Whether success in gaining attention is good for the movement remains to be seen, but LA is taking the protests seriously. 1,200 school children (kindergartners to lower elementary) near the protest areas have been trained on how to lock themselves into school, with enough food and water to last the night. Almost all the mom and pop diamond merchant in the diamond district near the Staples center are planning on closing. Mailboxes and hundreds of newspaper vending machines have been taken from the street.

LA Times.
CNN.

What remains to be seen is if protestors attention grabbing tactics, and the focus on confrontation and battle with the police, succeeds in bringing mainstream America on board, or simply makes them begin to worry about the fate of their children in schools where block bloc anarchists are likely to roam "liberating" personal property.

Washington Post is covering this. Looks like the police, businesses and parents of children are getting ready for war with the protestors, just as the protestors are getting ready to fight the "present day holocaust" (quote from chuck-o).

"In Koreatown, which is near downtown and which took a beating in the 1992 riots here, some business owners told police this week that they intend to arm themselves during the convention protests. Meanwhile, a local chapter of the NAACP persuaded a Hollywood movie theater that shows film classics to scrap its plans to screen D.W. Griffith's 1915 "Birth of a Nation" during the convention because they fear its benign depiction of the Ku Klux Klan could incite violence.

About 3,000 National Guard troops have been placed on alert to respond to any unrest in the streets, and the Los Angeles Police Department has been keeping a close watch on the headquarters of the protest coalition. Police helicopters have hovered over the building, and officers have monitored activities there on videotape."

It's ironic how the City of Los Angeles is taking precautions to safeguard young children against the intended violent tactics to be carried out by its own police force. I attended the A16 protests in Washington, D.C. and was amazed at how many children were present during he direct action convergence. They were there with their parents who are union members and supporters of other causes. And what seemed to convey the message to the younger generation was the theatical presentations involving the puppets. The same puppets continuously confiscated by the police. So now, while the entertainment and educational programming industries are using puppets as teaching tools through characters, the powers that be are sending out a contradictory message. Thus, once again, causing confusion to the masses of younger generations. Above all, their violent tactics will only influence further the impressionable youth of America.