At aproximately 5:10pm as the breakaway march was moving west on Sunset Blvd. in front of McDonalds, police were forcing people to move back. One man was apparently not moving back fast enough for the police, and he was forcefully struck in the face by them. At least a pint of blood spilled out from his face onto the street, he was kicked several times while he was on the ground clutching his face and the police put his arms behind his back forcefully to put him in handcuffs while he was still bleeding. Several other demonstrators were also struck by police battons at this time. Since approximately 5:45pm the police and the protesters are in a tense standoff at the intersection of Mansfield and Sunset.

There is NO excuse for this kind of excessive force. Is there any up-date on the condition of the marcher? I hope he is OK.

It sure seems like there needs to be a great deal of changes in the LAPD. I thought Bratton might be better. Guess I was wrong. :-(

i got to the protest around 4:30pm i think and did not witness this but some people i know were there and what they told me sounded very horrible. two people told me that the cops jabbed this guys face so hard they knocked his eye out. they said they were right there and blood was just gushing out of him and another person told me the man was lying on the ground shaking uncontrollably. the police also pushed an elder women down and beat many other people, strangling one guy according to another update i got.

i am told THERE IS VIDEO of the worst incident - the one where the guys got his eye knocked out.

please people - add your updates and reports to this public forum.

an hour or two later, after the permit expired, the police threatened to arrest people so the bulk of the crowd moved south as a group and marched in the street chanting "IMPEACH BUSH". this march was not allowed onto any major street where it would become highly visible.

i noticed as soon as i got there that the police were trying to keep people away from Highland, because there were lots of limousines lined up on their way to the Academy Awards and the protesters were visible to the people in the limos. personally i wanted to give all the limos the middle finger.

overall this protest was amazingly repressed, as was yesterday's. i noticed that the National Lawyer's Guild played a large role in the logistics of these two historic protests. because of this, i expected these protests to be among the most free. i thought the guild would successfully negotiate maximum protection of our rights to assemble, to express our grievances, to march, and to be free of police violence and intimidation. maybe not quite TOTALLY the way it should be, but closer to freedom than usual at least. BUT TO ME, THESE TWO PROTESTS HAVE SEEMED MORE REPRESSIVELY CONTROLLED AND BEATEN DOWN THAN USUAL.

PLEASE ADD YOUR OWN REPORTS. we desperately need to use the IMC at this time when we can't count on anybody to cover our movements. people who are being viciously brutalized here and around the world need us to use the IMC's all over. the powerful are trying to make us invisble and inaudible.... even the IMC and KPFK have powerful people in them that care more about their own fortune and fame than about really hearing from ALL the active voices that are being silenced.

DON'T LET THEM HIDE US AWAY!!!!

The police have been looking for violence since Thursday nite at the Federal Bldg. They began shoving people yesterday at the Hollywood rally, and I am not surprised that they are now becoming violent. This gives us all the more reason to fight: when George W. declares martial law, there will be nothing to stop this kind of shocking brutality. My thoughts are with this poor man.

I called in the original report about the guy getting hit in the eye - after the protest finally dispersed, we walked past the spot where he was hit, and noticed two things:

#1) There were a pair of wire-frame round eyeglasses - one of the wire circles was smashed into a crescent moon-shape. It must have taken quite a forceful blow to do that.

#2) To the side of the sidewalk, there was a broken bottle of Karo corn syrup that someone had dyed red - from what I can tell, when the one guy got hit and really did start bleeding, at least one other person broke open the bottle of "fake blood" and put it on themselves to make things look worse than they were - which wasn't really necessary because the one guy getting hit in the eye was pretty terrible as it was!

The smug self righteous bastards at the Academy Awards who booed Michael Moore for his powerful anti-war message at tonight's ceremony should be at least boycotted. All this while people are getting their eyes popped out on the corners by the LAPD? What a bunch of self congratulatory whining subhumans these actors are. Their message to the world is America doesn't care about your suffering. We only care about our shitty golden statue. I wish they could all live in Baghdad. It makes me sick to be an American.

yes, thats what it seems like, the lawyers guild seem to psyche people out. At one point today, the main man(he wouldnt tell me his name) came up to the folks about to engage in civil disobedience right after 6. We were pumped and ready to stand ground there. The man from the lawyers guild comes up to the fellow with the bull-horn and tells him that people are moving towards highland taking the back route (thinking in retrospect, this is a bad idea). The day before I saw this man psyching people out of sitting in. Making it seem scary or something. I dont know, He just seems to come in at just the right moments.

Fucking dumb americans

"we are defending ourselves from future attack"

hahahahah
fucking dumb americans

take communism
divide it by terrorism
and you get uneducated middle class fucking dumbass americans and their paranoia led by old fools who have dry constipated shit that stinks like a motherfucker.

they didnt fuckin learn from vietnam. vietnam was just a civil conflict. they mistook it for a worldwide communist conspiracy. domino theory? what bullshit. communist vietnam later invaded its neighbour to put down a communist uprising.

for god's sake America

the world is not out to get you

they hate your guts for obvious and justifiable reasons
but they have better things to do than bomb you: like enjoying their lives for example. also, they like to make fun of you a lot because americans are so stereotypical and predictable. heheh i always laugh when i see someone driving down the street with an american flag taped to their car holding up dumbass american signs saying "support our troops". such typical meaningless idiotic behaviour. i believe americans refer to it as "patriotism"? well in other countries, patriotism means standing up for the principles that the country is based on. also the world feels sorry for you because to be so blunt... the average jimbob american isn't very bright at all. also, even though its the 21st century, americans still live in houses made of wood.

so let me break it down for you

all you have to worry about at this point is a certain organization called al-qaeda

they actually dont have better things to do than bomb you

so leave saddam alone
and go for osama and his cronies

once you get osama, if you get osama, it would probably be wise to stop funding brutal dictatorships and opposition groups (i.e. mujahideen during soviet invasion of aghanistan) all around the world. so that then people like Osama and (ok let's just say) Saddam won't, in the future, come around and bite you in your ass. then withdraw ur troops from saudi arabia.

like 7up, its "always a better choice"

oh yeah and one more thing

please, give up 60" TVs. instead, buy 52" TVs and put the money you save into your education system because really, you americans are quite fucking dumb. i haven't yet figured out if its ur mental capacity, considering most of you descended from third class peasants, or if its just your poor education system.

either way
i wish you only the best america
in theory, your country is based on some good ideas. why don;t u try to actually make ur country a "land of justice and beacon light of hope and peace". if you are interested in taking that path, let me know, i will be more than willing to help you morally and financially.

lastly, peace
p.s. even tho i make fun of you. i still love you guys. americans are very friendly people. just that they are not very bright. hell... theyre fucking dumbasses.


add your comments

Get a life, live it and come back.
See ya.

Here's an idea of how it started to go. It's only one picture, and it's not the best.

Hell, here's another!

You're telling us!

At Aprox. 5:45 LAPD decide to rush the crowd. Next thing I, and others around me, find ourselves between a building and LAPD beating 2 protesters. Unfortunately I was unable to capture the actual beating, since I was protecting myself at the time. The attack was completely unprevoked, and unnecessary.
!!!SHAME ON YOU LAPD!!!

this guy defending the pigs actions today is a coward. Fuck him and keep fighting. Soon, the cops will have to face up to an even larger challenge. They are COWARDS. plain and simple. We are the real hero's. The people. I hope video was captured of the beating. LOL.

To the LAPD
These crimes are to be answered for...........
You are very visable at all times
While the people are anonymous.
It could be a fake call, like a fake surrender.
or worse.
Youll only find out when its too late

LAPD= lawless abuse of power department

it's hard to get arrested for your cause when you're certain the police are going to beat the shit out of you first. especially since the abulances started arriving BEFORE the 6:00 deadline.

impeach bush, then fire bratton and his gangs of new york.

What a waste of money that goes to the salaries of these p(igs)olicemen! They always use excessive force on the most vulnerable people. None of the protesters even had any weapons yet the cops were very aggressive. I was there at the stand-off on Orange and Willoughby and one of them seemed to care more about grass than about human beings. With Bratton around, our chances of becoming a police state are even higher. WE REFUSE TO LET THAT HAPPEN!!! RISE UP PEOPLE!!!! Love you all.

If you witnessed this event, please contact me right away! I need to know if there is any video. He is being charged with a felony for resisting arrest, and they are charging that he tried to take a firearm from the cop.

i should add that he is okay, according to the nurse. i haven't seen him yet.
he has a fracture on his cheekbone, i believe, but should regain his sight.

HOPE HE ROTS IN PRISON!!!

PIG=Pride, intergrity and guts.

if you witnessed the guy who got hit with a bat at the protest at the oscars, please contact me! i especially need video and photos.

I didn't remember that I was wearing my glasses. It acutally explains the shape of the cuts on the top and bottom of my eye.

Can I assume that the glasses were demolished beyond repair?

Dude - your glasses were done. Unless you're like a metalsmith or something, you're going to have to go to Binyons or LensCrafters.

But, how's your eye? I saw you get cracked - heard you've been released and charges dropped - true?

I just really want the glasses as a trophy (if you picked them up).

The charges were indeed dropped and according to the eye doctor, I will regain full sight in my eye. He did say, however, that had I not been wearing my glasses, it would have been MUCH worse.

Hopefully you've learned that, while hating the war is noble, protesting in a violent fashion makes us all look bad. Stay home for our sake.

I abhor violence in all forms. That's why I march against the war.

When I got hit, I was complying (or attempting to comply) with the order to disperse. Any charges or claims made by the LAPD are complete fabrications designed to cover their ass for use of potentially deadly force against me (baton to head).

The fact still remains that you have no evidence of this. Your very insistence that the police used "deadly force" shows your credibility to be dubious at best. Why don't you just stop using the efforts of those who sincerely want peace as a cover for your obvious attempts to profit from an empty lawsuit.

I don't see how Ian is exaggerating anything.

In this case Ian here says 'potentially' deadly force. From all accounts, he suffered at least a fractured cheekbone. The same amount of force directed inadvertently upwards at the nose could easily result in bone fragments lodging in the brain, an old-school blow for sudden death.

Not to add insult to injury, I think that is the aim of non-violent solidarity.

Many people have been at least bruised while attempting to comply to a dispersal order--or even a sudden 'back up!' command by advancing cops. This is criminally excessive force--Ian almost lost an eye and potentially had nose fragments in his frontal lobe.

Why should you show solidarity with Ian when you don't know whether he had a prejudicial attitude towards the cops? Sociology tells us prejudice alone cannot oppress. Prejudice+Power =Oppression. Ian--nor any protester finding themselves face-to-face with a cop--don't have the power to oppress a cop, but the cop has the power to oppress the dissenter. So we must be vigilant on the dissenter's side.

Doubting a nonviolent dissenter, disparaging a righteous victim of violence is so shady, so damming. Diogenese did you have any evidence of violence? Why else would you take the side you did? This is such a departure from your other thoughtful posts. WTH??

No, it didn't smell like Dio.
?

Ian and everyone else "moved" by the cops on Sunset were completely peaceful. I was there and so were two close friends.

Diogenes is either a cop or a very sick human being.

Ian took an enormous blow even by police state standards. His dedication will be remembered by everyone present and by all who here his story.

You, Diogenes, on the other hand will be remembered for your cowardice and libel.

DO NOT insult heroes of this struggle.

You are all a a bunch of fucking losers. Get a job, a life and start respecting others and support your country.....TRAITORS

He got what he had coming. No sympathy. Next time he will think twice before being such a moron. He is lucky he wasn't killed.

You're a moron. Does that mean that I can kill you?

You're a moron. Does that mean that I can kill YOU?

Or the police wouldn't have hit him. They're well trained.

"They're well-trained."
Yeah, well-trained to crack skulls.

.....if anyone has footage please get me a copy. sounds like good jack-off material!