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The
Sept. 26 protests offered the Portland Police Bureau its
first big test since May, when police and protesters clashed
during a May Day march. In that rally police were seen as
overreacting (see "The New Portland Police Bureau," WW,
May 10, 2000).
Some
protesters were upset by what they saw as needless confrontation
Sept. 26. "All that gets covered is the violence," says
Roze Dotson.Police say 29 people were arrested in the Sept.
26 demonstrations.
For
more information what the demonstrations were about, check
www.x21.org/s26.
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Handcuffing
the Boys in Blue
Cops and commuters were not the only ones pissed off in
the wake of last month's "Reclaim The Streets" rally, which
shut down light rail, buses and part of Broadway during
the Sept. 26 rush hour. Even some longtime Portland activists,
like Jamie Partridge, were questioning the tactics of some
protesters.
Until last month, police conduct at large demonstrations
had unified demonstrators, both at WTO in Seattle and May
Day in Portland. But the Sept. 26 rally had a different
effect, as some veteran activists are now questioning the
actions of protesters, not the cops. "We're not in favor
of confrontation with the police for the sake of confrontation
with the police," says Partridge of Jobs With Justice. "In
my opinion that seems to be the case with the Reclaim the
Streets folks."
There were actually two rallies that Tuesday. Partridge's
group obtained a permit for sort of a catch-all rally at
Pioneer Square Sept. 26. It would celebrate union victories
in Portland, trash union-basher Bill Sizemore and show solidarity
with counterparts in Prague protesting a meeting of the
IMF, which they blame for increasing global inequities and
environmental degradation.
But Reclaim the Streets, a loosely organized group of twenty-somethings,
decided to show its solidarity by blocking traffic with
its unpermitted dance party a few blocks away, at Southwest
Stark and 2nd Avenue.
When police on horses and in riot gear escorted the younger
group into Pioneer Square, some of the would-be Jobs With
Justice attendees headed home rather than risk pepper spray
and horse hooves, says JWJ organizer Margaret Butler. As
for the other protest, she says, "I don't think the right
to march in the street without a permit is a very compelling
cause."
Dave Mazza, an activist and editor of the The Alliance
newspaper, says there's "increasing friction" within the
local activist community over how best to build on the aftermath
of the WTO. "There's a lot of discussion inside the movement
about discipline," he says. "There are times when it's appropriate
to do civil disobedience and other times when it's not appropriate."
But Roze Dotson, a 20-year-old Lewis & Clark student,
believes performing acts of civil disobedience is the only
way to avoid being ignored. "If we don't do some kind of
activity that will get the police to arrest us, then we
don't have any media coverage," says Dotson, a member of
the college's Radical Action Group.
Dotson says the real problem is the small number of people
that show up to mess with police for fun. On Sept. 26 their
activities--throwing plastic water bottles and eggs at the
police, stomping on parked cars--drew the bulk of the attention
from TV cameras.
Graham Hansen, an organizer with Reclaim the Streets, defended
the rally, saying that the dance-party theme, complete with
generator, turntables and DJs, was employed to attract a
younger crowd. He says it wasn't organizers' intent to scuffle
with cops. "Nobody had any idea that it would turn out the
way it did," he says. "There were people there participating
in property destruction and confronting the police for the
sake of confronting the police. We said, 'This is not what
it's about. This is not about destroying anything, this
is not about pissing off the cops.'"
Hansen, however, blames the police for overagressive behavior
and causing the traffic tie-ups, since protesters weren't
blocking light rail or bus lines until forced to move.
Commander Larry Findling of the Portland Police Bureau
says problems did not begin until the protesters got to
Pioneer Square and some of the Reclaim the Streets group
occupied Broadway.
"If the purpose of this was to advance a cause, then I
don't understand the strategy," he says, adding that he's
willing to work with nonviolent civil disobedience. "If
people wanted to be arrested, we can do that. We'd make
it so nobody gets hurt , no big hassles, nothing."
Handcuffing
the Boys in Blue
Some cops feel the more restrained approach of Sept. 26
reflected an overreaction to May Day, says Greg Pluchos
of the Portland Police Association, "The segment out there
to cause havoc [on Sept. 26] was allowed to do so, and officers
were told not to do anything," says Pluchos. "During that
time things were thrown at officers, officers were spit
on, cars were walked on. [Restraint] would have been difficult
for anyone to do in that situation, and
yet the officers did as
instructed."
--NB
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