Joe R. Golowka JoeG at ieee.org
"Candidates say "vote for me, and I will do so-and-so for you." Few believe them, but more important, a different process is unthinkable: that in their unions, political clubs, and other popular organizations people should formulate their own plans and projects and put forth candidates to represent them. Even more unthinkable is that the general public should have a voice in decisions about investment, production, the character of work, and other basic aspects of life. The minimal conditions for functioning democracy have been removed far beyond thought, a remarkable victory of the doctrinal system." -- Noam Chomsky ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck0" <chuck at dojo.tao.ca> To: <j30-a at lists.tao.ca>; <a16-a at lists.tao.ca> Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 3:23 AM Subject: (en) US, LA, Awesome black bloc unarrest photo and more
> ________________________________________________
> A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
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>
> 1) Solidarity against the police state:
>
> > http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20000814/us/dnc_convention_ebv.html
>
> A police lines moves past a prone protestor
> as a member of the Black Bloc anarchist
> group, right, reaches out to help during crowd
> dispersal near the Staples Center, Monday
> Aug. 12, 2000 in Los Angeles. In their first
> major confrontation with police, hundreds of
> chanting environmental activists blocked a
> busy downtown intersection then clashed with
> officers in riot gear as the Democratic
> National Convention opened Monday. Police
> arrested 10 protesters.
>
> 2) >From the IMC - Los Angeles website (
> http://la.indymedia.org/)
>
> Breaking News
> 8:30pm - Four paintball rounds were fired at a Black Bloc
> member at the Rage
> Against the machine concert. The juvenile attempted to climb
> the fence to
> hang a flag (which he succeeded in doing). He sustained
> large bruises.
> 8:28pm - 3rd and Figueroa. Cuncussion grenade are
> launched at crowds and
> rubber bullets are fired.
>
> 3) Breaking News
> 8:58pm - The ozo motley concert was shut down by police.
> After an order of
> dispersal, about 200 refused to disperse. Police stampeded a
> crowd on
> horseback firing rubber bullets provoking a stampede of the
> panicked crowd.
> 8:56pm - Vandalism at blue line station accross from Staples
> Center. Vandal's
> identity unknown.
> 8:54pm - Mass actions throughout area -- need more details.
> Three main
> groups: anarchists, concert goers, and non-violent protesters.
> Police claim
> initial instigation and continued problems by anarchists.
> Proclaimed an
> "unlawful assembly" by police.
>
> =====
>
> The police have just declared a "city-wide tactical alert."
>
> Police say they are dispersing groups of 2-300 people. Lots
> of calls to
> dispatch (on police scanner) for "less lethal" forces.
>
> Dispatch just said that the "A Force" will be held over ==
> overtime
>
> Cop just called in and asked for mobile field forces to
> reinforce the
> "skirmish line."
>
> Cops making jokes about having "8 billion police officers" on
> the scene.
>
> 4) Night Protests Turn Violent
>
> Associated Press at 11:48 PM
>
> LOS ANGELES -- Protesters clashed with police Monday night outside the
> Democratic National Convention, with demonstrators throwing chunks of
> concrete at officers in riot gear who responded with pepper-spray balls,
> rubber bullets and finally a charge on horseback.
>
> Police herded the protesters to the far end of a designated protest area
and
> away from the convention hall.
>
> Gates on one side of the convention complex were closed as the Democrats'
> opening night ended and delegates began heading out.
>
> The altercation began in an area designated for protests near the Staples
> Center convention hall as thousands began to leave after a concert by the
> edgy rock band Rage Against the Machine.
>
> Speeches by Hillary Clinton and then President Clinton continued inside
with
> delegates generally unaware of the trouble outside.
>
> Protesters threw pieces of concrete and water bottles, sprayed police with
> ammonia and fired steel balls and rocks from slingshots.
>
> "We're deploying en masse," said California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief
> Stan Perez.
>
> Protesters with bandanas over their faces lit several fires in the concert
> area. The ground around the officers was littered with rocks, broken
bottles,
> sticks thrown over the fence from the crowd.
>
> The confrontation originally involved about 300 people out of the crowd of
> 8,000 but then spread as more officers rushed to the scene.
>
> One of the protesters, holding a black flag in one hand, clung to the
fence
> about 8 feet up as police barraged him with balls of pepper spray, some
> striking him directly in the face.
>
> A second man made it to the top of the fence, grabbed the large black flag
> and waved it. Both men waved the flags from the top of the fence, pelted
> continually with pepper spray.
>
> The clash came at the end of a day of protests that were largely
> peaceful.
>
> Nine people were arrested in an earlier clash after several hundred
> protesters blocked a downtown intersection.
>
> The post-concert confrontation took place beneath a huge TV screen on the
> outside of the Staples Center carrying live video from the speeches
inside.
> Hillary Clinton had just finished speaking, and the president was
> starting.
>
> Hundreds of police in riot gear had lined up between the crowd and the
> convention hall.
>
> Rage Against The Machine, known for its hard-driving sound, is
> anti-authoritarian and has campaigned in support of such figures as Mumia
> Abu-Jamal, a former radio reporter on death row for killing a Philadelphia
> police officer in 1981.
>
> Before the trouble, the mood had been festive, with the Fire Department
> spraying a cooling shower of water over appreciative crowd members.
>
> People in the audience threw empty water bottles and fake dollar bills
> --left over from a protest against corporate greed--into the air. Some
near
> the stage jumped up and down to the music and others carried upside down
> American flags. Marijuana smoke wafted overhead.
>
> Earlier Monday, police confronted demonstrators upset by Vice President
> Gore's ties to Occidental Petroleum Corp.
>
> That group stopped at a busy intersection about six blocks from the
> convention hall. Police warned them to leave and then, minutes later,
charged
> with batons and pushed back about 200 protesters. About 400 others watched
> from up the street.
>
> "This is what a police state looks like!" a protester shouted at the
> police.
>
> During his campaign, Gore has been dogged by protesters over his
connection
> to Occidental. His father, the late Sen. Albert Gore Sr., had served on
> Occidental's board, owned stock in the company and served as chief
executive
> of a subsidiary. His family inherited as much as $500,000 worth of
Occidental
> stock when he died in December.
>
> Critics have urged Gore to divest his family of that stock.
>
> 5) I just heard a snippet of crowd noise on the police scanner. Sounded
like
> lots of people. The police "A Watch" is being held over and the city is on
> "tactical alert."
>
> All anarchist media relations people should be on alert tomorrow because
> they'll try and pin all of this on us again.
>
> Cops are sounding a bit frazzled on the scanner.
>
> Breaking News
> 9:14pm - There are rampant reports of police abuse, pepper spray, beatings
of
> youth at the Rage Against the Machine Concert
> 9:11pm - Metro Vandal suspect taken into custody.
> 9:09pm - 300-1000 people (probably on the high end) in Pershing Square
> surrounded by police with paddy wagons.
>
> 6) Subject: FC: Los Angeles police move in on protesters, break up
concert
> > Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 21:03:05 -0700
> > From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>
> > To: politech at politechbot.com
>
> About half an hour ago Los Angeles police moved in on an activist-concert
> that was taking place just outside the Democratic convention. Using horses
> and motorcycles, a massive group of police successfully broke up the crowd
> of thousands.
>
> The excuse was that protesters were setting (small) campfires on pavement
> in the designated protest area without permission, but the real reason
> seems to be that President Clinton was about to finish his speech inside
> the Staples Center. Delegates would then presumably want to walk to their
> nearby hotels without hassles.
>
> According to a preliminary report from an LAPD spokesman, police used
> beanbag rounds, pepper powder in paintball rounds, and "stinger" rounds
> that are essentially plastic pellets that skip along the ground. Foam
> rounds in metal canisters and flash-bang grenades were also apparently
used.
>
> Photo of one of the nonlethal guns used:
> http://www.mccullagh.org/image/950-12/dem-protests-5.html
>
> Another nonlethal gun, with (apparently) foam bullets in metal canisters:
> http://www.mccullagh.org/image/950-12/dem-protests-7.html
>
> I also have some photos from a march and police preparations
> earlier:
> http://www.mccullagh.org/theme/dem-protests-00.html
>
> I'll be here in LA through late Friday.
>
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