> Thomas Seay wrote:
>
> >I am sure the DC police prefer good little boys and
> >girls who sing Peace songs but dont cause any real
> >trouble like those ne'er-do-wells in Seattle ;)
>
> Yup. Overheard some beat cops yakking a few hours ago who loved how
> smoothly everything went yesterday.
>
> You should have seen the mobilization to defend the WB/IMF delegates
> from the ne'er-do-wells this morning, though. Saw some Darth
> Vader-style riot cops emerging from armored personnel carriers parked
> right in front of our hotel (at 17th & Eye). A line of cops on
> horseback were defending the Starbucks across from the WB/IMF at 18th
> & H.
>
> Amusing brand irony: DC cops ride Honda "Rebel" motorcycles.
The police have been out in force all weekend, but I got the sense that they were a bit scattered and understaffed. The police did attack activists this weekend: my friends who participated in the Critical Mass ride on Friday. That was an unprovoked attack by the cops.
I agree with Tom about why it is important to celebrate the fact that we turned out 75,000+ yesterday. I've been to many big demos in Washington and my initial count estimate was 75,000. This is what the cops have estimated and based on some conversations I've had this morning with folks at the IMC-DC, I think we can safely say that 75,000 is a conservative estimate.
It's interesting to consider how much money the pro-Israel groups spent (millions) to turn out a smaller rally last Monday.
Chuck0