Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

DC IMC Bush Protests Precis - "Insurgents" Delay "Second Coming"

imc repost | 21.01.2005 06:38 | Anti-militarism | Globalisation

short precis from Washington - dc imc - on the counter-inaugural protests 20th jan 05
- see below

(+ funniest pic of the day award - Vice President Cheney's Limo hit by Snowball :-)
 http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/115005/index.php

"Insurgents" Delay "Second Coming" of Bush
by DC IMC
21 Jan 2005
 http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/115226/index.php

The dreams of the faithful who came to honor the Christian crusaders were shattered today amid chants and tear-gas, when what was expected to be a grand victory march down Pennsylvania Avenue decended into an embarassing public spectacle for the president that temporarily brought his motorcade to a complete hault. With all eyes on Washington, DC, viewers across the nation and around the world were treated to parade images of waffing smoke and pepper spray, as police battled protesters right on the inaugural motorcade route. At one point, the fence barrackades on Pennsylvania Avenue about a mile ahead of the presidential parade were brought down by demonstrators during a prolonged clash that first slowed the president's motorcade, ultimately bringing it to a stand-still.
Moments before the motorcade stopped, it was actually forced to speed up briefly in an attempt to spare the president a prolonged exposure to an expanse of protesters who dwarfed the numbers of Bush supporters on the parade route at the site of the ANSWER rally. Large signs designating the president a fascist and his actions war-crimes framed the presidential limousine, and on mainstream television the voices of commentators attempting to downplay the significance of the protests were drowned out by the loud and angry shouts of "Fuck Bush!"

This was followed almost immediately by a request from police to slow down the advancing parade due to a continuing confrontation between security forces and demonstrators several blocks ahead on Pennsylvania Avenue. Police used tear-gas and pepper spray in their attempts to clear the street, and several media outlets including CBS captured images of the clash. Yet other television stations like CNN refused to air these pictures, focusing on the parade route while their commentators actually stated that they had no intention of "making too much" out of the displays of opposition.

The day began with a Critical Mass bike ride through DC early in the morning. A few hours later, a massive rally at Malcolm X Park, sponsored by the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN), was followed by a march to McPherson Square -- a march estimated by police to be 10,000 or more strong. A second march from the rally ended in civil disobedience at Lafayette Park, at the end of the parade route and in front of the White House.

Splinter marches broke off from the main DAWN march and moved into the city streets, and one of these groups met with extensive police violence including pepper-spray and battons, and there were several reports of some sort of projectiles being fired by police -- either rubber bullets or pepper-balls. DC Radio Co-Op reporter Darby Hickey, covering the protests from the field, was injured by the police actions.

During Bush's speech prior to the parade, Code Pink dropped a banner reading "Bring the Troops Home", but were quickly removed, as were several individuals who shouted other remarks in opposition to Bush. After the speech, the victory parade began, soon to be followed by the embarassment at one end of the parade route and large-scale fighting at the other end. During the large battle between police and demonstrators at 14th and Pennsylvania that halted the motorcade, there were injuries on both sides, with police reporting one officer with a broken arm. A stand-off set in, riot police lined up in front of protesters while tear-gas drifted in the air. Sixteen journalists had been pepper sprayed by the time calm resumed.

Several sets of protesters linked up to form a spontaneous and unpermitted march up Massachusettes Avenue towards Union Station. The march swelled and took up an entire lane of the avenue, and police moved in on motorcycles. The bikes were used to drive the marchers off the street, and several demonstrators were hit by police cycles in front of the Post Office on New York Avenue. While they were forced from the street itself, the marchers still made it to Union Station -- their destination, and the site of the so-called "Freedom Ball" for the Inaugural celebrations.

The mood outside Union Station became festive as the diverse group played music and regrouped, but shortly the arrival of Republican attendees of the Ball led to confrontations that included a fight between a demonstrator and a Republican -- the demonstrator being promptly arrested by police, and the Republican allowed to enter the party. Minutes later, another partygoer assaulted a photographer outside Ball, in full view of police who did nothing about the incident.

Late into the evening, yet another march started to form and make its way up Columbia Road through Adams Morgan. Protesters chanting, "Bring the War Home" were on their way to the Washington Hilton's Inaugural Ball, when at least 100 riot police lined up at 18th and Belmont while all roads and allies off Columbia were closed. The marchers were pinned in, and police were not allowing them to leave. The march turned onto the only road out, 18th street, and were totally cut-off by the police. Two buses appeared on 18th street, and four more on Columbia Road, as police moved in and started to arrest demonstrators while a helicopter overhead spotlighted the entire scene.

DC Radio Co-Op reporter Darby Hickey was reporting live from the scene, and police approached and told her to "take a walk", a warning that was followed by physical assault when an officer shoved her. Protesters were still being arrested as the entire section of Columbia was totally shut down and 30 additional riot police marched into positions on the road. Shortly, the two buses were gone along with 100 to 150 protesters who were arrested. A bank window was left shattered, bricks had flown, and some of those arrested were pepper sprayed by police even after they were adequately restrained. Another 50 people were on their knees being arrested in an alley just off Columbia Road as reports continued to come in from reporters in the field well into the early morning hours.

There is a clear sense that the oppressive tactics witnessed in DC, as well as during the RNC in New York and the trade protests in Miami, are increasingly the undeniable traits of an expanding police state. And yet, for all of the chest-thumping about the extensive security in place, protesters managed to carry their messages and their dissent right onto the parade route, through the streets all across the capitol of the Christian crusaders' empire, and make their voices heard around the world.

imc repost

Comments

Display the following 5 comments

  1. speech — - -
  2. Poor losers ? — Bush supporter
  3. Bush supporter — Freedumb! Freedumb!
  4. Laughing — Bush Supporter
  5. what a w*nker! — madcam
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech