--- On Sat 04/20, David Strand wrote: > > --- Neal wrote: > > There were no riots during ISAG, as at the debacle > > in Seattle. No > > widespread property damage, either. And the Critical > > Mass folks were > > prevented from annoying those nice, taxpaying, > > suburbanite commuters. :-) > > I know I witnessed some neighborhood residents being > gassed when they were doing nothing more than trying > to ask what was going on-including an elderly woman. > I guess I also have a different take on Seattle. > Whatever alleged intelligence was used to surmise that > ISAG protests could turn into anything resembling > Seattle was driven by a paranoia of a clinical > magnitude.
My response to that is that they should've stayed indoors and turned on the TV or the radio. It's like being in a war zone and going outside to see what is going on... your going to get hurt. With a police officer, their dealing with a crowd that is about 10 to 1, and the larger the crowd gets, the better chance that the officer is going to get overwhelmed, possibly hurt or worse, killed. You never know, there could be 9 people in the crowd that just want to voice their opinions, but that 10th person there could be someone that is looking to hurt or kill someone. > Most of the activists I ran into in the neighborhood > during the protest where polite and handing out fliers > and simply wanting to inform people of their concerns. > The much ballyhooed nonsense of an unknown chemical > substance being found in the McDonald's on Nicollet > and attributed to participants in the protests with > animal liberation leanings, speculation that made it > into the local media, turned out to be nothing but > cider vinegar, a common treatment used by activists to > alleviate the symptoms brought on by tear gas. Unless you know 100 percent that the substance that was found in that McDonalds was in fact cider vinegar then I would feel safe about the whole thing. I see a bottle with a unknown liquid sitting on the side of the road or in an establishment, I wouldn't touch it or go close to it or even attempt to open it until it was tested in the safety of a lab. Who knows what it could be. Besides, cider vigegar or any other remedy doesn't work to relieve the symtoms of CN or pepper spray. Only air and time. The main thing is that you don't panic after getting the stuff on you and don't rub it, those things will only make it worse. > Also, anyone who saw the pictures of the headquarter's > of Sister Camelot's (the nonprofit involved in > distributing organic produce to the poor that is > excess or deemed too unattractive to sell to customers > but perfectly edible by and from area coops, > restaurants, etc.) after the police raided their > headquarters to disrupt and require information on > their plans for the protest knows that these actions > were highly suspect under the guarantees to free > speech, freedom of association, and freedom of > assembly afforded by our constitution. The pictures > of the young activist known as "Tumbleweed" who was > reportedly beaten by the police in this raid were also > truly troubling. Free speech is important, but then again, someone that is intent to cause problems or disrupt a peaceful gathering is the perfect cover. Take history for example, during wars, you have people infiltrating groups to cause disruption and dissent among the "enemy". This has been going on throughout history and continues into the modern day. Sure you may have a group of people with peaceful intent, but how do you know that the next person doesn't? I'm not trying to spread fear or mistrust, but you also have to look at both sides in order to understand the actions of others. > I know that these events caused me to wonder where the > meltdown was at city hall that lead to this absurd > situation of my being kept awake all night by the > helicopters whirling overhead. The noise, the > inconvenience, the expense, the fearmongering, the > harrassment of nonprotesting residents along with > protestors, these things I think point to soom > critical judgement issues in our so-called "public > safety" department. > > Certainly there could have been a more measured > response to this event. > > My thoughts on this particular part of the puzzle, > from Loring Park, David Strand Sure there may have been alternatives and a wait and see attitude position could have been taken, but sometimes those type of actions may be too late and a pro-active position, at times may be too aggressive, but at what cost is safety sacrificed? Who has to be sacrificed to attain that? If the police didn't do anything, and something did happen, like a riot breaking out, property being damaged and citizens being hurt or even killed, then the public cry would have been "Why didn't the police do anything to prevent this?" I am not encouraging an aggressive behavior, but encouraging prevention, even if it does inconviences the public. It's just a matter of planning ahead and or leaving earlier, being watchful of those that intend to take advantage of the situation. In these current times, we all have to help each other and watch out for each other. Especially now where there are only 1200 police officers in a city that has a population of close to a million people. > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more > http://games.yahoo.com/ > _______________________________________ > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls > Stealin' into a Cybernite... TekBandit ---------==========+*+==========---------- Is there no way of fighting this feeling inside, Where ecstacy lives, but sanity dies, We all need more from each other... ---------==========+*+==========---------- ------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
