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Protesters resist inauguration Anarchists
destroy inaugural checkpoint, hoist flag: media
blackout
Source: www.agrnews.org
Partially written, partially compiled by Eamon
Martin
Washington, DC, Jan. 20=D1 As the pomp and
circumstance of President George W. Bush=D5s
inauguration attempted to forcibly transcend the
domestic instability left in the wake of what
may be the most contentious election in US
history, approximately 20,000 people gathered in
the nation=D5s capital to protest. Bush, the first
President in more than a century to lose the
national popular vote, took the oath of office
as president of the United States, pledging to
"unite" the country which the November elections
showed to be deeply divided, along cultural,
geographic, and ethnic lines. For a large
percentage of the US public, the presidency is
deeply mired in a crisis of legitimacy by
numerous allegations of vote fraud, voter
disenfranchisement, and the controversial
Supreme Court decision that halted the vote
count on a legal technicality. For the many who
came to demonstrate from as many as forty US
states, a Bush/Cheney White House represents
nothing less than a debasement of democracy, a
Republican coup d=D5etat with a suitably
incompetent figurehead for a puppet regime.
Despite a relentless, cold rain and
unprecedented security restrictions for
demonstrators, widespread feelings of outrage
and contempt for the incoming administration
were literally overwhelming for many of those in
attendance. The day saw numerous marches,
assemblies, street theater performances, and
confrontations between police and protesters
that have since drawn concern from media
analysts, given the dramatic scope of the
activities and - in many cases - their
subsequent, mysterious absence from most news
reports.
Demonstrators were evident on every block of
the 1.6-mile inaugural parade route, and on some
blocks on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue,
they outnumbered other paradegoers. The day
began early for protesters, who were in the
streets well before Bush supporters. At 8:30am,
a few hundred met at 12th and G streets NW, then
marched to 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue,
to the beat of homemade drums.
A boisterous crowd of more than 1,000 assembled
at Dupont Circle just before 10 am, chastising
Bush for "stealing" the election. At 10:30, city
crews arrived to cut an effigy of Bush from a
tree. Speaker Patricia Ireland, president of the
National Organization for Women, told the crowd:
"Let them have the tree. We have all of Dupont
Circle and we have the whole country. They just
have the White House."
Meanwhile, near the Supreme Court, Al Sharpton,
Walter E. Fauntroy and other civil rights
activists were holding a "shadow" inauguration
and parade, attended by over 2,000 people. Laura
Brightman of Brooklyn, NY commented, "We were
sold out," as others around her chanted, "No
justice, no peace."
"And when we tried to get justice [from the
Supreme Court] we were sold again," said
Brightman. "The election was stolen." At the
Supreme Court building, Rudy Arredondo of Takoma
Park, Md., put it this way: "Bush is a Supreme
Court appointee. In my eyes, and in my
children=D5s eyes, he will never be a legitimate
president."
Anarchists destroy inaugural checkpoint, hoist
flag: media blackout Notably ignored by the
mainstream press, radical activists made
anarchist history during George W. Bush=D5s
inaugural parade when one of nine police
checkpoints to the celebration was battered down
and overrun with thousands of protesters. Not
long after, protesters -- led by the masked,
black-clad, anarchist collective known as the
"Black Bloc" -- seized the Naval Memorial on
Pennsylvania Ave. and raised anarchist flags up
the monument=D5s flagpole. Overwhelmed by the
security breach, DC police and Secret Service
appeared confused, powerless, and embarrassed as
they tried to contain, arrest, or disperse the
demonstrators, only to fail time and time again
when Black Bloc members physically fought back
and successfully prevented almost any such
police retaliation from happening.
In the weeks leading up to Bush=D5s inaugural
moment, the "historically unprecedented"
security measures being undertaken by the
Republican Party in tandem with DC police and
the US Secret Service received extensive
attention in the news media. For the first time
ever, anyone wishing to attend the inaugural
parade was required to pass through one of nine
police checkpoints, have their bags searched,
and in some cases be frisked and have protest
signs confiscated. "He stole the vote," said
Ethyl Tobch, 79, of New York City. "The fact
that the people=D5s votes were absolutely stolen
plus the checkpoints are very frightening. It
makes you feel like you are in a real
dictatorship."
It was a single egg that landed on the
presidential motorcade, a brief, maybe blurry
tele-view of colorful protest signs along the
parade route. By most news accounts, the
protests were an inaugural footnote, not worthy
of much comment or attention. However, for the
thousands of people attending the inaugural
parade who had gathered near the US Naval
Memorial, a dramatic, captivating spectacle
unfolded before them, for many the likes of
which had never before been seen. As the well-
to-do sat perched, waiting anxiously in the
expensive bleacher seats and hotel balconies
overlooking the parade for the arrival of the
Bush motorcade, parade-goers suddenly found
themselves in the midst of a giant confrontation
between police and protesters.
It began when a march of nearly 600 Black Bloc
demonstrators began to make its way towards the
parade route, leaving a small trail of impromptu
blockades -- mainly newspaper distributor racks
and automobiles -- behind them. Soon after, DC
police appeared and managed to corral against a
building wall about 80 of this group who called
themselves the "Revolutionary Anti-Authoritarian
Bloc." Mass arrests seemed imminent with the
police holding loads of plastic, "zip-tie"
handcuffs and City Transit Authority busses
parked nearby at the ready for "criminal" mass
transit. DC Executive Assistant Police Chief
Terrance W. Gainer said the police contingency
plan for up to 5,000 arrests involved the use of
several buses and 180 officers specifically
prepared for that many cases. All told, about
7,000 officers had been deployed from various
law enforcement agencies, including US Marshals
and National Guard troops. A standoff ensued
between the police, spectators, and a
groundswell of protesters suddenly reinforced by
the unexpected arrival of a National
Organization of Women (NOW) march and a Voter
Rights march, chanting "Let them go! Let them
go!" Hopelessly outnumbered, the police
eventually complied, freeing the demonstrators
to continue their protests.
With protesters now numbering in the 1,500-
2,000 range, a massive march proceeded to
Pennsylvania Ave. Not much later, with the
reunited Black Bloc at the front, a group of
inspired participants grabbed a fairly large
cart parked in front of a vacant construction
site. "What is this?" someone asked. "It=D5s a
battering ram!" another yelled in reply.
Much to the astonishment of thousands of
waiting parade-watchers, the construction cart
came careening down an overlooking hill,
crashing through a police checkpoint, only to be
stopped from going into the parade avenue by a
Secret Service car which pulled in front of it=D5s
path, damaging the federal vehicle in the
process.
The floodgates had been battered open, allowing
what from balcony seats must have looked like a
giant pool of black ink to seep into the crowded
festivities, followed by a colorful barrage of
signs proclaiming: "Supreme Coup," "Hail To The
Thief," "Not Our President" and hundreds more.
For all of their elaborate preparations, much to
their surprise, police and military were now
confronted with an embarrassingly massive breach
of national security.
Shocked Republicans and police watched as, soon
after, four Black Bloc members scaled the nearby
Navy Memorial flagpole to the roaring cheers of
demonstrators. In little time, the Nautical
flags were pulled down and replaced by black and
red anarchist flags, as well as an upside down
US flag -- the widely recognized symbol of
distress.
Over the next few hours, riot police attempted
at least three times to rush and disperse those
assembled by the monument, only to be pushed,
fought back, and defeated. Dozens of times,
without identifying themselves, several
undercover police attempted to "surprise arrest"
demonstrators. Activists responded quickly,
however, and with little exception, prevented
this from happening by directly confronting the
police, tackling them, fighting them, and many
times forcibly removing them from the area.
Meanwhile, the parade had been delayed. When
the Bush/Cheney motorcade eventually did arrive,
the cars abruptly sped by this concentrated
protest area, forcing the Secret Service
chaperones to break pace and run full steam to
catch up. At this particular moment, while food,
debris, loud insults, and a sea of hundreds of
middle fingers were hurled toward the new
president, apparently several news networks
broadcasting live simulcasts, simultaneously
thought it best to cut to commercial breaks or
check in with comments from fawning news
pundits.
Most demonstrators in the area soon dispersed
afterward, the object of their animosity having
since passed by in the new Cadillac, which
featured puncture-proof tires and six-inch-thick
bulletproof glass.
Of the estimated 350,000 people who came
downtown Saturday to see the swearing-in
ceremony or parade, DC police arrested only
five, and other law enforcement agencies
arrested only a handful of others.
Demonstrations nationwide
Protests in opposition to what many are
characterizing as an appointed regime by the US
Supreme Court were not limited to Washington DC.
Thousands of US citizens in over a dozen cities
such as San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Austin,
Tallahassee, New York, Montpelier, Santa Fe,
Denver, Los Angeles, Portland and others
protested the inauguration. According to the
Independent Media Center, thousands of
protesters took over part of downtown San
Fransisco, stopping cable cars. 3,500
demonstrated in Los Angeles. Even Paris, France
saw thousands of demonstrators against the death
penalty protest the swearing-in of the new US
President.
All around the country, mock coronations of
"King George II" were staged. In Seattle, an
actor dressed in a Revolutionary War costume
stole the crown from a shrub and offered it to
the people. The crowd of 3,000 placed the crown
at the head of a parade. Chicago protesters
converged on the city=D5s Federal Building.
Demonstrators protested at the state capitols in
Denver, Colorado and Montpelier, Vermont. In
Albuquerque, New Mexico local TV coverage gave
more time to local protests than to the Bush
ceremonies.
In Austin, Texas, 500 people gathered on the
state capitol steps. The election "was stolen
and it was stolen in Florida. I think there
should be a revolution in this country on just
this issue," said Arthur Joe Sr. of Dallas.
In Asheville, North Carolina, forty-five
indignant people braved freezing rain to sing,
dance and wave signs, to the obvious delight of
passing motorists, who responded with honks and
thumbs up. The protest lasted from ten until two
o=D5clock.
Source: www.agrnews.org AGR staff contributed
to this report. Additional sources: Independent
Media Center, Washington Post, IPS, Philadelphia
Inquirer
www.agrnews.org
------
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