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tomxtr · 02-15-2005, 08:25 PM

[quote:78a6e]Several anti-authoritarian black blocs roamed the streets of downtown Washington to conduct actions against the inauguration and provide mutual support against the police. The Revolutionary Anti-Authoritarian Bloc assembled at 10 a.m. at Franklin Square and marched up 14th Street, swellings to more than 500 black-clad allies as the bloc progressed towards a rendezvous with the New Black Panter Party/American Indian Movement march. A police barricade was dismantled along the way, and marchers pulled makeshift barricades into the streets to guard the rear from an encroaching police presence.

As the RAAB reached the intersection of 14th and K, a police riot squad swept in, batons swinging. Police shoved a young woman to the ground for no apparent reason and swarmed around her as she struggled to protect herself. Another young woman was shoved down, and a cop approached her with his baton raised as if to strike. Her boyfriend intercepted the policeman and shoved him away. The cop turned and retaliated by beating him in the lower back with a baton.

One policeman, in a rage of aggression, grabbed this reporter's video camera in an attempt to block the incident from documentation. He raised his riot baton and yelled, "You want some of this?!" Seconds later, a young man verbally confronted the same cop on his violent behavior. Without hesitating, the cop struck him unconscious with a baton blow to the side of his head. (Click here to view a 3.3-Mb QuickTime video clip of the incident.) Several other photographers and videographers were physically coerced and threatened.

As police reinforcements swept in, nearly 100 marchers in the RAAB were trapped against a wall by a shoulder-to-shoulder line of riot cops. The other black bloc-ers remained in the area to support their comrades but were not in a position to free them. A police transport bus arrived to haul the trapped marchers to prison. But just before the mass arrest began, the Million Voter March and the Justice Action Movement march brought a flood of protesters into the intersection, destabilizing the police position. The cops switched into a defensive posture, but in a powerful show of street solidarity, the MVM/JAM protesters formed into a wedge and drove the police arrest line into retreat. Meanwhile, the New England Black Bloc and the Southern Anarchist Bloc brought another 500 reinforcements into the area, and a prolonged confrontation ensued, during which the trapped demonstrators were able to escape through an unguarded rear alley.[/quote:78a6e]

Sounds to me like these people went looking for trouble and found it.

	(#84)
tomxtr is Offline Sergeant Posts: 1,234 Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: USA	02-15-2005, 08:25 PM [quote:78a6e]Several anti-authoritarian black blocs roamed the streets of downtown Washington to conduct actions against the inauguration and provide mutual support against the police. The Revolutionary Anti-Authoritarian Bloc assembled at 10 a.m. at Franklin Square and marched up 14th Street, swellings to more than 500 black-clad allies as the bloc progressed towards a rendezvous with the New Black Panter Party/American Indian Movement march. A police barricade was dismantled along the way, and marchers pulled makeshift barricades into the streets to guard the rear from an encroaching police presence. As the RAAB reached the intersection of 14th and K, a police riot squad swept in, batons swinging. Police shoved a young woman to the ground for no apparent reason and swarmed around her as she struggled to protect herself. Another young woman was shoved down, and a cop approached her with his baton raised as if to strike. Her boyfriend intercepted the policeman and shoved him away. The cop turned and retaliated by beating him in the lower back with a baton. One policeman, in a rage of aggression, grabbed this reporter's video camera in an attempt to block the incident from documentation. He raised his riot baton and yelled, "You want some of this?!" Seconds later, a young man verbally confronted the same cop on his violent behavior. Without hesitating, the cop struck him unconscious with a baton blow to the side of his head. (Click here to view a 3.3-Mb QuickTime video clip of the incident.) Several other photographers and videographers were physically coerced and threatened. As police reinforcements swept in, nearly 100 marchers in the RAAB were trapped against a wall by a shoulder-to-shoulder line of riot cops. The other black bloc-ers remained in the area to support their comrades but were not in a position to free them. A police transport bus arrived to haul the trapped marchers to prison. But just before the mass arrest began, the Million Voter March and the Justice Action Movement march brought a flood of protesters into the intersection, destabilizing the police position. The cops switched into a defensive posture, but in a powerful show of street solidarity, the MVM/JAM protesters formed into a wedge and drove the police arrest line into retreat. Meanwhile, the New England Black Bloc and the Southern Anarchist Bloc brought another 500 reinforcements into the area, and a prolonged confrontation ensued, during which the trapped demonstrators were able to escape through an unguarded rear alley.[/quote:78a6e] Sounds to me like these people went looking for trouble and found it.