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catscradle Feb. 16th, 2003 11:11 am)
catscradle Feb. 16th, 2003 11:11 am)As some of you know, I went to Colorado Springs this Saturday to protest. This was a concern of mine, as the Springs is an ultra conservative city that plays host to the airforce academy, Focus on the Family and the Mega Church. We were very much in enemy territory.
Turns out that my fears were well founded.
Over 2000 people turned out at the Springs for the protest. Way more than we originally thought would given the location. We rallied before the march, then got the instructions to stay on the side walks and obey all the traffic rules. We did this. We line Academy street on both sides and marched.
We march for about 15 minutes while the cars passed and either honked in support or screamed obscenties at us. I was pleasantly supprised that there seemed to be more support than naught. However, not long after, the police blocked off the street so that the cars had to detour. The marches then pressed forward (still on the sidewalks) passed the police road block. People in cars at the block cheered.
The police then let them through, while they moved futher back and set up another road block at the corner of Academy and Constitution (a rather ironic name for the street given what happened next). So we marched on to the next road block and held our ground there. Most of the people in cars there again honked in support and waved peace signs at us, while a very few shouted things like "Bomb Iraq", "Fuck you" and my favorite "Nuk'em!". The opposition can be so articulate.
At that point, my friends and I were standing on the corner of Constituion and Academy. Police officers came into the crowd and grabbed a man, forced him against the car and cuffed him. The man had been standing not far from me - as far as I could see, he did nothing to provoke the police. When they shoved him into the car, the crowd surrounded the police car and began to chant "The whole world is watching". Not soon after that, 40 cops in riot gear appeared - I don't even know where they came from, they were just there when I looked back out across the street. Everyone backed away.
They had guns to launch tear gas and no sooner did we see that then the stench of vinegar fill the air (apparently vinegar is used to counter act tear gas effects).
One of my friends got pictures of what was happening, I'll post them once he gets those up on the web.
The permit to march was from 12 to 2. The police began randomly pulling people from the crowds or pepper spraying them about 1:30. Every so many feet we walked back, there were people lying on the groud screaming about their eyes - their faces were red and splotchy.
We then saw a man lying face down in the middle of the road surrounded by police officers. It had to be about 30 degrees outside - the ground was freezing. He was cuffed at both the hands and the ankles. We weren't allowed to cross the street at this point (which we had to do to get to our car) - so we watched these officers stand around this man for about 15 minutes. People were shouting to get the man off the ground.
They finally got him up and moved him to a car and allowed the people to cross the street.
As the crowds made their way back to their cars, the police announced that this was an unlawful assemble and began to throw tear gas at the parked cars. How the hell they thought people could leave with tear gas flooding their cars is beyond me. I thought they were just smoke bombs at first, but a cop came up to me and told me to wait before approaching the car and then to let our car air out for several minutes first. Luckily we weren't parked in that field.
The police continued to harrass and pepper spray people that were trying to leave peacefully.
All that said, NOT ONE of the protestors turned violent. Many were chanting for peace, others were calling out constitutional rights.
Others then made their way for a civil disobedence rally at the airforce base at 2:30. We didn't go to that, as no one in our group had the money for bail - but from the news it seems as though 15 people were arrested and again, tear gas was used.
All that was said of our march in the news was that the protestors blocked off traffic. Not a single media camera was there to film that it was the cops that blocked the traffic, not the protestors. The media from the CBS, NBC, ABC affiliates were invited - not a single one showed up aside from a few from the Rocky Mountain Independent Media.
So to let you all know, I'm safe. A little rattled from it, but safe. And I'll be out there for the next protest and the next until the United States backs down from this war.
Turns out that my fears were well founded.
Over 2000 people turned out at the Springs for the protest. Way more than we originally thought would given the location. We rallied before the march, then got the instructions to stay on the side walks and obey all the traffic rules. We did this. We line Academy street on both sides and marched.
We march for about 15 minutes while the cars passed and either honked in support or screamed obscenties at us. I was pleasantly supprised that there seemed to be more support than naught. However, not long after, the police blocked off the street so that the cars had to detour. The marches then pressed forward (still on the sidewalks) passed the police road block. People in cars at the block cheered.
The police then let them through, while they moved futher back and set up another road block at the corner of Academy and Constitution (a rather ironic name for the street given what happened next). So we marched on to the next road block and held our ground there. Most of the people in cars there again honked in support and waved peace signs at us, while a very few shouted things like "Bomb Iraq", "Fuck you" and my favorite "Nuk'em!". The opposition can be so articulate.
At that point, my friends and I were standing on the corner of Constituion and Academy. Police officers came into the crowd and grabbed a man, forced him against the car and cuffed him. The man had been standing not far from me - as far as I could see, he did nothing to provoke the police. When they shoved him into the car, the crowd surrounded the police car and began to chant "The whole world is watching". Not soon after that, 40 cops in riot gear appeared - I don't even know where they came from, they were just there when I looked back out across the street. Everyone backed away.
They had guns to launch tear gas and no sooner did we see that then the stench of vinegar fill the air (apparently vinegar is used to counter act tear gas effects).
One of my friends got pictures of what was happening, I'll post them once he gets those up on the web.
The permit to march was from 12 to 2. The police began randomly pulling people from the crowds or pepper spraying them about 1:30. Every so many feet we walked back, there were people lying on the groud screaming about their eyes - their faces were red and splotchy.
We then saw a man lying face down in the middle of the road surrounded by police officers. It had to be about 30 degrees outside - the ground was freezing. He was cuffed at both the hands and the ankles. We weren't allowed to cross the street at this point (which we had to do to get to our car) - so we watched these officers stand around this man for about 15 minutes. People were shouting to get the man off the ground.
They finally got him up and moved him to a car and allowed the people to cross the street.
As the crowds made their way back to their cars, the police announced that this was an unlawful assemble and began to throw tear gas at the parked cars. How the hell they thought people could leave with tear gas flooding their cars is beyond me. I thought they were just smoke bombs at first, but a cop came up to me and told me to wait before approaching the car and then to let our car air out for several minutes first. Luckily we weren't parked in that field.
The police continued to harrass and pepper spray people that were trying to leave peacefully.
All that said, NOT ONE of the protestors turned violent. Many were chanting for peace, others were calling out constitutional rights.
Others then made their way for a civil disobedence rally at the airforce base at 2:30. We didn't go to that, as no one in our group had the money for bail - but from the news it seems as though 15 people were arrested and again, tear gas was used.
All that was said of our march in the news was that the protestors blocked off traffic. Not a single media camera was there to film that it was the cops that blocked the traffic, not the protestors. The media from the CBS, NBC, ABC affiliates were invited - not a single one showed up aside from a few from the Rocky Mountain Independent Media.
So to let you all know, I'm safe. A little rattled from it, but safe. And I'll be out there for the next protest and the next until the United States backs down from this war.
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As I said to someone else here, had the protest been in Denver, this wouldn't have happened. Co Springs is just so ultra conservative, they don't have room for people with alternative views. =/