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Police Brutality in Long Beach squashes free speech on May Day

by anIMCreporter Thursday, May. 03, 2001 at 8:50 AM

Over 100 "black block" activists -- on a May Day march in downtown Long Beach -- were brutally attacked by the police, and then many (estimates range from 30 to 100) were arrested.

errorOver 100 "black block" activists -- on a May Day march in downtown Long Beach -- were brutally attacked by the police, and then many (estimates range from 30 to 100) were arrested.

I arrived at the First Street Metro (Blue Line) stop in downtown Long Beach at about 4pm (having faced a 20 minute delay because the first Metro train I was on wouldn't go into Long Beach, no doubt because of the protest).

When I got off of the train, the black block was in view, only half a block away on First Street. A group of roughly 100 demonstrators (almost all dressed in black) were massed together in the middle of First Street, all facing in one direction, trying to proceed with their march; but a phalanx of Long Beach policemen were standing in a row, literally right in front of them, blocking their way. As I got closer to the scene, it was evident that the cops were allowing the demonstrators, who seemed to be thoroughly non-violent, to proceed down the street as they, the cops, walked backwards in front of them. On the sidewalks, a crowd of maybe 50 to 75 onlookers, as well as some other demonstrators (who had obviously chosen to keep their distance from the "frontline"), and a smattering of photographers and videographers, followed alongside the march.

The front row of black block demonstrators carried a sign that read "Capitalism stole my life."

The march porceeded in this manner (with the phalanx of cops backing up, and, by the way, a huge number of police reinforcements in evidence alongside the march, at each intersection, and on adjacent streets -- the ratio of cops to protestors was roughly three to one) for about three blocks. Then at the intersection of First and Pine, the demonstrators were blocked off by the police, and when they tried to turn right onto Pine they were blocked off again. At this point, the marchers did not instantly retreat, but rather held their ground in front of a line of cops no longer willing to retreat. A sort-of stand off ensued, in which protestors called out for their right to free speech and to demonstrate against the Police State, and soon-enough the cops responded by wielding their batons against the front line of black block protestors. As of yet, however, I had witnessed no arrests.

After about five minutes at First and Pine, the Black Block stepped away from the rows of cops that impeded the route to downtown and proceeded the other direction down Pine, towards the water. At Long Beach's monumental Ocean Avenue (the last street before the harbor, though buildings sit between the street and the water), the march took a left turn. The fact that the street was already blocked to traffic at this point, suggests that the police had been intending to herd the protesters in this direction rather than let them move towards downtown (probably out of fear of property destruction, which, of course, never occured).

Once the protestors and the accompanying parade of on-lookers and witnesses turned onto Ocean, the tension mounted. As someone who was trying to wander throughout the event (both up-close to the march and from a more distanced perspective), I all-of-a-sudden felt in danger myself and feared the cops were going to surround and attack anyone and everyone in the scene. Barely more than three or four tension-filled minutes since we had all turned onto Ocean, an undercover cop in a light-purple shirt grapped hold of one of the protestors, and in a motion like a linebacker in football, drove him through some yellow police tape and slammed him to the ground, at which point two other cops joined in beating him, before throwing him into an adjacent squadcar.

At that moment the black block had been moving diagonally accross the street, having been herded that way by the cops. When the black block (with arms joined together (in other words in a posture of absolute non-aggression)) began to move back towards the scene of the mayhem (in which the purple-shirted undercover cop had tackled their comrade); the police met them with force, pushing them aggressively back across Ocean. At this point many of the on-lookers, realizing they were now surrounded by belligerent cops on all sides began to shout that they wanted to escape from their entrapment. A small opening in the police phalanx did then appear, a few steps behind the black block and I, along with about twenty to thirty others, took this opportunity to step out of obvoiusly impending harm's way.

No sooner had I gotten beyond the cop line, when the blasts of rubber bullets exploded behind me -- I turned to see the cops shooting at a previously vocal, non-black-clad demonstrator running away from the cops, as they fired on him.

Some of the black-clad demonstrators, meanwhile, had moved towards the escape hatch in the police phalanx, but they were not going to be allowed to escape; and momentarily all hell broke lose. The cops opened fire on the black block mass, which got split in two; the larger group ran up the small hill in front of the Breakers retirement apartment complex, while a smaller group headed towards that buildings driveway.

The smaller group were quickly rained in by cops who chased them down and began beating them, as well as shooting them at close range with bean bags and rubber bullets. While some these protestors bravely tried to escape from the cops and flee, most realized they were being overwhelmed and lay down or held up their hands in peace signs. However, these protestors obvious passivity did not save them from being beaten, as the cops showed no mercy, pounding and kicking many of these demonstrators as they lay on the ground. The cops let up after a minute or two of unleashing their fury, handcuffed the protestors and took them off to the paddy wagon.

The more sizable group of demonstrators that had fled up the small hill, having suffered the balence of the barrage of rubber bullets (or whatever less-lethal projectiles the cops were firing) now huddled up against the large tinted-glass windows of the Breakers building. As the cops closed in around these demonstrators over the next ten-to-fifteen minutes, other police officers aggressively made sure any on-lookers and witnesses felt intimidatated, and effectively drove us further away from the scene.

Before I retreated, I did see one brave protester, who approached the cops as if to negotiate for those huddled against the Breakers windows. He approached the cops with both of his hands in peace signs. A policeman grabbed him, spun him around violently and threw him to the ground face first. Two other officers then pounced on him as he fell out of my view. Shortly, thereafter, mass arrests of the cornered demonstrators ensued (in a relatively orderly fashion, as far as I could tell, though admittedly I was far away at this point).

I decided it was time for me to return to LA lest I end up in jail.

In summary, this was one of the worst -- that is, least flexable and most brutal -- police responses to an attempt to exercise free speeech and the right to assembly I've ever witnessed first hand.
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overkill

by michael Thursday, May. 03, 2001 at 10:00 AM

excellent description i saw this on the ch.5
the block was peaceful and for no reason the cops
opened fire. at on point members of the block
retreated to a patio area and the cop just
open up on them. i hope no one was injured.

i would like to say that im not a member of the
your group at 45 maybe im to old.

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Police Follow People

by anonymous Thursday, May. 03, 2001 at 10:35 AM

I escaped the police riot, but was followed to my car by several cops. My friends were arrested, and I was alone. I took another route to my car, and they followed me wherever I went. I thought for sure they were going to beat or kill me when I was in an isolated area, so I escaped in to a restaurant and stayed there for an hour. When I left, the police were still following me, so I took the bus home and left my car just to be safe.

I saw a really short undercover cop in a blue tshirt, with gray hair and a big moustache violently harassing several people, protesters and non-protesters.
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The same damn thing happened to us

by orange bloc Thursday, May. 03, 2001 at 11:02 AM
orangebloc@hotmail.com

Hey, I feel for the person above. We weren't arrested, but once we left the protest area, we were surrounded by police, and they took our group's flag pole. The cop who did it claimed that he was "considering it a weapon". That was obviously a bunch of crap. If I was brandishing what he was "considering" a weapon, why wasn't I cited, or arrested?? But, it only got worse. On our way to our car, the plainclothes officer in the blue shirt and with the moustache was extremely rude to us. He was not at all acting like a servant of the public, but a schoolyard bully.
After that, we thought we were in the clear, but alas, we were followed by at least 3 or 4 marked police cars and several unmarked cars. At every corner, they were there. We were all quite scared, and (I'm sure as they had hoped) intimidated. We went to our vehicles in a very roundabout way, and we think that we threw them off track, though we honestly don't know. We were very scared on the way home, trying to remember the make, model, and license plate of every car that we saw, to ascertain if we were being followed. Well, we're safe in our homes, for now.
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Update

by IMCreporter Thursday, May. 03, 2001 at 12:22 PM

A jail solidarity vigil will be held today (5-02) in Long Beach at 5pm.
For information on the vigil call (562) 437-4300
To reach the Long Beach police call (562) 570-7260

Correction: according to most accounts, at least 60 people were arrested at yesterday's demonstration, though most estimates are around 100.

Many, if not most, of those arrested are still being held. Bail has been set, and the number I keep hearing is $500. Also, it's estimated that about one quarter of those arrested were minors.
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scared parent

by unknown Thursday, May. 03, 2001 at 2:44 PM

My daughter was one of those arrested and she was psychologically brutalized by the cops, separated from others and interogated for five hours. There is no excuse for that. In their actions, the police only confirm all the negatives these young adults have heard about them. It's frightening to see protestors standing there peacefully and arbitrarily clubed with batons (seen on the new). If they do that on camera, what do they do off camera?
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fight the power

by rtf Sunday, May. 06, 2001 at 12:28 AM

I just got out of prison.. The police violence that happend down there was absolutly discusting. The cops confiscated my video camera and tape, I better get it back. I have alot of hard footage on there. They beat people with batons with absolutly no regard. I got shot in both legs, I have a pentrating shot in my right calf that was from a plastic/rubber type shotgun. They shot me from 3 feet behind so I have about 8 holes in my calf. I was in jail from tues til' friday and it was bleeding the whole time. I had a bandage over it which was replaced twice. I still have a fragment in my leg that is too deep to get out unless I get surgery. The doctor at the hospital had to dig about an inch and a half into my calf to get out some of the other fragments from the gun in there. It's not supposed to pentrate your skin as they say, but yet again, they always tell you a bunch of shit. Like how they are supposed to "protect and to serve the people". heh. I and many other people were shot at, beaten and thrown in jail for simply trying to advocate free speach peacefuly. Why the fuck was I in jail. I didn't commit a crime. The police state is the crime. The government is the crime. Capitalism is the crime, that's why we were shot at, injured and thrown in jail. The police are absolutly discusting. I have the footage to prove it (if I get it back). This is a militarized force that needs to be stopped. And it's not just in california. It's been set up all over the nation. And even in many other countries by the US. (CIA).


... And they have the nerve to laugh afterwards.. They could have killed people out there. They don't give a fuck. They laugh.... Well ... We'll definatly see who laughs last.


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Age should not stop us....

by Orel Sunday, May. 06, 2001 at 5:44 PM
Oreldkinwren@aol.com

I am 42 and do not consider myself too old to stand with the Blac Bloc. I have great admiration for these individuals unabashed courage. I think we should realize we are now in the early stages of a revolution. We will not be able to organize and achieve liberation, if we worry about our age. Geesh! A girl was among the arrested protestors. The powers that we are fighting dont care how old you are, your sex, or whether your armed, just that you are at cross puposes with their objectives, and we all have a good understanding of what their objectives is. This account and pictures were as cruel as many as I saw on Quebec. It kind of reminds you of the freeway scene in Quebec only scarier.
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fuck the L.B.P.D.

by George Hayduke Sunday, May. 06, 2001 at 10:27 PM
dps1018@aol.com

Hey rtf, i hear ya comrade, i was also shot by those bastards in blue. (leg still hurts) They confiscated my backpack just because it contained a banner and a pair of swimming goggles. There was also a camera in the bag which i really doubt i will be getting back. Those fucking pigs were brutal. They shot us at close range and herded us like animals to a retirement home. Then they said if we gave up peacefully they would only charge us with "failure to disperse", a misdemeanor. Lying sons of bitches. Instead they charge us with "conspiracy to commit a crime", a felony! Anyway, i'm going back to long beach on the 11th to fight this bullshit. We're all pleading NOT GUILTY, and we're all gonna beat this bullshit charge. To my brothers and sisters in L.A./Long Beach jail, on behalf of all of us who posted bail, "We love you, and we will not give up the fucking fight, we will free you".
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it's time for a peaceful revolution

by i.m.free` Monday, May. 07, 2001 at 8:02 AM

in case anyone reading any of these messages doesn't already know, a peaceful revolution is underway. But who are we "fighting" for? we are fighting for future generations of peaceful people, we struggle along with so many others just for the right to exist and speak freely. I commend those in long beach who did not react violently. the world is watching, the whole world is watching. long live the revolution, and long live those who are involved in it. we may all have our own different ideas of what should happen once its won, but we should all agree to be nonviolent, otherwise, the revolution will be over and we'll have another ridiculous civil war on our hands. be safe., be strong, eat right, and speak the truth.
peace,love,and harmony
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Repression in da' LBC

by Random Protester Monday, May. 07, 2001 at 7:07 PM
cyber_industrian@yahoo.com none Anaheim, Sur Califas

What happened on May Day was the worst example of police brutality that I have ever witnessed. The police attack upon the protesters was completely unprovoked. This was a peaceful protest, despite what the news media has reported, and I have a video to prove it. I saw nothing being thrown that day, nor did I witness any property destruction take place. The police justify their attack by saying that they issued an order to disperse, but because we were surrounded on all sides, they did not leave us anywhere to disperse to.

The crowd was marching peacefully, then suddenly, the police began to herd and prod people, like cattle. They blocked the crowd in, and began to beat, shoot at, and throw tear gas projectiles at demonstrators and bystanders alike. There was at least one unsuspecting civilian who walked out of a building and got shot in the face. He was then arrested, along with another innocent bystander. I and approximately thirty others were only a few feet away from being caught in the group that was beaten and shot at repeatedly. Most of us were only pushed, hit, and cursed at a couple of times, most likely due to the fact that we were not wearing all black.

This incident has shown me what a police state, a so-called democracy, and a controlled media look like. It is truly a sad state of affairs when people are beaten, arrested, and demonized by the media, just because they wanted their voices to be heard.

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Police violence,also in Belgium

by Vermeulen Johan Monday, May. 14, 2001 at 1:00 AM
yvan.vermeulen@pandora.be 003233219628 Boterlaarbaan 169 2100 Deurne Belgium

I've just read your letter and I instantly have to think about an event that occured to me. There are lots of comparisons anyway. In November me and my brother went to see a soccer game between the two biggest rival teams in Antwerp(and Belgium), Antwerp and Beerschot. Being a fan of the home team Antwerp, we went to sit in the "noisy-fans block", but understand we are not at all hooligans. After the match,a 1-2 loss by my own team, the home fans were outrageous. Leaving the stadium, we found ourselves entrapped by the police rather quick. In the maintime the holigans started fighting the cops,who showed up with a helcopter,two water cannons,about 30 mounted policemen and a lot(about 600!!!) of"infantry"
The hoolies beat the water cannons back though, throwing rocks, traffic posts and any other objects.Then, suddenly,a police force attacked us, the regular fans, even old people and children with their mothers were among us. I was truly surprised by the charge, none of us had thrown a rock or even said a word. There was just no way out for us. So, one of the cops tripped me with his club while I was running. Of course, if you do nothing wrong,you don't have to run but you and I know the police loves fighting as much as the hooligans do.
On the evening news, there was a special report about the "facts" Of course the poor police officers were shown, getting beaten up by Antwep "fans". The news showed wounded policemen and the agression by the hooligans, and with that Belgium was convinced of the "natural agression" committed by the "criminal" Antwerp side.
What's the result of all this?
People don't dare to go see their team anymore, the can see the result on tv afterwards. The team had to pay for the damage and "hiring" the police,which cost about 6 million Belgian francs(150 000 dollars). And our reputation is abonimable.
Being a student communication management, I'm very unhappy with the way the media reported about the events. They have convinced our nation that we 're all a bunch of criminals.But I was really angry about the performance of the cops. It happens all over the world and it's no more than logic. From the moment you get a weapon in your hands and the chance to assault people you'll take it. People just like power or authority. The presence of police force on a public event always accelerates tension and even agression. Too bad only few people realize that.
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what planet do you live on?

by anarkissed Friday, May. 18, 2001 at 10:49 AM
anarkissed@hushmail.com

The revolution is BY NATURE violent - what planet do you live on? Gaia world? I'm so tired of you liberal leftists whining for "non-violent" action when people are dying everyday at the hands of the state and its agents.The only way we're going to smash the state, or at least de-stabalize it, so we can see the death of captalism and the birth of a new world order, is by a diversity of tactics and if that means we respond to state violence with violence then that's what needs to be done. The means justifies the ends, and ALL is fair in class war.
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Not entirely true...

by James Anon Saturday, May. 19, 2001 at 7:03 PM

I'm an anarchist, I defend people's right to use force when neccesary, but what anarkissed said isn't exactly true:

'The means justifies the ends, and ALL is fair in class war.'

I and, I believe, the vast majority of anarchist don't believe that the ends justify the mean (which I assume is what anarkissed meant to write), or that ALL is fair in the class war.

However I totally disagree with non-violence plea of the person above as the right to use force when non-violence has failed is a right we must defend. I think that anarkissed was probably just pissed off when he wrote this so the insinuation that anarchism excuses any atrocities or tactics in the name of 'The Revolution' is probably a mistake.

The thing that purely non-violence campaigners and anarchist don't agree on, I would argue, is that while we both agree that the ends don't justify the means we just want different ends. Non-violence people want a totally non-violent future (which is a nice vision) and won't consider anything different, but anarchist while they would like a totally non-violent future as well we have no problem with an end where people stand up for themselves and will readily fight (forcefully if neccesary) if they are oppressed by those more powerful then them.

Check out the anarchist FAQ section on the Mid-Atlantic Infoshop www.infoshop.org for more on anarchists position on the use of force.
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Stupid Cops

by phony Thursday, May. 24, 2001 at 3:21 AM

The police were probably just angry cause they had to get off their dougnut and drive some place other then the restroom or McDonald's

Idiots

Faithfully
Phony
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Fuck the dirty rats,ACC

by antwerp casual crew Tuesday, Sep. 11, 2001 at 1:26 PM

Hi i'm a supporter ANTWERP,I wanted to say that we are going to bused every fucking Beerschot-rat ass!Because we are sick of them.They are a shame for our country!LEVE ANTWERP CASUAL CREW
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Fuck the dirty rats,ACC

by antwerp casual crew Tuesday, Sep. 11, 2001 at 1:26 PM

Hi i'm a supporter ANTWERP,I wanted to say that we are going to bused every fucking Beerschot-rat ass!Because we are sick of them.They are a shame for our country!LEVE ANTWERP CASUAL CREW
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Fuck the dirty rats,ACC

by antwerp casual crew Tuesday, Sep. 11, 2001 at 1:27 PM

Hi i'm a supporter ANTWERP,I wanted to say that we are going to bused every fucking Beerschot-rat ass!Because we are sick of them.They are a shame for our country!LEVE ANTWERP CASUAL CREW
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Did you ever hear of self-defense?

by Bakunin Thursday, Sep. 27, 2001 at 9:58 PM
Heaven

Wise up boys and gals....
Take self defense courses, it will come in handy when the time comes...
My favorite is Jiu-Jitsu...
Give the cops a life-time surprise, give them a move they will never forget...
And don't forget, the old tactics:
Always wear two sided jackets, so you can change it and may be... look different.
Also try getting press credentials...write something to some newspapper, and then follow-up with a press credential...
Always carry a disposable camera, so the ones who are not arrested , can have some proof of the police brutality.
Learn from mistakes...

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M.L.King:

by syzygy Monday, Sep. 30, 2002 at 10:44 AM

"...when you make peaceful revolution impossible, you make violent revolution inevitable.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Stupid tests

by Bridgitte Tellez Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006 at 8:09 PM

I might be 11 years old but I know one thing that San Pablo's district is being too hard on us.We have been haveing test for the last two weeks and the students in San Pablo Lake Elementary school are tired of the tests.The district might be thinking that these test that there giveing to us is so easy, but it's not!We have the star tests on May and the district is just makeing 5th grade a living hell for us.So i'm in 5th grade but i have alot to say about these stupid tests.GIVE US A BREAK PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
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