W is the BANE of the environment and Gail Norton is a storm trooper of destruction. She could be brought to trial for the things she is doing under the ORDERS of W
"We Are Not The Enemy!" - The Battle of Portland
by William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Report
Saturday, 24 August, 2002
The image is chilling. A middle-aged woman, plainly dressed, with a puff of auburn hair, is clutched in a
hammer-lock by a Portland police officer dressed in full riot gear. His riot baton is jammed high under her
chin. Around her, three more armor-clad police officers swarm in, face-masks down. The woman's face is
contorted in terror. In her hand is a sign protesting George W. Bush.
This was the scene on the streets of Portland, OR, on the evening of August 22nd as captured by a
photographer for the Associated Press. Thousands of peaceful protesters had descended upon the Hilton
Hotel where Mr. Bush was attending a political fundraiser for Senator Gordon Smith. They held signs
reading, "Drop Bush, not Bombs," and other similar slogans. Among the protesters were pregnant women,
parents with infants and small children, elderly citizens, and citizens in wheelchairs
According to a report by CBS News, the protest became unruly when some of the fundraiser attendees
were "jostled" as they moved through the crowd towards the entrance to the hotel. At that point, the riot
police swarmed in, swinging clubs and dousing the crowd with pepper spray. Rubber bullets were also fired
into the crowd, and snipers were seen on the roofs surrounding the scene. The protesters responded by
hammering on the hoods of police cars and screaming, "We are not the enemy!"
A man named Randy, who attended the protest, reports the sequence of events as follows:
"I was between 5th and 6th on the sidewalk. Maybe the ones in front were warned to move, but I didn't
hear any warning. It had been a peaceful protest. Suddenly the police came forward spraying pepper spray.
A man nearby with an infant in a backpack got hit real good. The baby's face was so red I thought it had
quit breathing. From the other direction came cop cars through the crowd and rubber bullets were fired at
those closest to the cars. I kept retreating but the cops kept spraying. Lots of people were sprayed,
including the cameraman from Channel 2 KATU."
Other eyewitness accounts from the streets of Portland similarly describe what appears to have been a
terrifyingly violent response from the police to a peaceful protest by assembled American citizens.
This is a profoundly disturbing turn of events. Mr. Bush is protested wherever he goes these days, and
the crowds which attend them are growing. These are not black-clad anarchists kicking in windows,
however. The woman who was attacked by the police looked as ordinary as any small-town librarian, and
anarchists are smart enough to leave their children at home if there is a riot in the offing. The streets of
Portland were filled on August 22nd by average American citizens seeking to inform the President of their
disfavor regarding the manner in which he is governing their country. They were rewarded with the business
end of a billy club, a face-full of pepper spray, and the jarring impact of a rubber bullet.
If America needed one more example of the cancer that has been chewing through the guts of our most
basic freedoms since Mr. Bush assumed office, they can look to Portland. The right to freely assemble and
petition the government for a redress of grievances has been rescinded at the point of a gun.
The imperative is clear. Such violence by the authorities cannot go unchallenged. The next time Mr.
Bush appears in public, there must be even more concerned Americans to greet him. They must face the
baton and the pepper spray, they must stare into the shielded faces of the police, and they must stand in
non-violent disobedience of the idea that they are not allowed to be there. The men and women who faced
the brunt of police fury in Portland are to be lauded as American patriots, and their actions must be
duplicated by us all. The groups which organized this protest, and the ones to come, deserve our praise.
The media, which spent much of the evening reporting that only a few hundred protesters were in
attendance, must be browbeaten into reporting the facts from both sides - from the police, who reportedly
detained people like the woman in the picture "for their own safety," and from the protesters who took a
savage beating for daring to stand against Mr. Bush. If the battle of Portland is allowed to cast even more
fear into the hearts and minds of Americans, we have lost yet another swath of freedoms. Stand and be
counted if you can.
The whole world is watching.
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