mackswell23 writes "Alex Haverfield
505 843 9534

1012 Fruit Ave NW

Albuquerque NM 87102

War Protest Albuquerque 3/20/03

3/20/03

This evening the Albuquerque police did the Albuquerque citizens the favor of allowing them to feel what it was like to be at a big protest in a big city. Fully decked out for urban combat they looked fine. Presence of K9 units, officers with 3 foot clubs, semiautomatic rifles and tear gas launchers present from the beginning along with all the cars trying to block us off and the cavalry.

I was certainly not alone in being nearly trampled on by a nervous horse being forced to do someone else’s dirty work and thereafter of course, I was instructed to “Get the fuck out of the way,” although I was at the moment even in the proper zone designated for protest repression and containment. As usual the police were well trained not to say anything to us except, “Keep moving, you will be fired upon, you will be arrested!” and the aforementioned request for passage. Absolutely no real engagement with protesters. No discussion. It makes sense because there’s got to be an officer or two who would like nothing better than to break ranks and come over and support our right to protest crimes of general genocide, the support of genocide when enacted by our (whose?) allies, and the almost habitual U.S. policy of replacing those leaders (be they capable or incapable, just or unjust) our economic oligarchy of MIIC, World Bank, Oil Interests, etc. considers uncooperative with dictators far more cruel and repressive to the masses they are enlisted to represent. Even Bush has said it in plain fucking english (paraphrase): “’I was only following orders’ will not be an acceptable excuse for war crimes.” I agree. And it certainly shouldn’t be. Which is why Bush has provided the best and most specific argument to totally derail the “Support our troops,” dogma. Fuck, I’ll support any soldier who does the right thing and follows his conscience, even if he’s a stupid ignorant shit who thinks what he’s doing is just ... I’ll support him right into the grave and hope he’s the end of his own little gene pool. Support our troops, Well, Troops, if you don’t want blood on your hands take your fucking dishonorable discharge as a true badge of honor, because you are NOT only following orders, You’re a war criminal and a murderer. The same goes for cops. Firemen who hose down the right to dissent, or in the case of unions, the right to a living wage. But here’s a word of consolation since Americans like joining clubs so much: You soldiers, you cops, you firemen, you FBI, you’re not alone. No, you’re joined in murderous commiseration by every single person who drives down Dulles Drive, or any drive, you’re joined by every single person in this country who has allowed this murderous repressive totalitarian fiasco happen, every person in this world who has allowed similar Down to you and me. What is it about humans? Short Attention spans. Greed. Fear. Corrupt emperor envy.

[Amy Goodman based on new evidence that documents citing Iraq actively searching for nuclear weapon components were forged by the U.S. -- insightfully alleging that U.S. Gov’t attacking Iraq precisely because we are pretty sure there’s nothing there to really threaten us ... hence the strong line against inspections that might prove that there really are no nuclear weapons, etc. better run in and plant some. Look, I don’t like being so distrustful: it makes me physically sick, but the writing’s been on the wall for a long time; there hasn’t been a president in my lifetime with credibility. Both bushes, Reagan, Clinton, everyone, yeah, even Carter, fully deserves to be prosecuted for war crimes.] We can only hope that the highly effective doctrine of “The greater the lie, the harder the people will work to believe it” has finally surpassed some invisible boundary with the American people. Much as I’d love this, I’m skeptical and really really fucking sad. You see, like anyone with any educated sense of American history I’m well aware that this government is not based on the wonderful ideals etc. values, etc. of the constitution and the bill of rights, but instead on the illusion of these ideals and values proffered by a new regime of “patriots” trying to protect their own interests. And on the course of history, the invention of the buffer zone of the middle class, etc. etc. I’d love to see these Ideals and values become a reality. It would be for the FIRST time in American history. It would require an American people who were not so easily held in the thrall of those who sacrifice all the values they shove down the throats of the selfsame American people while they themselves profit profit profit. It would require a relaxation of materialism. It would require a people that did not secretly, actually more often publicly, wish to be in the place of their oppressors. But this is a pathology that runs deep. Who would have thought that the state of Israel could so easily rationalize ethnic cleansing. Bite before you get bit bite before you get bit bite before you get bit. The problem with Utopian solutions: Nothing ever stops; time doesn’t stop.

Pause for Alex to throw up because he has bad insides that handle pepper sprays and tear gas poorly and his own unwilling upsurge of absolute hatred and disgust even worse. Anyway, I don’t know what else was in the stuff. It could have been worse. It’ll almost undoubtedly be worse tomorrow (by now today).

Meanwhile, we did our peaceful march thing here in Albuquerque. The cops tried to be intimidating from the beginning. Who knows, under their masks, who knows? Nothing like fear to make one want to hurt people. We began the march down Central Ave, a main street. Almost immediately they tried to corral us onto streets with no traffic, no cars, no people. We went along with it for awhile, then got fed up and faked them out and marched back up Central. Signs, slogans, the usual march stuff. Comparatively very well behaved. The only property damage an overturned newspaper receptacle by a couple of 14 year old black blockers, but the cops didn’t see it because a couple of hippies rushed over and put it back up. One little guy wanted to take over the seven eleven parking lot. The police saw the shift and rushed to protect the hot dogs and breakfast burritos. The guy shouted some slogans, we were all still moving, but the police shot him in the stomach with a pepper spray canister from about five feet. So we all got a little taste.

One thing we don’t want to do is destroy the infrastructure of Iraq because in a few days we’re going to own that country.

Tom Brokaw.

They hauled him off. Now, even though the march was still gliding along the cops began arresting people foolish enough to be a few feet from the group. Often these are people who don’t quite feel comfortable with the idea of group march, so it’s almost as if one gets busted for ambivalence. Anyway it’s easier to arrest a couple people alone, right, even if they’re not breaking the law. We got back up to the college campus and blocked the street. The police didn’t waste much time. They started shooting people with “pepper” balls (like paint balls but emitting tear gas upon impact). One fellow, like many others, sat down in the streets cross-legged with his sign, “Move or you will be fired upon.” They shot him in the face, a quarter inch from his eye and we cleaned him up with a mud puddle and some old teenage mutant ninja turtles Kleenex. Somehow he got away. At this point the cops started firing pepper spray canisters into the crowd almost at random. They shot both the people in the street and those on the supposedly neutral zone of the campus square. After that I couldn’t see to well for a couple minutes. Many of us tried to get to a safe distance to catch our breath. I passed around some water. I think more people will remember to bring water tomorrow. The cops continued shooting off canisters for a prolonged period of time ... it was pretty classic overkill, partially due to the rain, which was, I guess, on our side. They covered the campus neutral zone and the street in quite a cloud. The cops charged the neutral ground with the horses to scatter people, then the police with their sticks ran in and started shoving people and trying to knock them over. One man was shot in the face with a tear gas canister from close range.

Some protesters formed a circle around him but the cops eventually ripped them away and wouldn’t let anyone get near. The man was not moving ... I haven’t seen the papers today, I don’t know whether there will be anything ... I’ll find out tonight at 5, maybe, when we reconvene.

This was the first time experiencing police brutality for many of the protesters ... it was kind of exciting, in a sad way, seeing people so incensed by unconscionable behavior. That the police have been so much more horrible in other places is, of course, no excuse, but a lot of folks, young and old are getting a serious reality check. I wonder whether any of the police officers feels slightly uncomfortable reenforcing all the negative stereotypes about cops in steel, in stone. Anyway, some twenty protesters arrested, the majority not being outside the law, the crowd, eventually forcibly and violently dispersed despite having done nothing to provoke such action, police shoving protesters around for no reason, displaying a real explosive fear and hatred, several people injured, as far as I know, only one seriously, personal property destroyed. Welcome Albuquerque, Welcome to Seattle, Welcome to New York, Welcome to San Francisco, Welcome to a country that has never quite been yours except by slogan except when it needs you to die for many reasons but almost never the ones advertised. Welcome to Italy, Welcome to Iraq, Welcome to Cuba, Welcome to South Africa (right, don’t forget our new policy of secret and illegal deportation), welcome to the world we’ve allowed to be made around us. Eventually the cops thinned out enough to allow us to follow their orders to disperse without being picked off. I got in my car and accidentally joined a cavalcade of police vehicles heading back to precinct. Imagine the little nissan being celebrated by all the beautiful lights and sirens of twenty cop cars, trailing the big police intelligence swat dissenter containment winnebago, gliding downtown in a parade through the rain after a job well done.

3/21/03

Protesters, police clash on Central

By Ed Asher

Albuquerque Tribune Reporter

An antiwar protester was struggling with police and falling backward when a helmeted officer stomped him in the side and poked him with a baton.

The youth fell into a tangle of about a half dozen other protesters who were resisting efforts by police to drag them off the roadway on Central Avenue.

What had begun as a peaceful demonstration at the University of New Mexico on Thursday was quickly turning ugly.

Two hours later, the smell of tear gas hung in the air, and 17 people were under arrest on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to inciting a riot.

Police say they attempted to prevent a riot. Demonstrators accuse police of creating one.

At least one attorney predicts the incident will spawn lawsuits.

"I think there might be; there should be," said Eric Sirotkin with the National Lawyers Guild.

By 5:30 p.m., more than 500 demonstrators had taken over Central Avenue at University Boulevard. By then the police presence numbered more than a dozen officers in riot gear, five mounted officers, six officers with dogs, bicycle cops and several police cars.

When police began advancing east, pushing the crowd back toward UNM, some of the protesters sat on the street. That's when the first arrests were made.

As the police continued advancing, at least two demonstrators were shot with "pepper ball" guns, which fire pellets similar to paint ball but which emit tear gas on contact.

By 7 p.m., the crowd had been corralled at Central and Cornell Avenue, where police began lobbing canisters of tear gas.

Riot police with batons forced the demonstrators out of the intersection and pushed bystanders off of sidewalks into neighboring streets and businesses.

It was over by 7:30 p.m.

"When we started out, there were babies out there in strollers, teen-agers, older people. And we were singing," Diane Sewell McCash, a substitute teacher, said.

"We're not freaks. We're just normal people trying to express our opinion. But the police turned it into a confrontation."

Allen Cooper, a Highland High School history teacher, said police turned the protest "into a street war."

"It was totally unnecessary," Cooper said. "These cops were treating the people like the enemy. It's a damned shame."

But Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Jeff Arbogast said the crowd repeatedly ignored orders to leave the street and were repeatedly warned that tear gas might be used.

"They began taking over the streets, in some cases forcing motorists to go the wrong way just to get away from them," Arbogast said. At one point, he said, the crowd blocked an ambulance.

"They became disorderly and hostile and refused to obey lawful orders," he said.

Some in the crowd threw items at police, Arbogast said. A bystander said he saw bottles and rocks being thrown at police.

Arbogast said some of the demonstrators, wearing gas masks, sprayed tear gas on police.

"Some of these protesters came with the obvious intent of committing civil unrest," he said.

"We, as the police department, realize everybody has the right to protest," Arbogast said. "But when these protesters start getting to the point where they are breaking the law or denying citizens access to roadways or becoming violent, it's a whole different matter."

Antiwar demonstrations were staged in Las Cruces and Santa Fe on Thursday, and further protests were expected today in Albuquerque."