West Coast Protestors Attacked by Police

The fallout from Portland Police actions during the anti-war protests beginning in March continues to play itself out, while incidents in Oakland, Seattle and San Francisco revealed that Portland is not alone in violent repression of those opposing the status quo.

The National Lawyers Guild/Portland (NLG)'s is continuing with its lawsuit against the City stemming from the Iraq war protests and George Bush's visit in August, 2002 (see PPRs #28&29). In August, NLG attorney Alan Graf created a Constitutional Rights Center in his office to address attacks on civil rights and liberties on an ongoing basis.

On April 7, Oakland police used wooden pellets and rubber bullets to attack protestors on a dock. "I was there from 5 a.m. on, and the only violence that I saw was from the police," said an assistant to Oakland's Vice Mayor (San José Mercury News, April 7). The projectiles hit, among others, longshoremen waiting to go to work, an attorney for the school district, and a young woman whose facial contusions show why police need to follow manufacturers' instructions (not to fire directly at suspects) or better yet to have these weapons taken away from them. [link to sf indymedia]

In Seattle, police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse a June 3 protest against the "Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit" (LEIU), a private organization of police intelligence agents who were discussing techniques for spying. According to Seattle's Radical Women, similar techniques for crowd control are used in Seattle as in Portland. From their news release: "Some police did not wear nametags and covered up their unit names with tape. Washington State Patrol claimed that they did not have to wear their names and abide by Seattle's rules on this matter. No orders to disperse were given before attacking the crowd."

Meanwhile, police in San Francisco, who arrested over 2300 people on their "day of" anti-war protests March 20, were shown to be overzealous as the assistant District Attorney Mike Menesini, dismissed charges against all but about 30. Menesini said the decision was made "in the interest of justice" (New York Times, June 27). "These cases basically involved nonviolent offenders, people that when ordered to step out of the street refused to, or when told to go left went right," he said.

Meanwhile, Portland Police continue to follow and harass, cite and attack riders on the monthly Critical Mass rides in Portland. Police continue to ticket for minor infractions, even at a memorial ride for cyclists killed in a hit-and-run accident in June.

For more information on the local lawsuit contact Alan Graf at 452-2375; Critical Mass info is at http://www.subluna.com/CriticalMass/.