On Wed, 2 Aug 2000 23:30:15 -0500 (CDT) Mark Laskey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
________________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
http://www.ainfos.ca/
________________________________________________
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 1 -- A few thousand protesters stormed through Center
City today, battling police officers, chaining themselves together to
block intersections, jumping on cars and throwing debris into the street,
as anger erupted after three days of more lighthearted demonstrations in
the city hosting the Republican National Convention.
Police said they arrested 282 people. Three police officers were treated
when an unknown substance was splashed in their eyes, and a fourth was
hospitalized with head injuries after being hit with a bicycle. Twenty
police cars were damaged.
The tone of a day that began with calm speeches against the "prison
industrial complex" suddenly grew tense around 3 p.m. From all
directions, demonstrators--dressed in styles ranging from clown costumes
to all-black anarchist regalia--converged in the blocks around the ornate
City Hall topped by a statue of the peace-loving Quaker William Penn.
Most were peaceful, if unlawful, as they squatted in intersections, while
others threw a red paint balloon at a jewelry store, daubed police cars
with orange paint and tossed newspaper boxes at motorists commuting at
rush hour. An unruly climax was reached in late afternoon, when about 150
protesters sprinted up Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 18th Street, with
police on horses and bicycles in pursuit.
The bicycle police dismounted and, using batons, tackled and arrested
several young men of the so-called anarchist Black Bloc. Police
Commissioner John F. Timoney said he was assaulted during the scuffle
when a demonstrator grabbed the commissioner's bicycle and struck him
with it.
"Anybody who makes the case that these were peaceful protesters bent on
exercising their First Amendment rights should have their head examined,"
Timoney said.
In several cases, the arresting officers wore black gloves with the white
Nike swoosh on them. "We know who you work for," jeered the
demonstrators, as their linked arms were pried apart by police clearing
the intersections.
Scattered demonstrations and arrests continued into the night. Earlier, a
Reuters reporter was detained by police when they stopped a van carrying
19 demonstrators whom the reporter was chronicling. The van contained
plastic pipe and chicken wire, devices that can be used to create "lock
boxes" to chain protesters together. He was released later without being
charged.
Mayor John Street praised police: "They did a fantastic job keeping this
city moving and operating under difficult circumstances."
With scores of reporters following protesters' moves through the streets,
organizers said they achieved their goal of calling attention to a
variety of issues that all spring from a well of outrage over what they
say is the dominance of corporations in American politics.
"We feel like today we've achieved success," said Justin Ruben, an
organizer with the R2K Network, the coalition of various protest groups.
"We've been able to speak to the whole country. People are coming
together."
Protesters also caused slight disruption to the GOP convention, which
continued in a hall nearly four miles south after most of the
demonstrations had concluded. The Pennsylvania delegation and others were
trapped inside a Center City hotel a few hours before the convention.
"It's ridiculous," state Rep. John Barley of Lancaster told the
Associated Press. "Giving them that kind of attention is unreasonable,"
he said. "Let's do something about it. We're captive."
Demonstrators said civil disobedience is the only way to earn a spotlight
for their concerns.
"The Republicans and Democrats don't represent working people," said
Mario Rodriguez, 22, a union organizer from New York City, who was
blockading the entrance ramp to Interstate 676, one of the routes from
Center City to the First Union Center, the convention hall in south
Philadelphia. "I felt if we blocked off the highways, it will call enough
attention and maybe they'll listen."
Standing with arms linked near Rodriguez in the human chain was Jeff
Ebbesen, an adjunct professor of English from Philadelphia, who said he
was there because he wanted to show that someone like him--"a white man,
38 years old, married, firmly entrenched in the middle class"--is angry
enough at economic inequality in the country to get himself arrested.
And beside Ebbesen, who declined to say where he teaches, was Erik
Stowers, 27, a struggling novelist from Brooklyn, who said, "I've known I
had to do something for a long time. . . . It defines whether you're
willing to suffer at all for your values."
Around 4 p.m., demonstrators formed a human chain across Broad Street,
the city's main thoroughfare, near City Hall. Within half an hour, police
started to unpeel the blockaders one by one.
The protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching," as one police
officer hit a member of the chain with his baton.
A ragtag band of protesters split off from the main group and started
hurling newspaper vending machines into traffic. One woman, trying to get
home, shouted bitterly at them, and with tears streaming down her face,
she dragged the vending machines off the street.
Lost, perhaps, in the shouting and unrest were some of the nuances of the
demonstrators' complaints about the country. In a packed schedule of
protests for the week, each day has a theme, and today was devoted to the
death penalty, prison-building, death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal and
other facets of the justice system.
George W. Bush, as governor of Texas, has "put to death more people than
any other person alive in our country today," charged Robert Meeropol,
the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed as spies in
1953.
At the same news conference where Meeropol spoke, Jesse L. Jackson said
that "Texas has taken on serial killer proportions," with 139 executions
during Bush's term.
Earlier, Jackson attended the "Shadow Convention," an alternative forum
for debate being held nearby, where the sentiments of the street
activists against the criminal justice system were echoed by the more
mainstream protesters.
Jackson railed against the country's "ugly, shameful, jail-industrial
complex," and complained about inequities in the system. "If you're
young, poor and brown or black and don't have a lawyer, youthful
indiscretions are not forgivable sins," he said, alluding to Bush's
comment about his own youthful behavior.
Eleven-year-old Nicholas Pecora, of Brooklyn, was presented at the
convention as a reminder of the havoc that prison sentences can wreak on
the families of those jailed. His mother is in jail, and he and his
younger brother and sister are being raised on welfare by his
grandmother.
"My daughter was such a bad crack addict," said Doreen Pecora, who
brought her grandchildren on stage at the shadow convention, along with
other families calling for an end to harsh mandatory sentencing of
nonviolent drug offenders. "She didn't need 10-to-life, she needed help."
By David Montgomery and Cathy Newman
********
The A-Infos News Service
News about and of interest to anarchists
********
COMMANDS: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
REPLIES: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
HELP: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca
INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org
To receive a-infos in one language only mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] the message
unsubscribe a-infos
subscribe a-infos-X
where X = en, ca, de, fr, etc. (i.e. the language code)
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and educational purposes. Feel free to
distribute widely but PLEASE acknowledge the source. ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The end is in the means as the tree is in the seed.
- Mahatma Ghandi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abraham Lincoln, letter to Wm. F. Elkins Nov. 21 1864
Arthur Shaw ed. The Lincoln Encyclopedia 40 {1950}
"We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing
it's nd. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and
blood.........It has indeed been a trying hour for the
Republic, but I see in the near future a crisis approaching
that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety
of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been
enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will
follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to
prolong it's reign by working on the prejudices of the
people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the
Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety
for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the
midst of war."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/smilinks/thirdeye.html
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
