Civil Disobedience March Following Market Street Die-Ins in SF, 3/19/07: video

QuickTime video, 31 seconds, 2.5mb

As the Montgomery Die-In arrests were winding down and police likely had in mind re-opening Market Street and going home, the Brass Liberation Orchestra arrived from the Die-In at Spear & Market and pumped up protesters on the sidewalk. Shortly thereafter, the Heads Up Collective and the Brass Liberation Orchestra together led an energetic group of dozens of people down the Market Street sidewalk towards the Powell Street Die-In, which was apparently already over by the time the march approached that intersection.

Quite cleverly, the Head Up Collective and participants in suits from the Chevron Direct Action earlier in the day (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/03/12/18376172.php) were able to trick the police line that had moved parallel to the entire march trying to keep it on the sidewalk. In a second or two of quick body language negotiations, they conned the police into allowing them to "cross" Market Street at a pedestrian crossing just before Powell. As the march approached the other side of the street, the entire group stopped, and once again Market Street was blocked for more arrests.

This video covers the tail-end of the march, just before it moved onto the street. The still photo at the end of the video was taken a moment before the march stopped in the middle of Market. You can see the police in front of the march unaware that the group was about to stop right there behind them.

The 1-2-3-4 chant heard in the video continued quite boisterously for another four or five minutes while police surrounded those choosing to remain in the street and be arrested. The Brass Liberation Orchestra played more songs while the 50 or so marchers on the sidewalks continued with other chants and a large crowd of passers-by gathered to witness the spectacle.