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San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday, April 8th, 2003
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Oakland cops fire dummy bullets at protesters Joe Garofoli,
Rick DelVecchio, and George Raine In one of the fiercest Bay Area demonstrations since the Iraq war began, dozens of war protesters were injured Monday at the Port of Oakland when police fired tear gas and projectiles to break up a crowd that failed to heed warnings to disperse. The largest of several protests across the region that targeted federal and corporate institutions seen as profiting from the war, the skirmish resulted in the arrests of 31 of about 500 protesters who blocked a port gate for more than an hour -- and prompted two Oakland city councilwomen to call for an investigation into police behavior. Twenty others were arrested Monday during a largely peaceful demonstration outside San Francisco's Federal Building, a dozen were cited for crossing a police line outside the Concord Naval Weapons Station and nine for trespassing outside Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office. Seven others face felony charges for stopping traffic on Interstate 280 near the Geneva Avenue exit. In Oakland, police responding with "aggressive" tactics toward demonstrators surprised even veteran activists, particularly after seeing San Francisco police arrest 2,300 people during civil disobedience demonstrations beginning the day after the United States and Britain attacked Iraq. Oakland police said they were attacked by protesters throwing bolts and pieces of wood. They responded by firing 1 1/2-inch-thick wooden dowels, rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd. Activists said dozens were injured but only a few hospitalized. Most of the injuries were minor, the result of being hit by projectiles, including "sting balls" and bean bags fired from shotguns. Among the injured were nine members of the longshore workers union who were waiting to get into their work site and not participating in the demonstration, said union representative Clarence Thomas. A union official, Jack Heyman, was arrested. Oakland police Chief Richard Word said officers did not intend to injure protesters, but he said members of the force, about one-third the size of San Francisco's, had no choice but to fire on the crowd when protesters failed to leave. Word said police feared many more could have gathered during the day. Mayor Jerry Brown backed the police response. But protesters, many sporting bloody, grapefruit-size welts on their torsos, legs and faces, said the response was excessive. "I've never seen this level of violence in response to a community picket," said David Solnit, a veteran of two decades of civil disobedience who helped coordinate Monday's protest through Direct Action to Stop the War. The umbrella group helped to coordinate the day-after demonstrations in San Francisco, as well as Monday's in Oakland, Concord and San Francisco.
"Even if one or two people threw rocks, it's probably overreacting," Brunner said of the police response on Monday. "Our police have to learn to work with demonstrators." The protest began around daybreak, as fewer than 200 protesters marched peacefully in front of the APL terminal as about 40 Oakland police officers assembled. A protest group of about the same size marched in front of an adjacent terminal and a small contingent of about two dozen other picketers marched in front of the entrance to Stevedoring Services of America. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Agency for International Development awarded the Seattle-based company, which operates the terminal, a $4.8 million contract for assessment and a year's operation of the Port of Umm Qasr in Iraq, said spokesman Andy McLauchlan. The firm will also handle 3 million tons of humanitarian aid, he said. As demonstrators marched slowly in a circle, police formed a line and moved forward, warning the marchers to disperse. Most moved on voluntarily, joining demonstrators at the nearby terminal. Those who lingered were greeted with flash-bang grenades fired by police. At 8 a.m., police formed a line near the SSA gate and announced through a loudspeaker that picketers had three minutes to disperse. Most of the protesters broke away and police swooped down on the remaining few, taking them into custody and placing them in vans. The remaining protesters marched down Maritime Street to Seventh Street, one of the busiest intersections at the port. They formed a picket line in the street. A few minutes later, two dozen police rolled up on motorcycles, while other officers fired on the crowd with dummy bullets and noise grenades. This time, many in the crowd said they did not hear a warning to disperse first. "I got hit in the back twice as I was walking away," said Susan Quinlan, a former Oakland high school teacher. "Everybody was walking away and they continued to shoot for a little while." Cyprus Gonzalez, 19, of Oakland, was struck in the lower back with a wooden bullet. He lifted his shirt to show a bloody circle inside a raised welt. "This was a little more brutal than the other (demonstrations) I've been involved in," he said. "This is the march I've been most excited about," Gonzalez said. "It actually got some outcomes. It's direct. Here, we're actually trying to shut the place down for a day, to take a strike straight at the actual machine of the war." Scott Bohning of Richmond said he was trying to get out of the way when he was hit nine times, including once in the nose. "What I don't really understand is people were already leaving the scene," he said, a bloody bandage on the left side of his nose. "I'm very lucky it didn't hit my eye." The demonstrators paused for a strategy meeting at the West Oakland BART station before continuing on to the Federal Building in downtown Oakland. They temporarily blocked Clay Street before marching to City Hall behind a banner labeled, "No Blood for Oil." At the Concord Naval Weapons Station, a dozen protesters were arrested after they crossed yellow police tape and knelt in front of a line of police officers. They were reponding to reports from residents that the military started shipping weapons out of the base, often in trucks carrying large crates marked "Explosives." The U.S. Navy is not storing any weapons at the station, which since 1999 has been largely under control of the Army, a Navy spokesman said. Officials with the 834th Transportation Battalion, which oversees the waterfront portion of the weapons station, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
"Feel free to present this to your boss or teacher if you've been delayed," the flyer suggested. The protesters were arrested by the California Highway Patrol and charged with conspiring to block traffic. At Feinstein's office on Post Street in San Francisco, nine people were cited for trespassing when they refused to leave after demanding to meet with the senator. Outside Oakland's port, about 15 trucks lined up as demonstrators paraded in circles, some of them chanting, "APL and SSA, how many kids have you killed today?" Richard Jimenez, a driver from Chowchilla waiting to deliver a load of almonds for export, said the demonstration "is not going to stop the war. It is stopping us. "We don't carry bombs," Jimenez added. "We can only throw almonds at Saddam."
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle |
