Anti-war protesters hit with pepper spray

[Mr_Spock]

Anti-war protesters hit with pepper spray

May 30, 2006

OLYMPIA, Wash. --Police fired pepper spray as about 150 anti-war protesters tried to enter the Port of Olympia as part of ongoing demonstrations against the shipment of Army equipment to Iraq.

Protesters chanted "Out of Olympia, Out of Iraq" as they rocked a chain-link gate to the port late Monday, and at least three tried to use wooden boards to pry the gate open, The Olympian newspaper reported. A 50-ton piece of equipment was moved to reinforce the gate on the other side.

Police and sheriff's deputies clad in riot gear fired at least four rounds of pepper spray in an hour after asking the demonstrators several times to stop, authorities said. No one was arrested, but paramedics were dispatched to treat some activists.

Dozens of demonstrators crouched in the port plaza, dousing each other's eyes with water and offering slices of onion to soothe their throats.

...

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/05/30/anti_war_protesters_hit_with_pepper_spray/

[boobooday]

1. These are brave people

putting their butts on the line to try to stop (even if only symbolically) the war machine.

True patriots. Salud!

:patriot:

[gratuitous]

3. Standing up to death and oppression

Without weapons, without air support, without billions of tax dollars. Even without a day-long nationwide orgy of media worship.

[shadowknows69]

10. I'll bet if 150,000 people had been out there

they'd have gotten that gate open. Bushie better take note. We need lots more of this. All hail the brave fighters of the revolution.

[NVMojo]

2. wow ...

[noonwitch]

4. Why were they trying to pry the gate open?

What does that have to do with protesting the war? It sounds more to me like challenging the police, who of course, have nothing to do with starting or stopping the war.

It sounds to me like the police were reasonable-they didn't arrest anyone and called for paramedics to treat those who were hit with the pepper spray.

[Mr_Spock]

5. Read the whole article - last three para - 16 arrested/very peaceful

You really need to open the link and read the remaining three paragraphs.

[The Stranger]

15. Right, why are they even protesting? They need to be quiet and

stop rocking the boat.

Right?

:sarcasm:

(I can't believe I am reading this on DU).

[heartofthesiskiyou]

20. OH... REALY????

Would the protesters have been "reasonable" if they shot pepper spray at the police?

Hold on let me make a note of that..

Bring pepper spray to next demo to shoot at police
also bring some hand cuffs to place the police in to show restraint.
got it thanks..

[Fierce]

6. Eh, they got off easy.

They're lucky the longshoremen didn't come out and kick their asses.

[stepnw1f]

12. You Sound Disappointed (nt)

[Fierce]

13. You misunderstand.

nt

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

25. Then, enlighten us to the "misunderstanding."

Don't say someone "misunderstood," which I don't think they did, and offer no explanation, just a "nt" copout.

[bvar22]

17. "Longshoremen" are WITH the protesters.

I'm not sure if any members of the ILA (International Longshoremens Association) were at this particular protest, but they have been in the frontlines at protests around the nation.
Use your Google.

I was looking for the large protest in Miami bout 3 years ago where ILA members were hit with wood bullets, but this one will do.

Police open fire to break up anti-war protest in California
<snip
Police fired on demonstrators with rubber bullets, concussion grenades and wooden dowels at an anti-war protest at the Port of Oakland in California Monday.

At least 12 protesters and six longshoremen were injured after police opened fire about 7:30 a.m. Injuries included concussions, broken hands and noses and large bleeding welts.
<end snip>

http://www.flyernews.com/article.php?section=News&volume=50&issue=40&artnum=glance

[Fierce]

19. Wonderful!

nt

[lonestarnot]

7. Getting bolder or bouldered.

[ticapnews]

8. Chemical weapons used on American citizens...

I wonder when the UN Security Council will take action to protect the American people from such atrocities.

[zann725]

9. Is there any research as to IF "pepper spray" permanently or POSSIBLY

causes at least prolonged eye-damage...not just temporary irritation? Not to mention lasting lung and/or respiratory damages?

I was sprayed about 10 yrs. ago more directly in the right eye by "tear gas" (or "pepper spray"?)...by some trouble-makers riding in a passing back seat of a bus. (I happened to be a truly innocent by-stander on a nearby curb as the bus passed, with it's back window open...with assailant leaning out, spraying.) I still remember (10 yrs later), the excruciating pain. Even though a stander-by timely carried me to a nearby bathroom to wash out my eyes, I still (10 years later) have a dark spot/blind spot out of the far right of THAT right eye when I look to the Right. Could be coincidental, but I had no such 'blind spot' before. And although I was told at the time, the "temporary irritation" would go away WITHOUT damage, I'm curious if others have had suffered damage due to "spraying" with such irritants.

Like Tasers, is this "spraying" of delicate eyes, and repiratory system long-term lethal or damaging...and therefore FAR OUTSIDE what should be 'legal' as 'crowd control agents?'

[noonwitch]

11. It's got to be better than getting shot with a bullet/beaten with a club

I've never been exposed to actual pepper spray, but I was exposed to the tear gas the police use when I was in college (not my fault, they dropped it on my neighborhood during a street party-I was minding my own business on the porch). I didn't have any long-lasting problems, once the gas dispersed, and I washed my face, I was fine.

I don't think pepper spray has any really bad effects, unless someone is allergic to it or has some other health condition (like asthma) that would be complicated by it.

From the cops' perspective, it effectively does the job without them having to shoot or hit anyone. I don't know about you, but I'm far more sensitive to lead than to pepper.

[Brian Stevens]

22. Could be Kent State all over again

or close to it.

[Acadia Blue]

14. They kill people in Mexico and throw them in the back of a truck for

protesting and it never even makes the papers.

[meganmonkey]

16. Stepping it up

Good for these protestors. True american patriots :patriot:

Pleasant, safe, permitted Sunday afternoon marches will NOT end this war, or expose the lies and crimes of our government. We need to pick it up, and we need thousands and thousands of people who are willing to risk some comfort and maybe some freedom to do so.

We ask how the Germans let Hitler and the Nazis amass so much power, why didn't they try to stop them? We are the Germans now, and if we don't try hell of a lot harder we will be condoning everything bushco is wreaking on the world.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

18. I aspire to be these people

Bolder each day! I love it!

[RagingInMiami]

21. "Slices of onions to soothe their throats"?

How does that work?

[arcane1]

24. I'm not sure, but we should all take note of that

one never knows when such info will come in handy

[wordpix]

26. never heard of it but I'll try it next time I get a sore throat

[tinfoil tiaras]

23. The Freepers are just taking the advice of Facism for Dummies

by Hitler. Later they're going to have a reading circle featuring Propoganda for Dummies by Goebbels.

And what is it with their obsession with hanging people? Alot of Freepers think that hanging should be a legal option for the death penalty. I guess its just their underlying racism coming out...back in them good ole days...

I <3 protesters :patriot: The only protests that happen in Jackson are Freeper anti-abortion ones...are there any big protest dates this summer? Cause if there are, I wanna go to one!!

Pepper spray...kinda reminds me of tear gas..which reminds me of Ole Miss back in the 1960s...which reminds me of some of the most batshit insane people the state of Mississippi has elected in the past (i.e. Ross Barnett).

I'm reading An American Insurrection right now. Very good book, I learned alot about the scary past of Mississippi. Mississippi wasn't like a police state in the 1950s-1960s; it was a police state, with the Council of Conservitive Citizens wrecking havoc over all the racial MODERATES...:scared:

[uppityperson]

27. Links to Olympia paper, 4 pictures too

Front page of Olympian
http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

http://community.theolympian.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album432
http://community.theolympian.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album430
Asking for badge numbers

Trying to break fence

Sheriff between protestors and fence

After the pepper spray

[Zodiak]

28. That's two guys

The article says the "protestors" tried to pry the fence open (collectively). Looks like two guys, not 150. Even if it was 10 guys, it is ostensibly a subset of an otherwise peaceful protest.

Love that media.