Photo from FoundSF
It was a cool spring day, the Equinox in fact. Word spread quickly that it was also Day X, the name given to the future first day of a war in Iraq. Protesters had been preparing for months, knowing the government was heading into an unsolvable conflict. They didn’t know what day it would happen, but when it became clear what was happening, they quickly mobilized.
Thousands of protesters used their individual skills, knowledge, and networks to get out on the streets and shut The City down. They gathered at Market and 4th, blocking traffic. The cyclists who had been gathering for Critical Mass put their organizing work to immediate use, attempting to block traffic to the Bay Bridge. And most obscenely, several protestors began gagging themselves and vomiting around the Federal Building to prove that the war was making them “sick to their stomachs,” so to speak.
Our very own Stuart (of BrokeAssStuart fame) was there. He says, “I think I was at that protest. It was the first time I saw Black Bloc tactics and police kettling and it flipped my wig.”
Black Bloc is a tactic you may see at the next protest; it involves covering as much of your body as possible in all black. When several hundred are covered, it creates a strong visual and makes it harder for authorities to identify and punish those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
Police kettling, though, is far more dangerous and can be life-threatening. It involves surrounding a protest and forcing all, peaceful or not, into a small area. When the tactic was employed on Westminster Bridge, protesters suffered crush injuries and several were nearly pushed off the bridge into the freezing river below. If, as you exercise those First Amendment rights, you see signs that the police may be kettling, heed that warning and find a way to disperse if you can.
Just 23 years ago today, on a Thursday, the streets were already near gridlock at 7:30am. At Fell and Gough, a group used the same tactics as the Gaza protestors recently used on the Golden Gate Bridge. According to one eye witness account, they locked themselves together using pipes, making it harder to separate them.
The eye witness continued making his way downtown; humorously, he penned that there were around 20 cops guarding Abercrombie and Fitch.
All in all, there were several rounds of protests that spring and throughout the war. But the March 20th one was significant enough to warrant a Wikipedia article, and it resulted in thousands of arrests of protesters. According to an SFGate article, it was the largest demonstration since the Gulf War protests in the 90s. Police used tear gas, hit protestors with batons, and used other violent tactics in response.
From the SFGate article:
“The demonstrators, united in their cause, were varied in their tactics. A band calling itself "Pukers for Peace'' vomited on the steps of the Federal Building. The "Crafty Bitches, Knitting for Peace,'' knitted at Fourth and Market streets. Down the street a bit, a lone trumpeter performed a solemn rendition of "We Shall Overcome.'' on his trumpet. At First and Market streets, a handful of women did yoga -- earning them some sexually suggestive comments from passers-by.”
As the No Kings protests approach at the end of the month, read up on what’s happened before, because it can happen again.
