Anti-War Protestors March Through San Francisco
I've just returned from San Francisco's anti-war protest - one of several similar actions taking place around the world today. Thousands of people marched across the city from Delores Park to Jefferson Square Park where they assembled to hear speakers and enjoy a sunny afternoon.
The crowd, which included people of all ages, was mostly peaceful and the police were restrained and respectful. This has not always been the case in San Francisco where police attacked and arrested hundreds of protesters at a rally protesting the start of the war two years ago. I covered that protest for CounterPunch magazine and witnessed more police brutality than I ever saw while living in New York City.
I don't believe in invoking special press privileges during demonstrations, so I was running from the police that night along with everyone else. Back then, the police strategy was to surround groups of protestors marching peacefully on the sidewalk and herd them into buses for detention on a rented pier. Most of the charges were later dropped and the arrests cost the city hundreds of thousands in police overtime and legal actions.
That scenario could unfold again tonight as the rally breaks up and protesters make their way back through city streets. The only participants spoiling for a confrontation with the police were the black block anarchists who marched in black clothes under their customary red and black flags.
The anarchists reserved special anger for the press this year. I watched as they surrounded a Channel II news van shouting "fuck the corporate media" and began rocking the van back and forth. Nobody was inside the vehicle, the news crew was elsewhere covering the rally. The anarchists finally punched through a window and spray painted their slogan on the side of the van. It took police twenty minutes to realize what had happened. While interviewing the aggrieved news crew, the cops engaged in a staring match with the anarchists who hung around in a conspicuous group nearby.
One activist, upset at what he had witnessed, engaged the anarchists in a heated debate. "What you're doing is just going to provoke the police and make protesters look bad, what does that have to do with protesting the war?," asked the activist.
"If the police respond, then we'll see what they're really about," replied the anarchist. "We're protesting not just the war, but the entire system that supports it, including the corporate media."
Thus continues the ongoing debate here in San Francisco over the righteousness of property destruction and targeted action during anti-war rallies. The debate was well underway two years ago when the anarchists said they were targeted by officers on horseback and heaved bottles back at police units.
We'll see what happens tonight as protestors mingle with participants in the city's annual Love Parade, an arts event that features outrageous costumary, slow moving floats and techno music. Just another flamboyant and unpredictable evening here in the city by the bay. God bless America.
