This is not going well. See Bloggy for a picture of what war fanaticism and paramilitary violence looks like - here at home. There are more images and news stories linked on his post.
Reuters' statement doesn't inspire much confidence, should any of us want to believe that the police assault in Oakland will remain an exceptional occurrence.
The action is believed to be the first police use of anti-crowd munitions against U.S. demonstrators since President Bush launched an invasion aimed at toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.Remember, this is not just overkill. It's not just incompetence. This is being done deliberately, whether in Oakland, New York or any other town in America, to intimidate anyone who might even think of expressing an opinion other than that approved by superstate Oceana's thought police.
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Update: The San Francisco Bay area paper, The Mercury News, now has the story.
The demonstrations at the port were planned with the quiet support of the ILWU, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.Many rank-and-file members of ILWU Local 10 oppose the war with Iraq, and the local has its own Anti-War Action Committee.
Police fired into the crowd after some protesters failed to clear the street in front of the terminals.
. . . .
"I was there from 5 a.m. on, and the only violence that I saw was from the police," said Joel Tena, the constituent liason for Vice Mayor Nancy Nadel. "What happened today was very surprising. It seemed the police were operating under the assumption that they were not going to let any kind of protest happen."