Bush Gasses His Own People In Oakland, California
How Would You Like Your Tyrant Today? | 07.04.2003 17:13
pResident Bush deployed chemical weapons against his own people this morning on in Oakland, California. Hundreds of women, children, dockworkers, and other peace advocates were brutally assaulted the morning of 4/7/03 by masked government forces wielding chemical weapons, concussion grenades, and firing guns into the crowd.
SF Indymedia Chronology
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/04/1596177.php
A chronology of events at the time the information was relayed from picketers by cell phones at the Oakland Ports
7:05am- Police have arrived and are wearing gas masks facing a non-violent legal moving pickett line at the Oakland Ports
7:16am- First order to disperse was given to one group; most given the order disperse started to walk away
7:30am- People in this group started dispersing west after dispersal notice given. Police tell them that "it's legal for them to be there as long as they're moving"
7:40am- exploding noises heard about 100ft away by group dispersing. People are saying it's tear gas. Police are advancing towards the dispersing pickett
8:02am- group is being rushed by motorcycles at high speeds; order to disperse given again after they left the last site they were told to disperse from; police are shooting something (people say that they're shooting wooden/rubber bullets and concussion grenades); people running; location: around middle harbor road; groups are being divided; people who were driving down the street are getting out of their cars and running; "it's mayhem"; police telling people that they have 2 minutes to disperse as they are dispersing and being shot at with concussion grenades and tear gas.
8:08am- picketers at another site in the Oakland ports called and said that they recieved notice that the ILWU sent their workers home for the day.
8:10am- attempted to reach group running from police; no answer
8:24am- attempted to reach group running from police; no answer
8:27am- Group running from police calls; things have settled down a little bit; they're being pushed towards the North by the police; location: they can see the Bay Bridge and Marin; they're walking along side chicken wire fences and can see a lot of trucks; the police had been shooting rubber bullets (at least one person was knicked in the shoulder by a bullet in this group); police are shooting concussion grenades as they push the crowd that is walking; a woman driving her car was dragged out of her car and hand-cuffed with zip-ties @ around 8:12am; her car was confiscated; other than that, this group didn't hear of any particular arrests
8:40am- At least one person from the group had been hit in the hand by the rubber bullets; the group was currently at 7th and Maritime; one cop car is ahead of group dispersing directing traffic; at some point they asked to see the organizers of the group; the group responded that they had no leaders; a couple hundred people at this point could be seen down the street marching in a tightly-knit group
8:50- At least three members of one group had been arrested on the train tracks as they ran from concussion grenades and tear gas earlier.
9:20am- Person who had been hit in the hand by the wooden bullet seems to have a broken hand; he is to be brought to Alta Vista hospital
9:40am- Report from protestor at the scene that the protest had been completely non-violent and that she was very suprised that one of the gates had been targeted with tear gas, concussion grenades and rubber/ wooden bullets even as the group dispersed when the police asked them to disperse. Many non-violent picketers remain at the docks.
===========================
Sanitized Corporate Media Coverage
http://www.ktvu.com/news/2094673/detail.html
Oakland Police Open Fire On Protesters, Longshoremen
POSTED: 7:23 a.m. PDT April 7, 2003
UPDATED: 9:22 a.m. PDT April 7, 2003
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Police open fired Monday morning with rubber bullets at an anti-war protest at the Port of Oakland, injuring several longshoremen standing nearby.
Police were trying to clear protesters from an entrance to the docks when they opened fire and the longshoremen apparently were caught in the crossfire.
Six longshoremen were treated by paramedics and at least one was expected to be taken to a hospital. It was unclear if any of the protesters was injured.
"I was standing as far back as I could," said longshoremen Kevin Wilson. "It was very scary. All of that force wasn't necessary."
Oakland Police officer James Carroll said he "heard some less lethal force was used."
Trent Willis, a business agent for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said dockworkers were leaving the docks after the incident.
"I'm very pissed off. They shot my guys. We're not going to work today," Willis said. "The cops had no reason to open up on them."
Police used non-lethal bullets, sandbags and concussion grenades to try to break up about 500 protesters, who split into groups in front of different terminals. The anti-war protests were part of a series of demonstrations around the San Francisco Bay area on Monday.
Carroll said police set up a "skirmish line" and ordered the protesters to disperse.
"It escalated pretty quick," he said. "Usually you go to these protests and you wait around for three to four hours. Today, all of a sudden, people were being taken into custody."
Some 300 anti-war protesters were at the entrance to the American Presidents Line pier, barring the way. At one point -- some 15 trucks carrying huge containers were waiting outside the gates for police to clear the way for them to enter. The protesters targeted the large shipping firm is making money on the war in Iraq.
Elsewhere, demonstrations were also being staged in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco, at the Concord Naval Weapons Station and seven demonstrators tied up rush-hour traffic by forming a human chain and blocking the Ocean Ave. off-ramp of Highway 280 near San Francisco State.
The protests come barely two weeks after rowdy demonstrations sparked more than 2,000 arrests and brought downtown San Francisco to a standstill.
San Francisco-based peace group Direct Action to Stop the War said the protests would feature acts of civil disobedience. Early in the day, local police said no arrests had been made.
At the federal building, a group of about 50 protesters marched in a circle, pounding wooden spoons in what some were calling "The Day of the Wooden Spoons." Organizers were asking protesters to use wooden spoons to drum together and express their dissatisfaction with the war.
Buff Whitman-Bradley, a representative from the anti-war coalition Direct Action to Stop the War, said activists chose wooden spoons because "they represent the ordinary lives of ordinary people, and the daily life of making food for each other and sitting down with each other."
In addition to the anti-war spoon carriers, protesters were planning on sending their message to Bay Area lawmakers. According to Whitman-Bradley, many Bay Area liberals feel betrayed by some lawmakers' approval of war funding and expressed support for the war.
Protesters were planning to ask Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, to recognize their dissatisfaction with the war.
Protesters were returning to a familiar site in Concord, but times have changed since the end of the Cold War. The Navy has closed most of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Still, protest organizers claim trucks have been seen transporting material out of the facility since the war began.
During the Cold War, the weapons station was the scene of frequent protests. Demonstrators said nuclear weapons were stored there and often tried to block weapons trains.
In 1987, protester Brian Willson lost both legs after he lay down on the tracks and was run over by a train.
Meanwhile, the California Highway Patrol said seven people had been arrested after they briefly blocked the Ocean Ave. offramp. The demonstration backed traffic up for miles on the busy commute artery.
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/04/1596177.php A chronology of events at the time the information was relayed from picketers by cell phones at the Oakland Ports
7:05am- Police have arrived and are wearing gas masks facing a non-violent legal moving pickett line at the Oakland Ports
7:16am- First order to disperse was given to one group; most given the order disperse started to walk away
7:30am- People in this group started dispersing west after dispersal notice given. Police tell them that "it's legal for them to be there as long as they're moving"
7:40am- exploding noises heard about 100ft away by group dispersing. People are saying it's tear gas. Police are advancing towards the dispersing pickett
8:02am- group is being rushed by motorcycles at high speeds; order to disperse given again after they left the last site they were told to disperse from; police are shooting something (people say that they're shooting wooden/rubber bullets and concussion grenades); people running; location: around middle harbor road; groups are being divided; people who were driving down the street are getting out of their cars and running; "it's mayhem"; police telling people that they have 2 minutes to disperse as they are dispersing and being shot at with concussion grenades and tear gas.
8:08am- picketers at another site in the Oakland ports called and said that they recieved notice that the ILWU sent their workers home for the day.
8:10am- attempted to reach group running from police; no answer
8:24am- attempted to reach group running from police; no answer
8:27am- Group running from police calls; things have settled down a little bit; they're being pushed towards the North by the police; location: they can see the Bay Bridge and Marin; they're walking along side chicken wire fences and can see a lot of trucks; the police had been shooting rubber bullets (at least one person was knicked in the shoulder by a bullet in this group); police are shooting concussion grenades as they push the crowd that is walking; a woman driving her car was dragged out of her car and hand-cuffed with zip-ties @ around 8:12am; her car was confiscated; other than that, this group didn't hear of any particular arrests
8:40am- At least one person from the group had been hit in the hand by the rubber bullets; the group was currently at 7th and Maritime; one cop car is ahead of group dispersing directing traffic; at some point they asked to see the organizers of the group; the group responded that they had no leaders; a couple hundred people at this point could be seen down the street marching in a tightly-knit group
8:50- At least three members of one group had been arrested on the train tracks as they ran from concussion grenades and tear gas earlier.
9:20am- Person who had been hit in the hand by the wooden bullet seems to have a broken hand; he is to be brought to Alta Vista hospital
9:40am- Report from protestor at the scene that the protest had been completely non-violent and that she was very suprised that one of the gates had been targeted with tear gas, concussion grenades and rubber/ wooden bullets even as the group dispersed when the police asked them to disperse. Many non-violent picketers remain at the docks.
===========================
Sanitized Corporate Media Coverage
http://www.ktvu.com/news/2094673/detail.html Oakland Police Open Fire On Protesters, Longshoremen
POSTED: 7:23 a.m. PDT April 7, 2003
UPDATED: 9:22 a.m. PDT April 7, 2003
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Police open fired Monday morning with rubber bullets at an anti-war protest at the Port of Oakland, injuring several longshoremen standing nearby.
Police were trying to clear protesters from an entrance to the docks when they opened fire and the longshoremen apparently were caught in the crossfire.
Six longshoremen were treated by paramedics and at least one was expected to be taken to a hospital. It was unclear if any of the protesters was injured.
"I was standing as far back as I could," said longshoremen Kevin Wilson. "It was very scary. All of that force wasn't necessary."
Oakland Police officer James Carroll said he "heard some less lethal force was used."
Trent Willis, a business agent for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said dockworkers were leaving the docks after the incident.
"I'm very pissed off. They shot my guys. We're not going to work today," Willis said. "The cops had no reason to open up on them."
Police used non-lethal bullets, sandbags and concussion grenades to try to break up about 500 protesters, who split into groups in front of different terminals. The anti-war protests were part of a series of demonstrations around the San Francisco Bay area on Monday.
Carroll said police set up a "skirmish line" and ordered the protesters to disperse.
"It escalated pretty quick," he said. "Usually you go to these protests and you wait around for three to four hours. Today, all of a sudden, people were being taken into custody."
Some 300 anti-war protesters were at the entrance to the American Presidents Line pier, barring the way. At one point -- some 15 trucks carrying huge containers were waiting outside the gates for police to clear the way for them to enter. The protesters targeted the large shipping firm is making money on the war in Iraq.
Elsewhere, demonstrations were also being staged in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco, at the Concord Naval Weapons Station and seven demonstrators tied up rush-hour traffic by forming a human chain and blocking the Ocean Ave. off-ramp of Highway 280 near San Francisco State.
The protests come barely two weeks after rowdy demonstrations sparked more than 2,000 arrests and brought downtown San Francisco to a standstill.
San Francisco-based peace group Direct Action to Stop the War said the protests would feature acts of civil disobedience. Early in the day, local police said no arrests had been made.
At the federal building, a group of about 50 protesters marched in a circle, pounding wooden spoons in what some were calling "The Day of the Wooden Spoons." Organizers were asking protesters to use wooden spoons to drum together and express their dissatisfaction with the war.
Buff Whitman-Bradley, a representative from the anti-war coalition Direct Action to Stop the War, said activists chose wooden spoons because "they represent the ordinary lives of ordinary people, and the daily life of making food for each other and sitting down with each other."
In addition to the anti-war spoon carriers, protesters were planning on sending their message to Bay Area lawmakers. According to Whitman-Bradley, many Bay Area liberals feel betrayed by some lawmakers' approval of war funding and expressed support for the war.
Protesters were planning to ask Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, to recognize their dissatisfaction with the war.
Protesters were returning to a familiar site in Concord, but times have changed since the end of the Cold War. The Navy has closed most of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Still, protest organizers claim trucks have been seen transporting material out of the facility since the war began.
During the Cold War, the weapons station was the scene of frequent protests. Demonstrators said nuclear weapons were stored there and often tried to block weapons trains.
In 1987, protester Brian Willson lost both legs after he lay down on the tracks and was run over by a train.
Meanwhile, the California Highway Patrol said seven people had been arrested after they briefly blocked the Ocean Ave. offramp. The demonstration backed traffic up for miles on the busy commute artery.
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