Yesterday (March 21, 2009), I attended the action organized by the ANSWER Coalition in SF against the 6 year-old occupation of Iraq, what started as a day with some drizzle, turned out to be beautiful weather for a peaceful demonstration / rally at Civic Center Plaza.
It was peaceful in spite of a couple of dozens pro-Iraq occupation counter-protesters, waving Israeli flags, and the usual verbal exchanges between the two sides across a cops-lined Polk street.
I started hearing that the cops were arresting a young boy behind the stage, I was located to the left of the stage as you face it and saw that there was a commotion to my right and saw cops and ANSWER Security volunteers moving toward the side where I was, the group marched and continued to an area to the left of my location, I started to shot video with my cell camcorder as I moved toward the area where they had stopped.
As you will see in the video, the group was calm, I started to hear that the cops had decided not to arrest the boy after all, while I have not confirmed that this is what happened, this was indeed the info that was circulating among the people around me.
One of the cops in the back of the group, relative to my location, can be seen given instruction to the other officers, then he moves in to where the boy and what I assume was his mother, were starting to leave walking in my direction, the cop intercepted the boy and started to push him to the back and right, members of the group started to yell in protest of the cop's action, what happened next was chaotic, to put it mildly, the other officers charged the group, pushing them as other cops converged in a flash, pushing, shoving and clubbing people in what appeared to me to be in a undiscriminated and unwarranted fashion.
As a eyewitness to these events, in my opinion, the police over-reacted and their actions were totally disproportionate to the situation, they inflamed an, albeit emotionally charged, peaceful conditions, into a melee where police abuse of force can be seen.
SF Cop moves in to arrest 9 year old boy
In this clip (1 of 4), a Cop moves in to arrest 9 year old boy - 032109 SF Anti Irak Occupation March & Rally
This is one of the clips I shot with my cell camcorder during the protest in SF against the 6th year occupation of Irak, some of it was done with my hand over the head trying to aim by feel, sorry if I miss the heads of participants in some scenes but by chance I got some of
the action.
As a witness, in my opinion, the cops' actions were unprovoked and disproportionate to the situation, they over-reacted, although to call it over- react may not be the correct term to use, a more accurate description would be to say 'they acted'
On this clip, you can clearly see how all was relatively calm, as the video rolls, there was a small cluster of people and cops on the street, the young boy they wanted to arrest, his mother? when the young woman, the boy and a young man started to walk away because I believe the decision was made not to arrest the boy, a cop on their right moved in to stop them and push the boy back, from then on, as you know, was very chaotic, anyway, this is the clip that captured some of that action.
UPDATE: This video taken by Meklorka of same scenes but clearer.
| | - Here is a completely unedited video of the very beginnings of this confrontation, which clearly shows the police attacking the crowd without provocation. The situation began when it was announced from the stage that the police were trying to arrest a nine year old Palestinian boy for reasons they would not divulge. A crowd of people rushed over to video tape and witness what was going on. |
UPDATE: This video taken by herbnotbombs is more complete in that it shows the very beginning, it also includes the scenes of the other two videos above.
| | - The video start after the police have plucked the boy from the other demonstrators, from here they walked in the direction where I was located, you can see that all was calm, you can see protest's volunteers talking to officers in what appear to be negotiations to not have the boy arrested. The peaceful discussion continued until one cop goes and talks to a grup of officers and then moves in to detain the young boy, this scenes ware the ones captured by the videos above. |
Young man arrested - cop with loaded grenade launcher
| | - In this clip (3 of 4), I captured some of the activity when a young man was arrested and at the end he was led away, somewhere in the middle of the clip, there is cop with a fully loaded grenade launcher and two more grenades on the butt of the launcher, he looked very menacing,on two times I focused on him, you will catch a brief sights of another cop on his right with what appears to be a belt full of grenades |
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| A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition | |||
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