at the anti-war "academy awards for peace" march on sunset and orange, a breakaway march of a few hundred people left to head towards hollywood and highland where the pro-war forces were gathered. they were forced well to the south by the LAPD--all the way to the intersection of willoughby and one block west of orange, where they were corralled by the cops. chanting "whose streets? our streets!" they were surrounded by cops on bikes, cops on motorcycles, and sheriffs, all armed. THE COPS, AFTER FORCING THEM INTO THIS REMOTE CORNER, ORDERED THEM TO DISPERSE "ONE BY ONE". (that is so ridiculous!) the protesters refused for a while, chanting, "we all leave together! we all leave together!". the protesters were entirely nonviolent for as much as this observer could see. then the cops forced the people to leave, in two separate lines, one heading to the east, one heading to the west. the cops said, "IF YOU DISPERSE WE WONT ARREST YOU." the protesters started to disperse, not "one-by-one" exactly, but in a line, sometimes one person, sometimes two, on the sidewalk. at this point my friends and i crossed the street to monitor the dispersal. the guy with the megaphone, who had been leading the chants, was walking toward the east, along with many of the other demonstrators. we were taking pictures and video (to be posted later), and then the next thing we knew, the cops ripped the megaphone away from the guy, and slammed, yes, slammed him, face first, on the ground. his face pressed on the pavement, there were at least 4 cops on top of him making the arrest.

he was talking back to the cops, and i squatted on the ground to tell him that he didn't need to tell them anything, and to try to get his name and a phone number. at this point i was pushed into the line of people who were being dispersed, along with my friends.

as soon as they had this one guy on the ground, they went after another dude (who, not coincidentally, was brown). i am so pissed off right now. they kept saying that nothing would happen if people dispersed, AND AS WE WERE DISPERSING (AFTER THEY CORRALLED FOLKS), THEY WENT AFTER US--CLEARLY TARGETING THE ORGANIZERS--tactics to intimidate, i guess.

during the dispersal we were almost at a run and there were tens of armed cops on the streets around us and directly behind us. one pushed me, and i turned around and said "please don't push me," and he growled, "keep walking!". but it was really hard to walk any faster and they were pretty much on top of us. i got a billy club in my back, my friend got a bicylcle on her head and shoulder, and i know that we two white women had it easier than most others.

i am soooo pissed. i have bicycle tracks on my arm right now. this is actually my first "encounter" with LAPD. i shouldn't be surprised, i guess.

I was there also. Please post those pictures as soon as they become available. I know that guy you were talking about whose face got slammed on the ground. That's too bad. He's a nice guy. It is really unfair. The cops wanted to arrest and beat people down soooooo badly. They shouldn't even be talked to because they're all just followers. They pick on the most vulnerable people! How else can you define cowardice?

I was there as well pushed down onto willoughby south of santa monica blvd, the whole day was pretty fucked up, the rally with stage was ok but the presence of the police with their faces of fear and brain washed militarized attitiudes towards we the people, we the citizens of this fucked up country.......we were leaving peacefully after forced out as the 6 o'clock hour was approaching, they rushed us and then we were deadlocked going south without any east or west exits, its as if these guys, the assortment of blue and brown freaks on motorbikes and bicycles were enjoying the show and looking forward to our entrapment.....I'm by the way haven't been to a protest since Gulf 1 which was very depressing, I went to Westwood last week the night after the cop got video tapped swinging his club at protesters, and enjoyed the power of the people shutting wilshire down, and then on saturday the march in Hollywood to the CNN bldg was a great day, with the new LAPD chief showing up looking cool in shades and civilian clothes, and the horses testing their moves on people standing their beloved ground with peace and love in their hearts, and social conscience and patriotic responsiblities in their minds and bodies, but back to willoughby where we finally were entraped, and our future was bleak, I didn't want them to trash my sign, thinking maybe i should take it apart and fold it up to save it for later, but luckily we got out, and they enjoyed their shallow and cheap and violent ways.........power to the people really means something when we unite in voice and anger at the injustice in the world. Please continue your work and hope to see all on sunday.

If you or someone you know has been arrested for civil disobedience over the
last week or has been injured by the police at a protest in the last week
please email me. We "The Arrested" (mostly a group of us from Saturday's
arrests) had a meeting tonight at the Peace Center to discuss our next step.
We plan on consolidating our cases and pleading not guilty as a group and are
seeking legal representation and will be interviewing lawyers. We are also
investigating pressing charges against the police for brutality.

Our next meeting is scheduled for THURSDAY MARCH 27th at 7:30 PM at 2170 W.
Washington Blvd. (which is off the 10 at Washington and Western). All
Arrestees and Victims of police brutality are urged to attend.

It is very important that we get in contact with all arrestees and injured
ASAP.

Here is my email for the injured and arrested

You wouldn't by chance be a personal injury attorney, would you?

No, I am not a personal injury attourney. I am one of the arrested from Saturday. A group of about twenty of us who were arrested and a few who were injured met last night and we are organizing a legal group to deal with cases of civil disobedience in relation to the war protests. We are going to interview lawyers to represent us pro bono. This is not about money.