At the beginning of this footage, you can hear me talking to my friend Kevin Burton on the phone. (Here it is in two parts for those of you with slow connections: part 1, part 2.)
I had been in the same spot for almost a half hour. There was a line of cops in the street, but they had been there the whole time and there was no reason to believe that anything was “wrong” per se.
The last thing I remember (and indeed, the last thing that happens on-screen before all hell breaks loose) is watching my friend Kevin wave to me as he is walking across the street. I had just finished telling him that I decided to take a few steps back so I wouldn’t be “in the street.” The cops would talk to us to tell us what we could do to not be in trouble, although they could have easily done so using a megaphone or some other means available to them — but I could figure out that blocking traffic were what they were so upset about so I (so foolishly) thought I would be OK if I stayed on the sidewalk.
There was little or no communication between the cops and the protesters before the line of cops rushed into the crowd and started hitting people with billy clubs and selecting members of the crowd at random to be arrested.
I wish I could say that I stood my ground and just kept filming, but as my footage will demonstrate. I backed up to the far end of the sidewalk to make sure I wasn’t going to get hit before I could concentrate on filming again.
It was then that I noticed “gangs” of 2 or 3 cops picking on certain individuals — usually male. I got some shots of this (http://www.lisarein.com/3-20-03-copgang.gif) and then turned to see a cops throw a girl into a newspaper machine. I turned the camera on her in time to see her try to stand up while a cop confronted her and she tried to back away from him while he hit her with his club (med res) (hi-res and small) and was about to do it again when she ran off screaming. (I interview her here.) (Hi-res version of interview.)
Again: the violence I witnessed seemed to be at random, unprovoked, and without warning. If they’re trying to scare us out of exercising our free speech rights, they’re sure doing a good job. I’m going to get my footage up today and see what the scene is before going back out there today.
Okay so back to describing this scene. After the cops rushed the crowd, and selecting certain individuals and having them put their hands behind their backs since they were going to be arrested, the crowd begins booing and screaming. “The whole worlds watching,” it screams. (“Ha!” I thought to myself, “I wonder if the crowd or the cops know how true that is!” 🙂
Kevin was shouting, “You don’t have to do this!” Someone else shouted “Take some pride in your work”. I kept having to run from the action periodically so the camera keeps getting shaky, but I decided to leave in all of that footage so you could see the whole conflict within its proper context from beginning to end.
I was seriously worried that I was going to get attacked by one of these cops — even though I was just standing there, far away from the street, with my camera, peacefully. I’ve never personally witnessed cops just running into the street hitting people at random that haven’t provoked them before, and have generally been very supportive of San Francisco cops’ behavior during the protests for this reason. Now I’m scared, and very, very sad (perhaps more sad than anything else).
One good thing I saw the cops doing was about four of them stopped to help an old man that was about to pass out. They stood with him for several minutes while he came around. At first people thought they were going to arrest him or something, and then we realized what was going on and spread the world that they were actually helping him out. (I just felt compelled to pass the incident along, to their credit.)
Photos of cop beating up girl from incident mentioned above:
Here are some other grabs I took from my footage, with captions:
Kevin Burton running out of the street when the cops start attacking people.
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A gang of cops attacking a protester.
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A shot of the crowd during the incident.
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Another shot of the crowd during the incident. (At this point, everyone was putting their hands above their heads in peace signs, hoping they would see that we werent fighting back so they would stop hitting us.)
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A cop brandishing the biggest baton I’ve ever seen in my life.
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Cops restraining randomly chosen folks in the crowd.
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Another shot of the same group of cops as above restraining the same guy (a randomly chosen protester in the crowd).
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A very sad police officer who looks like he wishes he was somewhere else. (There were many sad cops just like this guy.)
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Shots of the scuffle.
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Another shot of the scuffle.
Thanks for this post, Lisa.
San Francisco Police Presence – “Day After” Protests
The San Francisco Police Dept. had a tough day on the streets today. I recognized officers that I’d seen early…
Good, I’m glad. Good for the cops for showing some patriotizm. Damn protesters definately have it coming. They should stay off the street and stop trying to muck up america.
Thier protesting is not going to stop the war, its only encouraging Sadam. Damn hippies. Where were they when Clinton sent out his bombs? They were at home cheering him on. The only reason they are out there is because they hate Bush and want America to lose.
Hippie protesters suck and deserve to have some sense stomped into them.
jon, i don’t exactly agree with that viewpoint. Although i support the war, i also support the right of free expression, which is a fundamental right outlined in the constitution. These cops should not have been acting in this way. Did these people really deserve this. I hope one day you have something worth protesting about and the same happens to you!
All politics aside, it looked to me like Pink was attacking the officer and he gave her a little thunk to get her to back off. Remember, these guys are under orders. Do you really think any of them went to cop school to learn how to hold back crowds of commies? No; they wanted to chase bad guys.
Your attention please: Jon is a troll. Do not feed the troll.
You are so important. Please be strong. There will be an aftermath, and then it will be good to remember, that there were actually people of courage.
It takes much more courage to protest to this sickening war than it does rallying up behind a warmonger-president and a Dick Cheney with a most dubious past – and future strategi. It is so comforting to know that Americans have not yet become Zombies. Yours, Helle Nyberg.
great to see some positive images of police violence
the law officers of america are the new age nazi’s and George Bush is their Hitler.
America has become a fascist country and I see so many similarities between the stars and stripes and the nazi swastica. Both demand obligations of those who accept such nonsense.
America is a country run by evil men for the devil.
Phil, did you look at the footage at all? The girl is getting up from having been pushed into a rack of newspapers. She gets up slowly, staggers a little bit, and then the policeman hits her.
One thing that became very clear to me is that the police were scared too. What the hell are they telling the police in the ready rooms, I wonder. It looks as though that policeman was scared enough to hit this girl just to keep her away from him.
This is incredibly fucked up. I’m sad for America today.
She didn’t get out of the street. He hit her in the leg. What’s the big deal?
The real reason why all this is happening is because we all forgot about God, the proprietor of all things. One one realizes that they are not their body, but eternal spirit souls meant to do devotional service than the material sufferings and misconceptions come to a close. Everything that happens to someone be it good or bad is based on their previous activities and the due return. Look at yourself first and figure out how your a part of this. How many animals did you contribute to slaughtering?
Protest Footage
footage of the SF protests on 20/3/2003
Why do people think they can have an illegal protest in the street and the police won’t do whatever is necessary to clear the street. If you blocked my driveway I’d beat the hell out of you. What do you expect the police to do? Besides this is just a game–the protestors are dying for a juicy confrontation with the police to make for a colorful protest. This is what happens when you think of the police as symbols for everything you hate and forget they are just civil servants who take orders. The street needs to be cleared–do whatever it takes to clear it. And if a police officer tells you to clear out what do you do? You fucking clear out! What do you think they are–some substitute teacher you can just blow off?
That poor Kelly Osbourne. Too bad it didn’t stop her bloody swearing.
Listen to the interview:
“I saw [my boyfriend] across the street fucking with some cops, you know, wrestling with some cops, so I took off running, you know, ’cause he’s my fucking boyfriend. I went to go get him. I took off running and this cop just ran by and slammed into me and knocked me into the fucking shit and hit me a fucking club and I’m a 17 year old fucking girl.”
a) She doesn’t have the smartest of boyfriends.
b) She’s not the smartest herself if she takes off running toward a line of cops.
The police are outnumbered and holding back a crowd that is rowdy, and have already dealt with several other crowds that have gotten aggressive (hey, Lisa, where was your video camera when theywere throwing rocks and bottles at cops and attacking police cars?). They are scared. If someone starts running toward them they are going to perceive it as a threat, and not stop to ask “excuse me, how old are you?”
The girl got up, _turned_ toward the officer and headed towards him. He shouted “Get back!”, she continued toward him, and he gave her a whack. If that cop had wanted to hurt her, she’d have collapsed from the pain. He hit her once and she got out of the street — mission accomplished. It was a moderated, effective, and, in my opinion, justified use of force.
As for the rest (randomly attacking protesters), the video is to poor of quality to actually see it (I certainly didn’t see anything that was conclusive, just a bunch of people running away from the cops from off-camera where anything could have happened).
I’m more upset at the harsh words the protesters had for the cops, even before the disturbance. These guys are dealing with the sewage of humanity, trying to maintain a civilized society, while a bunch of people are doing everything possible to incite anger and aggression, from police and non-police alike. If you ever boo a cop in my presence for doing his or her job you will get an earful from me because you are a fucking asshole.
I can’t believe people actually choose Sadam’s side instead of our Presidents. I would love to send all of the war protesters over to Iraq after we liberate them. The Iraqi that have been repressed,raped and murdered since 1978 would kick your ass for protesting. Get a real life and help somebody, not just jumping on some pop culture band wagon because “mom and dad” protested for Vietnam. Vietnam was a whole different situation.
I agree with American. they should send all the protesters to Iraq, we’ll see who will be protesting then. I met someone recently who lives in Kuwait and she wishes all the protestors would shut their mouth and had lived with her for the past 9 years, in fear that Saddam will send chemical agents to Kuwait just as he did to Northern Iraq (the Kurds). How many protestors can we stop and ask what Saddam has done to his own people….they have no clue! its a damn shame, we are out there acting like we know it all.
American, sazzy… This is not about choosing Saddam over Bush. This is about standing up to what we believe is an unjust war. Forget about who the leaders are for a moment, it’s unimportant to us.
Also, read these:
http://www.msnbc.com/local/fdddov/m266224.asp
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2003-02-05/bayview.html/1/index.html
Now, you’re definitely going to find lots of opinions of Iraqis that back the war, that I won’t dispute. But for you to suggest that the only reason we oppose this war is because we don’t understand the plight of the Iraqis, or that we would feel differently if we *were* Iraqi, is complete nonsense. If you can’t argue the topic on its merits, and resort to childish measures, then you really have nothing to say. Is that how you want to present yourself?
You pseudo-patriots a bunch of unamerican neofascist closet fags. Just listen to yourselves. If you hate freedom of speech so much, why don’t *you* emigrate? There are plenty of countries in the world which share your views on dissent. You might be more comfortable in one of them. (I suggest North Korea.)
My grandfather fought the japanese to defend the world from right-wing nationalist scum like you. You’re no patriots; you’re a bunch of traitors.
May God protect our great nation from your corrosive hate and love of tyranny.
Disgusted,
Captain USA.
American, sazzy, and many others like you – I am for peace. I also am for America. The Kuwaiti you talk about, sazzy, is not an Iraqi. The Iraqi’s do not want us there – do you not READ?? Or do you only pay attention to what the government – who has been caught in many lies the past several months – tells you? I also am most definitely not pro-Saddam. Why do people think that just because I believe in peace, I am pro-Saddam??? How dense are you people, anyway? Killing thousands of innocent Iraqi people, who have already been hurt by years of sanctions BY COUNTRIES LIKE THE U.S., as well as dealing with Saddam, is not going to solve the Saddam Hussein problem. Only getting Hussein will solve the Hussein problem. What is so wrong with wanting peace? What is so wrong with begging the world to find different ways than war to dealing with men like Saddam – and Hitler – and Napoleon – and so on down the list through history – than war? War has not ever solved the problem yet. Sure, it seems like it has temporarily each time. Hitler was taken care of. Then Korea became a problem. It was taken care of, and Viet Nam became a problem. War has continued on and on through the millenia, and no one seems to WANT to find a peaceful solution to these problems. WHY??? I will not support killing, and I cannot. And if you war supporters want to kill me for this, and you do, so be it. I will not be a party to it myself. I want peace – true peace.
This is so funny! I think we are going to see Extreme Protesting on MTV sooner than later. I love all the bandana face masks , it’s so Seattle. And when that girl “pink” got knocked I almost pissed my pants!
I like what Sazzy posted, word! In fact a lot of you had great things to say. I don’t even want to call these people/kids hippies, hippies had some purpose sort of, these knuckleheads are bed wetters. p.s. I can’t spell and I’m an idiot .
i would just like to point out that in his attempt to insult the protesters, phil referred to them as “crowds of commies”.
how sad and overtly ignorant is that.
or maybe i’m just not aware that the ‘red threat’ had returned. anyone have joe mccarthy’s phone number?
I find this very sad. I am anti-war (and in Canada, quite happily) and I’ve yet to see any cogent, well-reasoned pro-war arguments. Most of them boil down to “anti-war protestors are not patriotic!”, which is actually no argument at all. Whereas ati-war protestors generally have decent things to say about the sovereignty of other nations, the Iraqi people who are being bombed and killed, US imperialism, the long-standing US gulf policy of dominance, etc… And the pro-war people don’t even see that they are exhibiting herd mentality. Sad.
I’m all against the war and everything. But that cop did nothing wrong. Gave the freak a love tap to make her stand back. Basic crowd control. I’m mostly sad that I wasted 4 minutes of my life for this crummy video to download. The “event” is in the last 30 seconds at the end. The rest is junk. Not even suitable as b-roll.
Hmm where are the damn water cannons filled with pepper spray when you need them?
The First Amendment DOES NOT give people the right to block streets and creat dangerous situations. I fully support the right of Americans to dissent and protest. But let’s be honest here. Some of these “protestors” want nothing more than to create havoc. Yeah, I am talking about the dildos in the “Black Blocs” and the asshats that follow their lead.
Again, I fully support the right to free speach. But the line must be drawn when protests become violent or obstruct public life. If my wife were about to give birth and I ran into this crowd blocking the street to the hospital, what do you think I should do?
I am a WW2 diabled veteran. Hitler’s spirit is alive in the U.S. today. Our news media, owned by billionaires, is the modern Ministry of Propaganda; our police, storm troopers. Thinking people realize that “Shock & Awe” is a war crime killing huge numbers of mothers and children, old people and young women and men. Your critics, Lisa, represent the mindless minority who couldn’t elect this appointed president.
I am incredibly disgusted, not only by the police behavior, but by the flood of ignorant and hateful comments that followed. What are the “freedoms” being preserved for us by slaughtering Iraqis, other than the freedom Bush has to line his own pockets with oil profits and control of the oil pipeline. He’s already given out contracts to “rebuild” Iraq to wealthy companies. When we lose the right to protest, America has no more rights than any other country, especially Europe. Some of these people seem to resent the ability to speak out against the government, a guaranteed right of ours. Isn’t this exactly what you are accusing the Iraq government of doing to it’s people?
I’m amazed that there is such anger over our right to assemble and have our views heard. After all, this “president” was elected by 24% of the people, with 49% of the popular vote, thanks to a Florida voting scam starring brother Jeb.
I’ve never been more embarassed to be an American. If you think this sham of a war is about “freedom” or “liberating” Iraq’s citizens, you need to pull your head out of the sand and do some reading… I recommend Gore Vidal’s “Dreaming War”, which exposes Bush for the liar he is. It also reveals how Bush was magically not notified for 1:20 after the planes hit the 3 buildings, even though these flights were on FAA radar the whole time.
I applaud Canada, France, Germany and Russia for having the courage to oppose this phony war. It’s hilarious to hear Bush call the 3 countries taking part in this the “Coalition of the Willing: The whole thing reads like something from The Onion…
What disgusts me more than this footage is the response of the pro-war people to it. America is based around the principles of freedom. Is that not the stated purpose of the war in Iraq? Being against the war does NOT make me anti-American. I think excersizing my right to freedom of speech and protest makes me more patriotic that the person who is willing to bend to popular opinion.
I am not in favor of this war or the path we took to it, and very much value the freedoms to speak and congregrate that we’ve shown in the past several months. I am also quite strongly in favor of half-wits being baton-beaten.
Sounds like a great day to me!
I got a better idea…Why don’t all you pro-war mongers enlist and get shipped to Iraq and prove how much you love this country. Maybe your friends in the army can kill more of you than the Iraqis like what happening now. Have fun.
I feel so sorry for you americans, is there a way the rest of world can bring democracy to your suffering country??? Perhaps the UN can bring freedom to your people? (ps: I live in a REAL democracy, not the usa!!!)
I want to thank Lisa for this video. It is both moving, and shaming.
For those of you who are prepared to bomb, who don’t see that this young woman is a caught in chaos, I am also ashamed. I hope she is well, and has begun to recover.
The adrenalin runs when we get a traffic ticket, let alone get smacked by a police baton hit for trying to cross the road.
By the way, I’m Canadian. So you can pile on me, now.
The last time I read Jefferson, it seemed to me he felt disagreement was what made democracy strong. Guess he was wrong huh?
Well done Lisa, and my heart is with Sonja, who is an innocent.
There’s another clip on SF Indymedia by someone who must have been standing right next to Lisa (I think its the guy w/ the vx2000). Its a bit clearer in that it shows someone being roughly arrested (I presume Sonja’s boyfriend) and then a smoothish transition to Sonja getting clubbed.
Police Brutality at SF Antiwar Action
Thank you so much for posting this footage. It seems the press is downplaying the peace movement and the harsh treatment of peaceful protests by the police. (specifically in CA)
Peace is patriotic…. Support our Troops, BRING THEM HOME!
Thank you Joe for taking the time to transcribe and point out the scenario. Being one who commuted over an hour and a half to and through San Francisco I can say that blocking the streets in an already impossible city is harmful and dangerous to the hundreds of thousands of drivers that can’t take time off to demonstrate their opposition or support for the war.
As for Sonja, she’s just a 17 year old girl. Was she saying that she didn’t know any better? Does she pull over when a policeman turns on his sirens behind her? Why would an armed policeman in a high-alert situation be given any less respect than the policeman in the car?
Mob mentality is disgusting. Peace activists inciting violence should be ashamed of themselves. However the police officers who show any less than perfect restraint under this sort of pressure should be ashamed of themselves to. My hat goes off though to the thousands of demonstrators who DID demonstrate peacefully…and for the police that kept order and allowed the city to keep functioning.
Marketing Genius
Matt Haughey nails it here, I’ve been thinking similarly ever since Dubya swung his Sauronic war gaze in Iraq’s direction….
To American and Sazzy and all who think like you. Do you really understand the concept behind the founding of this nation, the idea that this war is supposed to be defending…it’s democracy stupid (o.k., so this war is about U.S. economic and political dominence in reality, but back to the basic tenents of democracy). To suggest that protesters need to leave the country says to me that you are followers of vitriolic hyperbolie, and not real defenders of democracy. America is predicated on the idea that we not only tolerate dissent and diverse thoughts, but that we are strengthened by that chorus of voices. Does the phrase “e pluribus unum” sound familiar? Check the coins in your pocket. What undermines our Nation is the ignorant bleating of citizens who don’t understand America’s founding principles. Perhaps you were sleeping in American History.
Glad there are some people who show courage in the U.S.! The whole world is against the war- OPEN YOUR EYES AMERICA!
Your puppet president is a criminal and should be persecuted for what he is doing! Wish there was more American Anti War footage in the news. For some reason there is hardly any, just CNN reporters somewhere in Southern Iraq and bombs destroying houses. But there are innocent people dieing, having their limbs ripped out of there boddies!!
On Lisa Rein’s Radar: My Video Footage From Yesterday’s Police Attack On Protesters
Link…
Hazzar, some of the media in the U.S. ARE reporting the truth about this unjust war, and the illegal maneuverings of the Bush regime. I’m a managing editor at a small daily in Oklahoma, and we seem to be among the few willing to do this. Ironically, my parents staunchly oppose my stand, and are apparently beginning to denounce me for my anti-war views. The same is true for my husband, whose parents are in California. This is particularly odd in light of the fact that my husband and I are Catholics (albeit liberal ones), and his parents are devout Catholics. Despite the pope’s pleadings, my husband’s parents prefer the philosophies of Rush Limbaugh to those of their religious leader. It’s sad when families choose to give their loyalty to the evil Bush regime over their own children. But I keep remember what Christ said about fathers and sons turning against one another, along with mothers and daughters, etc… The way things are going, my husband might just claim his Italian citizenship and move us there.
To all of you who think protesting is unamerican…and democracy as opposed to ASHCROFTS new AMERICA AND BUSH’S CORPORATE LANDLORDS are hero’s: I hope you don’t have to work for a living because hell has arrived and we will be working for peanuts without any rights or protections and you won’t have any say about it because you back an administration who runs our country like the mafia. This administration is owned by corporate America…..Iraq is about oil and money at the expense of innocents. They have no conscience. If these reasons are so honorable then maybe the tables should be turned! We used to be a great country untill the American people stopped reading books and started watching too much TV wrestling. We used to be united in our democratic thinking until we became republican/democrat along with the media and stopped looking at issues. We deserved what happened at Enron and that sleazy Cheney because we needed to wake up. Working people who did not stand up against corporate crime and this administration continuing to vote for this administration just because they are REPUBLICAN are the dumbest of all and deserve what happens in the future. I hope you or your family doesn’t work for a living because there are not many in this administration who are for the working people, republicans are blinded by their brainwashing corporate news! Thank you Lisa for promoting democracy and more power to the protesters who can hopefully save America from corporate raiders/lobbyists hell bent on destruction for profits!
Protesting isn’t un-American, but rioting is.
Before the invasion of Saddam’s torture factory started, dissidents claimed that one reason for leaving him in power was to avoid inflaming terrorists, who would attack Americans and do all sorts of damage, etc. Now that our troops, and the Brits, Aussies, Poles, and others are liberating the Iraqi people, the protests have ratcheted up a notch, to the point that police have to work overtime to contain them, protect property, and make it possible for people to go to work, take their children to school, get to the hospitals, etc. If the terrorist threat were real, this constant state of riot and confusion would provide them with excellent cover.
This leads to only two conclusions: (A) the protesters don’t really believe that removing Saddam from power by force will inflame terrorists, or (B) the protesters are working hand-in-glove with the terrorists. I don’t know which is correct, but I do know that wartime rioting is un-American.
My Video Footage From Yesterday’s Police Attack On Protesters
My Video Footage From Yesterday’s Police Attack On Protesters (On Lisa Rein’s Radar)…
I am against this war. I attended the first protest in Washington in October, which was entirely peaceful, and there were very few police officers there surpisingly. We marched down the streets with no problems, everything was sealed off. This was thanks to the group A.N.S.W.E.R. who organize protests, among other things, very well. What I want to add to this dialogue is about how emotions run. That protest in October was hardly covered. The following protests did not initiate much of anything in our two daily papers either. The protesters have a feeling of helplessness, and the feeling that they aren’t reaching anyone. The cops are there to contain peoples emotions, but they just set them off. I’m willing to bet the protest would have gone much more smoothly if the protests in the past were covered more effectively. The cops are seen as holding the protesters back, which sets them off. They are being ignored by everyone, and they don’t want to be ignored. Anyway, that girl shouldn’t have tried valiantly to save her boyfriend. Sure, she was scared, so was the cop. He did his job, she let her emotions get ahold of her. Slamming her into the paper box seemed excessive to me, but I don’t know how she was acting.
DIE JON!!!
Seems like the riot police all come from the same gene pool. Here is a link to a “brave” policeman in Madrid ensuring the public safety in the aftermath of one of the numerous protests in Madrid Saturday night by smacking a defenseless woman in the head with his baton.
The good news is that the Madrile
Analysis of the Policeman’s Actions
Lisa Rein likes getting her news from as it happens, and sharing it with the rest of the world via her video camera. It’s a great way of doing things, and it would be fun if more people did likewise. However the text of a piece on a cop attacking a pro…
The good news is that Saddam Hussein’s days are numbered, despite the efforts of the ignorant, the misguided and, in the case of ANSWER, the downright malicious around the world to keep him in power.
for those of you still convinced by bush, see the results of your hightech war here… http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2003/3/3-22-26.htm