Article

2003-04-08 Fifth Column

Oakland Police Fire Non-Lethal Projectiles at Protesters

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Posted by Bent Pyramid 2003-04-08 06:25 am|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I'm reminded of an ancient Egyptian proverb: "A man's ears are on his back--he hears only when he is beaten".

Posted by Bent Pyramid 2003-04-08 06:42:02|| 2003-04-08 06:42:02|| Front Page Top

#2 "They should not have been using the wooden bullets," Bruner said.

You've got that right. Throwing rocks and bolts at police and failing to move as ordered should merit a few well-placed real bullets.

Posted by Tom 2003-04-08 07:12:52|| 2003-04-08 07:12:52|| Front Page Top

#3 You're obstructing the perfectly legal business activities of an entire port, are throwing missiles at police with intent to cause injury, and then have the hide to complain about efforts made to remove your waste-of-space carcasses out of the way? These lefties are riding on a wave of hypocrisy they've been building up for so long we're expected to let them get away with anything short of clubbing their oponents unconscious.

Posted by Bulldog 2003-04-08 07:44:45|| 2003-04-08 07:44:45|| Front Page Top

#4 Gentlemen, gentlemen... You don't understand!

The protestors' rights always supersede everybody else's rights!

We're all equal. They're just more equal.

Posted by Dar Steckelberg 2003-04-08 08:23:10|| 2003-04-08 08:23:10|| Front Page Top

#5 Some of the longshoremen were actively involved in the 'demonstration'.

Posted by Parabellum 2003-04-08 08:27:45|| 2003-04-08 08:27:45|| Front Page Top

#6 Oakland is in SF, right?

Well protests are a way of life in SF, it's like their indigenous culture or something.

When I was there I saw their 'reclaim the streets' bike thing, it was hilarious. They tried to have it in Sydney too, but no way is it as funny here as it is in SF.

It's OK, the police are developing more and more non-lethal protestor-dispersal tactics all the time. I particularly liked that part about Sting Balls.

When can we import them?

I would like to be a police officer in the Protest Response division: a specialist hippie-deterrent. How much fun would that be? Sting balls all round I say.

Tom, I hope your comment is for entertainment purposes only!

Posted by anon1 2003-04-08 08:29:57|| 2003-04-08 08:29:57|| Front Page Top

#7 "Oakland police are being the most aggressive of any department I've seen in the Bay area since the war began," said protester Damien McAnany, a database manager. "The San Francisco Police Department never used any of this stuff against us."

Oakland PD must be Raider fans. Guess we won't be seeing too many protests in that town for awhile. We'll stay across the Bay where they'll put up with our shit.

Posted by tu3031 2003-04-08 08:35:28|| 2003-04-08 08:35:28|| Front Page Top

#8 "...protester Damien McAnany, a database manager"

is that what you call yourself when you're unemployed, but have a list of jobs available from the want ads?

Posted by Frank G 2003-04-08 08:52:39|| 2003-04-08 08:52:39|| Front Page Top

#9 Sorry to let you down, anon1, but my comment was not for entertainment purposes only. Civil protest is one thing, but I have zero tolerance for people throwing rocks and bolts at our police. As far as I'm concerned, they've crossed the line. Not that I'd want them shot in the chest, but a few leg wounds wouldn't upset me. On the other hand, a serious fine and/or jail term would suffice. I'm talking $10,000, not $20, and 90 days, not 90 minutes.

Posted by Tom 2003-04-08 09:04:16|| 2003-04-08 09:04:16|| Front Page Top

#10 "Out of the office and into the streets! U.S. out of the Middle East!"

Oh, fer Pete's sake. Who thinks up this crap?

Posted by Patrick Phillips 2003-04-08 09:09:47|| 2003-04-08 09:09:47|| Front Page Top

#11 I'm with you 100%, Tom. They are assaulting the police with intent to cause bodily harm and should be dealt with appropriately! There is no excuse for that behavior, but there is an answer to it.

Posted by Dar Steckelberg 2003-04-08 09:33:05|| 2003-04-08 09:33:05|| Front Page Top

#12 Back in the city where I lived several hundred people came to protest after the war started; they gathered on the main drag in front of the university, blocking traffic. The police were very polite and simply redirected traffic around them (no small feat in this town). My sister later overheard one of the protesters talking to someone about the protest. She said "We sat down on the drag, and when we realized the police officers weren't going to rough us up (which was our goal), we decided to march to Congress."

Kinda answers the question why a "peace activist" would throw rocks and bolts in a crowd of people, don't it?

Posted by TheMightyEmu 2003-04-08 09:35:35|| 2003-04-08 09:35:35|| Front Page Top

#13 Murat from your posts of lately compared to previous posts it seems your getting a little frustrated. Things not going your way?

Give the guys some time for the chems, anyway we may have to go to damascus to get all of them.

Posted by Dan 2003-04-08 10:11:11|| 2003-04-08 10:11:11|| Front Page Top

#14 Notice: OAKLAND AIN'T SF. The SFPD let you fools lie in the streets and annoy pretty much everyone, thanks to the wimp city government.

Oakland is a whole 'nother deal. They WILL beat your ass. As they did in the 60's, though many seem to have selective memories of that decade...

Posted by mojo 2003-04-08 10:12:57|| 2003-04-08 10:12:57|| Front Page Top

#15 Mojo's right. The Rodney King Riots wouldn't have taken place if the LAPD had been as tough on the inciters as the Police of the surrounding communities were on theirs.

Posted by Ptah 2003-04-08 10:40:32|| [www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2003-04-08 10:40:32|| Front Page Top

#16 SF and Oakland are separated by the Bay Bridge, joked by some to be the longest in the world.
Two completely different police departments.
SF is given over to war protesters.
Oakland, at times, borders on being a war zone.

Posted by Dishman 2003-04-08 11:16:52|| 2003-04-08 11:16:52|| Front Page Top

#17 I would also add that the Port of Oakland, where it appears the incident took place, is site of the 3rd largest port facility on the Western US, with a massive container shipment operation. The ports and container shipment areas are much tougher on security since 9/11.
The treatment you would receive here in a high security area located on privately run property is justifiably harsher than what you would get on the steps of City Hall in SF.
The mayor critisizing the protestors is non other than former CA Governor "Moonbeam" Jerry Brown whose history and political bent is way left, so I was glad he came down on the side of common sense too.

Posted by Capsu78 2003-04-08 12:22:18|| 2003-04-08 12:22:18|| Front Page Top

#18 "Oakland police are being the most aggressive of any department I've seen in the Bay area since the war began," said protester Damien McAnany, a database manager. "The San Francisco Police Department never used any of this stuff against us."

Hey, Damian, it's called "sending a message"! You ought to be familiar with that concept.

Posted by Former Russian Major 2003-04-08 15:07:13|| 2003-04-08 15:07:13|| Front Page Top

#19 Why do they always try to make these whackos look mainstream? If they were mainstraim there would be a Million people out there each time not 500. These are the remnants of the broken down lefties organizations. I applaud the OPD for their non-lethal response to these holigans. I bet they pick a different place to picket (in SF).

Posted by Cyber Sarge 2003-04-08 18:25:26|| 2003-04-08 18:25:26|| Front Page Top

#20 "Demonstrators said they targeted the port because at least one company there is handling war supplies"
attempting to stop supplies ffrom reaching the troops! Wouldn't it be nice if the could try them for treason? May be more effective than the rubber bullet sin stopping the protests.

Posted by scott 2003-04-08 18:35:36|| 2003-04-08 18:35:36|| Front Page Top

12:11 Anonymous
11:06 raptor
01:23 Anonymous
01:05 Anonymous
01:05 Anonymous
01:01 Anonymous
01:01 Anonymous
23:52 PD
23:46 anon1
23:39 PD
23:31 PD
23:23 Tresho
23:10 Former Russian Major
23:08 Former Russian Major
22:47 anon1
22:35 marek
22:28 B.
22:27 Fred
22:13 Bruce
21:58 Parabellum
21:55 Reed
21:53 Reed
21:52 Reed
21:52 Fred