone protesting that i saw was completely peaceful. It's ironic because the police were getting paid overtime. They should have been nicer to us. We were tired too, but we're out there for moral reasons. A word to the wise: don't let them divide you when you protest. Stick together. Defend each other. Spread the peace and the love. That's what it's all about. That and justice and fighting for our civil liberties. And call the mainstream media on all of their lies. Shock and awe the corporate media! Let the SF Chronicle know that they need to take pictures of not only the freak who's burning the flag but cover the whole picture. Show the truth, show the masses of people against this war and let it be known!!!!! Fair coverage!!! They put us in more danger to lie about what is happening in our city. Terrorists already hate our country, and think that we want this war. But let the poople speak and let us be heard. Crush us anymore and it'll just make us have stronger resolve. Power to the PEOPLE!