At the Anti-War Rally held on Sunday, March 23, at the Academy Awards in Hollywood, a group of demonstrators who had marched through a nearby neighborhood were shoved by LAPD officers with their batons as they crossed in the crosswalk at Highland and Hollywood. The police became aggressive in their attempts to move the crowd, causing a small stampede that resulted in the injury of several people, including a woman with multiple scorosis.

The anti-war demonstration was not allowed outside of the the KodaK Theatre, the location of the Oscars Ceremony. Instead, demonstrators were given a permit for a rally at a location about two blocks away from the ceremony. A group of about 100 demonstrators participated in what seemed to be an impromptu march around the nearby neighbhorhood. When they arrived at the corner of Highland and Hollywood, the protestors stopped marching and began chanting (e.g., What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!). Many police officers were on that corner in riot gear and with their batons drawn. After a few minutes, a police officer announced that if the crowd did not disperse, it would be considered an unlawful assembly. All but a few protestors responded to the police request by dispersing, walking across the street at the crosswalk back to the organized rally. Police formed a line behind the demonstrators and began shoving the crowd with their batons. Some demonstrators began running and some asked the police to stop pushing and notified them that there were disabled persons in front of them and that they could not walk any faster without trampling them. Police ignored requests and intensified their pushing. A small stamped ensued. Several demonstrators fell and were injured, inlcuding a disabled woman with multiple scorosis. Many other demonstrators were visibly shaken by this experience with police brutality as they attempted to exercise their rights as Americans to voice their dissent.

The Hollywood section of the LAPD seem to have decided that it is open season on anti war protestors. Sat. March 22 when 20,000 demonstrators protested against the war propaganda broadcast on CNN, and Sunday March 23 when 5000 demonstrators protested against the war at the Oscars award presentation, were both occasions for the police to display their finest skills in repressing dissent. The police were especially severe at the Oscar ceremonies, where according to the TV news over 500 police, 1000 security guards and unknown numbers of National Guard presented a wall of batons, tear gas guns and motorcycles to the demonstrators who responded with posters, musical instruments and costumes.
300 demonstrators, Anarchists, Communists, and others who were generally against the war in Iraq, left the main demonstration at Orange and Sunset, to confront the arriving movie stars and other industry types at Hyland and Hollywood. They were blocked at Hyland and Delongpre. The police then pushed them back west on Delongpre and surrounded them at the corner of Citrus, and would not let them leave for over half an hour. This gave the atendees time to arrive at the ceremony without being confronted by protestors.
The police jabed people with nightsticks, pushed and knocked them down and threatened to arrest everyone if they did not disperse. At first they were going to force the demonstrators to leave one at a time, the green capped lawyers guild people with the demonstrators did nothing but observe. The protesters chanted "Whose streets, our streets", and "We all leave together". These displays of solidarity were good methods of keeping peoples morale up while being trapped and unsure as to what would happen. Black SUV's loaded with riot police showed up and at that point everyone realiset that the police force was overwelming.
The tactic of cornering the protestors on a side street was one that is commonly attempted by the authorities to keep protesters from blocking traffic and also from being seen by large numbers of people if the police intend to beat them or in other ways destroy the fighting spirit of protestors. No tear gas has been used to date in these demonstrations by the police. They use a massive display of force, riot police armed and carrying batons, useing motorcycles with loud sirens that emit ear splitting noise and these black SUVs that carry a large number of Swat officers are intimidating to the unarmed and peaceable demonstrators.
Until the day comes that demonstrators are ready to protect themselves with shields, helmets, protective clothing etc and use tactics to confront the police that will immobilise them, they will be able to increasingly intimidate protestors in attempts to destroy our will to resist.
They will not succeed and as the climate becomes more and more tense as we move into heightened awareness that there is a war on, not a war in Iraq but a war all over the world between the people of the world and the forces of world capitalist domination. As the Anarchists say NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR.

Here's a pic of the SUV riot cops

Tactics, people, tactics.
All bunched up like that; a target if I ever saw one.
Do not use leathal measures. Other than that....
Still not time. More organizing collitions with
the hood.

the academy awards may be the most disheartening event i have ever attended. i fear for my country, and now i am afraid of my country.

several thousand gathered for a peaceful rally hosted by neighbors for peace. they had a informative and energizing program on orange street just off the corner of Sunset.

while this event was going on other groups of people including not in our name attempted to lead break away marches to the Kodak theater. none of these marches were able to get there.

to give a little back ground information. neighbors for peace have been planning this event for over a month. they long ago began negotiations with the police department for the permits to hold a lawful event. they originally asked for the corner of Hollywood and highland. the organizers were declined this permit and informed that this area would be restricted.

last night there was a small pro war protest on the corner of hollywood and highland. any all anti war protesters, people carrying signs or wearing shirts were bared from joining this event. individual pro war demonstrators occasionally show up at permitted anti-war demonstrations and are permitted to enter by the police. this is only right and respectful of their freedom of speech. to bar individual anti war demonstrators from entering a public pro war rally amounts to police censorship of some forms of speech.

As the afternoon turned into evening the police became increasingly hostile to the antiwar demonstrators and stationed larger and larger numbers of riot gear clad cops along the edge of the anti-war event. shortly before 5pm the lead event monitor and lead for the legal observers got information that the police had detained a large group of young demonstrators west of Mansfield on sunset. the police were refusing to allow them to rejoin the larger demonstration. the lead monitor asked me and several other non-violence trained monitors to come with him and help to negotiate the passage of the youth. we were stopped on the street at Mansfield by the police who were becoming increasingly agitated.

almost as soon as we arrived there the police began ordering the crowd back. as they ordered us to the sidewalk and off the street (a street which was closed to traffic), they began to shove protestors with their batons. once all of the protestors were on the side walk the police under the orders of sargent johnson ordered the demonstrators farther down the side walk. this order clearly overstepped legal bounds and after consultation with the officer the order was receded but this was not before the police acted on the order and in a riot line shoved protesters off the corner.

the riot police retreated from the corner and allowed the protesters back in the street but once protesters were in the street the police began to make tactical insertions into the crowd. first 10officers charged into the crowed and threw a protester to the street without apparent provocation and began beating him with a baton. the young african american man curled into a fetal possession and covered his head but the officers continued to jab him with their batons.

at least three times this was repeated with the police hauling individuals from the crowd. periodically the police would send lines of officers running into the crowd shoving people to the side as they ran threw the tight crowd.

at 5:30 the police announced that at 6:00pm the permit would expire and that all who remained would be arrested. this heightened tensions dramatically and seemed to catch the organizers somewhat off guard. the expiration of a permit means that the event must end, it does not make it illegal for people to congregate in a lawful fashion. at 5:50 the police declared the entire event an unlawful assembly, fully 10 minutes before the expiration of the permit. the police brought in still more officers in full riot gear all carrying bundles of plastic handcuffs and several with tear gas guns.

my self and other event monitors hurriedly informed participants that they must leave if they do not want to be arrested. the crowed dispersed peacefully and quickly. at 6 pm i was by the stage with other event organizers. the vast majority of the thousands of demonstrators had left peaceful leaving approximately fifty event organizers congregated by the stage and preparing to leave. at this point the police line charged at the crowed which sent the organizers running down the street since none of them wished to risk arrest and were only trying to clean the street and gather equipment. At this point i left and went home.

to the best of my knowledge based on reports from people who managed to make it places were they could see what is being described as a "pro-war protest" there was no such treatment of these demonstrators. there was not even a similar police presence at their rally.

what i saw last night sorrows me deeply. it is clear that at least at this event, in this city, there is/ was a crack down on certain types of constitutionally protected speech.

If PD plans to use any violence against the police on the suv's he well regret that day for the rest of his life. These are men capable of extreme violence when provoked by idiot, violent, so-called peacful, protesters. But if PD wants to bring it on, so be it......I'll be willing and able to oblige.

u fuckin idiots get what u deserve, instead of holding up signs in protest u should pick up an m-16 and go fight for our country. what kinda courage does it take to walk up and down the street like jack holes. when the true heros/soilders are providing u with the very freedom to do so..........u sound like a bunch of fuckin pussies to me!!!!!!!!! fuckin hippie wantabes.....cowards!!!!!!!!!!

Man I wish just once one of you freeper maggot fucks would call me a coward to my face so i could pound the dog piss out of your punk ass.

I would respond to some of your other shit but its just too damn stupid to even warrant a response. One thing i will say is be careful with phrases like what you're tossing around there out in public, that shit is quite likely to get your ass handed back to you on a fucking plate. I know i sure as hell would love to stomp a crater in your damn fool skull.

Fucking warmonger. You have no concept of reality. You should learn what death is and perhaps you would be less prone to embrace the wholesale distribution of it to strangers halfway around the world.

Maggot. You are less than worthless. Your life is a plague on our society and humanity as a whole. You should be ashamed of yourself but i imagine you lack the intelligence to know why. You vile, putrid, waste of a life... I pray you never reproduce, although i imagine you would be hard pressed to find a woman ignorant enough to procreate with you anyways, so i probably have nothing to worry about.

Ugh. So damned ashamed of assholes like you. Just crawl back under your rock and shut the fuck up please.

"Man I wish just once one of you freeper maggot fucks would call me a coward to my face so i could pound the dog piss out of your punk ass."

Stupid redneck.