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Indybay Feature

Thousands for Peace March; Hundreds of Police

by #
There were a few thousand peace marchers on a sunny day in San Francisco, March 18, 2007; there should have been millions. There were also hundreds of police, traveling on SamTrans buses (not a San Franicsco transportation system) and walking with bags of tear gas canisters.
There were a few thousand peace marchers on a sunny day in San Francisco, March 18, 2007; there should have been millions. There were also hundreds of police, traveling on SamTrans buses (not a San Franicsco transportation system) and walking with bags of tear gas canisters.

The lead group arrived at the Civic Center about a half hour before the lead banner as the peace march was painfully slow, starting after 1 p.m. In case anyone is unaware, there are practically no people in the Financial District from the Embarcadero to Third Street. From Third Street to Fifth Street, there are some shoppers, but not many. From Fifth Street to the Civic Center, it is a very poor, almost deserted area. So, our chants are not reaching many people. The route is taken because Market Street is a main drag and the Civic Center is a convenient place for a large group of people to meet, but going slowly to chant to the walls is not accomplishing anything. We can walk at a reasonable pace and accomplish the same goal.

At the Civic Center, we were treated to lead speakers from the Democratic Party's election fraud team: Glide Church and Amos Brown of the Third Baptist Church. If you are unawrae of the heinous crimes committed against the black community in particular and San Francisco in general by the Democrats' election fraud team in for the 49er Stadium Swindle of June 3, 1997, Willie Brown's election fraud election of 1999 and Gavin Newsom's election fraud election of 2003, see http://www.brasscheck.com/stadium and http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown It is a vicious slap in the face to the people of San Francisco to have anyone representing Glide Church or to have Amos Brown speaking on our peace stage. Amos Brown, as supervisor, was Willie Brown's most loyal puppet, and just as viciously reactionary, pro real estate lobby, anti-rent control, anti-gay and all the rest of the Democratic Party's reactionary agenda, the same as the Republican Party's.

The San Francisco police rode down Market Street at noon in a SamTrans bus, 50 cops per bus, each receiving $80,000 a year and up plus benefits, and on Sunday, overtime pay. this is the war at home. They then parked 2 SamTrans buses on Golden Gate, had about 25 police standing around in full riot gear on Larkin at Golden Gate, and had a line of about 10 police in riot gear on McAllister and Larkin, where there were no cars permitted, telling the peace marchers to walk into the Civic Center rather than walk on McAllister, which was already closed to cars. If you were already at the Civic Center, you could easily walk on McAllister. You could also do so if you first walked on the sidewalk as the chartered buses were parked there. The question must be asked, why were the police blocking McAllister and Larkin? There were also lots of police at the Civic Center auditorium on the south side of the Civic Center. This is the Democratic Party's police wasting our tax dollars while the Democratic Party election frauding "mayor" Gavin Newsom claims he has no money to house the 15,000 homeless in San Francisco. There are also 27,000 people in San Francisco who are eligible for food stamps.
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by Stan Woods
There were far more than a few thousand marching Yesterday in S.F. i was part of the Labor Contingent towards the front of the march . The march kicked off at 1 . we didn't arrive at the Civic Center until 2-30 due to the density of the crowd . I would guess there was at least 30, 000 present , perhaps far more . It was certainly significantly larger than the Jan. 27 action for which the most conservative estimates were around 8, 000.
I do agree with breaking with the time honored ''tradition '' of marching down a near empty Market street.
I think we should explore other routes , even other cities for our Northern Cal mobilizations . Once i proposed in 2003 at a coalition meeting that we consider a '' Bay to Breakers '' march . Yes, most would not want to march the full seven miles but with desiginated feeder marches it could work very well. It also would do away with the myth that certain neighborhoods are ''progressive '' (Mission, Market and Castro, The Haight ) and others are ipso facto ''reactionary ''(Richmond, the Avenues , North Beach , etc. Potentially thousands would see us and maybe join us .
We also should consider having the major Northern Californian demo in other cities. How about San Jose ? After all it's considerably larger than S.F. (San Jose 898,000 S.F. 751, 000) has a very large working class population mainly Latino , and i believe a far larger Military recruitment rate . In other words exactly the people we want to reach .Also while smaller there's Oakland , where i reside .
I think we need a Antiwar Congress . A regional conference open to any and all activists , any and all organizations , with decision making made by on a one person one vote basis .
No disrespect intended to A.N.S.W.E.R., World can't wait, Not in our name (If it still exists . Has it been folded into The World can't wait ? ) United for Peace and Justice or any other organzation . But we need a far broader umbrella united front to deal not only with March routes but our political direction .

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