Originally published on the Inland Anti-Empire web site.

Early last Friday afternoon, violence at the Tyler Mall terrified many in Riverside. According to Press-Enterprise reports, an employee of Robinsons-May opened fire at the mall before killing himself.

This is tragic indeed.

Another violent attack took place later that day in Riverside as well, but this one wasn't written up in the paper -- even though it has chilling implications for all of us.

On the evening of Friday, 18 April 2003, peace activists had gathered for the weekly war protest at the corner of Iowa and Riverside. Chanting and holding signs at the side of the road, they were exercising their constitutional right to non-violent protest of our administration's policies.

Then a black Jeep turned the corner beside the protesters. An unexpected hail of metal objects were thrown at the protesters. One of them, a community college student named Tammy, was struck in the face by a 2 inch bolt.

The driver sped off as Tammy's blood flowed from a gash over her eye, trickling down onto the pavement.

This was not the first case of violence intended to intimidate peaceful dissenters in the Inland Empire. The Inland Anti-Empire site has already reported on the death threats made against San Bernardino city councilmember Susan Lien Longville for introducing an anti-war resolution.

Last month, rowdy war proponents showed up at another Riverside peace vigil, and beat up a peace activist. The Press-Enterprise reported it this way:

In Riverside, about 50 anti-war demonstrators at Central and Magnolia avenues called for peace Friday night. But tensions flared and two of five pro-war protesters got into a scuffle with a peace demonstrator, knocking him down in the street.

Blows flew on both sides before police and fellow protesters broke up the skirmish and the pro-war group left.

Whether that story in the P-E is accurate or not, I'm not sure. One of my sources says that the two men attacked the protester, punching him in the head and cutting him across the fingers. The source (whom I trust) said that the injuries were pretty severe, and arrests were made.

A different source confirms the assault, as well as the fact that counter-demonstrators were tearing up peace activists' signs. The cuts on the hands were also confirmed by the second source, who describes one of the assailants leaping into a white SUV (with firefighter stickers) to escape. When the driver of the SUV was told that the guy he'd just picked up was fleeing an assault, the response was, "I'm helping him get away."

The police seemed reluctant to move forward with charges, my second source says, but apparently assault charges were filed. By and large, the Riverside police have been far more suspicious of the non-violent peace activists than the pro-war counter-protesters, despite repeated violence or threats of violence against the peace-lovers.

The chances of the police catching the thug who threw the bolt at Tammy's face last night are quite slim. An update from peace activist Debbie LeAnce to the InlandPeace mailing list reassures us that Tammy is recovering, despite intense pain and four stitches. She's already planning to attend next week's peace vigil.

The intent of these violent cowards is to discourage us -- to squash peaceful dissent and make us live in fear. This jackbooted thuggery must not be allowed to triumph, and so the UCR Resistance is asking for a show of support by asking you -- the peaceloving people of the Riverside area -- to attend next Friday's vigil at 6 p.m. By showing up in numbers, we can proclaim that this is still America, the land of the free, where we can speak our minds in public. For more information, please email Debbie LeAnce to find out more details on the weekly protests.