"I saw no violence except the violence committed by the police"

Kale McEwan Kevan

hedge@pcisys.net

Jem and I arrived at the rally late. We milled around with the crowd in Palmer Park for perhaps twenty minutes, listening to the music and the speakers. The group had a good 'vibe' -- friendly, peacable and good-humoured people of all ages. Many children, elderly people, and handicapped people were there. I estimate there were around 4,000 protesters present, but I'm not good at making guesses like that.

We weren't there long when protest organizers with bullhorns and yellow arm-bands organized the crowd to move out of the park to line the sidewalks on both sides of Academy Boulevard. Protest organizers reminded everyone to use the cross-walks and to stay on the sidewalks, as well as directing people to take positions where the crowd was thinner. Crossing the street was still a bit of a problem -- as can be expected with a crowd that large, people weren't able to clear the crosswalks before the lights changed. I saw a lot of police, but they didn't seem to be making any attempt to direct pedestrian traffic. I did not see anyone deliberately blocking the street, and if anybody was dancing in it they were dancing as they crossed. The crowd of protestors -was- holding up traffic as they crossed Academy Boulevard, but it was not deliberate and it was no worse than the kind of pedestrian-congestion that happens when a concert or sporting event lets out.

Jem and I took a position not far from the intersection of Maizeland and Academy. Admittedly I was distracted by conversation and the general celebratory atmosphere, but I think I would have noticed anything really dramatic happening in the intersection less than half a block away. I did see protest organizers asking some people to stay of the medians. They were met with cooperation.

We waved to the people driving by, and were met mostly with smiles and supportive horn-honking.

Then the traffic abruptly stopped. The road was empty as far as we could see. Police had blocked off traffic and we were waving our signs and banners at the other protestors across the street. People around us started moving southward down Academy, so we joined them. A lot of people walked down the middle of the empty street, but they returned to the sidewalk when they reached the area with traffic. We stood on the corner at the next unblocked intersection, where we would be seen. The police had their roadblock there and there was a small confrontation with a few people who were standing on the median, but this was over quickly and everybody was back on the sidewalk. I saw one person being loaded into a police car there, but I don't know the reason.

More police, with black uniforms, helmets, plastic shields and the funny-looking rifles that I later learned fire tear-gas canisters, arrived in vans. Police used their PA and bullhorns to order us to clear the street, saying that our gathering was no longer a legal one. We were all standing on the sidewalks, and the command seemed mystifying. The police with the plastic shields then formed a line and marched northwards up Academy.

This parade was quite surreal -- with all the protestors on the sidewalks, the street was empty and the police were pushing a ghost-riot. The wall of plastic shields marched right past us at one point, paying no attention to our little group on the sidewalk. These police took a break after marching maybe a hundred yards. They stood around in a knot in the middle of the street for a while and we passed and ended up in front of them. When they formed their wall of shields again it seemed to have more of a purpose, as now we could see people walking in the street ahead of them. I did not see anyone come within twenty feet of this wall of police with shields while it was on the street. We peacefully allowed ourselves to be herded back to Palmer Park.

Many of the protestors had parked in the unpaved and weedy lot just across Maizeland road from the park. We had been herded off the street and off the sidewalks, and I believe that most of the protestors who were still there believed themselves to be in compliance with the orders police had given. The crowd had mostly dispersed, and what remained were small groups of people standing in this parking lot, talking or playing music. The group of shield-carrying police stood in the lot, fairly close to the road. I assumed they had positioned themselves there to be sure that the remnants of the crowd didn't try to get back into the street. I could not understand why they did not re-open Academy to traffic, as the street itself and its sidewalks were totally empty.

I did not hear any warning that tear-gas was going to be fired. I just saw the fog of it billow up. There several cars still parked around the area where the gas was, and I have no idea how police expected the people to disperse when the gas prevented them from reaching their vehicles.

I saw a scrawny teenage boy of maybe fifteen fall on the ground. He seemed to be in convulsions from the gas. At first I thought that the police were trying to help him, but a second later there were about six of them, all crouched down with one knee on the young man's body. They cable-tied his hands. Another man ran past me, his eyes and nose streaming. He was retching, obviously in considerable distress.

Another canister was fired, and this time the gas reached me, burning my eyes and throat. Jem and I moved away from it, further westward along Maizeland and then into the park. Neither of of us was seriously effected by the gas. The police formed their wall of plastic shields again and were crossing the lot. Just ahead of us was the man who had been retching. He could no longer stand and was being half carried and half dragged along by his friends. Just behind us was a group of young women with a boy who I guessed to be about ten years of age. He was screaming, crying and running in circles, refusing to allow anyone to touch him.

The police marched up Maizeland, herding a small group before them. I heard someone say that police were going into the houses along the street, searching for anyone who'd taken refuge inside, but I didn't see this happening.

A little while later, the wall of police followed us into the park itself. A first-aid trained protest volunteer had joined the group with the fallen man whom I had seen retching. He was lying on the grass and those around were trying to wash his face and help him, but the oncoming wall of cops kept forcing them to drag him further along. Jem and I walked behind the knot of people around the injured man and stood in front of them whenever they had a moment to lay him down. Once he was loaded into a car and driven away, we left.

It was a strange and disturbing experience. It seemed as if a number of protestors were expecting it -- as soon as the black-uniformed shield-carrying police appeared, I noticed that some people were wearing bandannas over their mouths and noses, and I smelled vinegar. Someone explained to me that the vinegar neutralizes tear-gas. After the first gas canister was fired I saw a young woman wearing swimming-goggles as well as a bandanna. Obviously some of the protestors were prepared for what happened.

Next time, I too will be prepared. I will bring water by the gallon, and vinegar, and handkercheifs. Maybe some of these people who were so equipped also came with the intent of forcing a confrontation. I don't know. I -do- know that I didn't see or hear such a confrontation. I didn't even hear anybody saying 'Pig!' until -after- the gas canisters were fired. I'll come prepared not because I want to create violence, but because I refuse to be frightened into silence, and I don't ever again want to find myself unprepared to help the people around me. I had thought it would be cold, and brought a vacuum-bottle of hot coffee. By the end I wished only that I'd brought cool water instead, to rinse the burn out of the eyes of that poor man.

What I saw was a peaceful and loving gathering of people who had come out to be seen, and to have their voices heard. When the street was blocked to traffic, our demonstration was rendered silent and pointless, so we moved along to where we could be seen. It seemed like a set-up -- by blocking Academy to traffic, police insured that we would move to a point where they could declare our gathering unlawful. And once the protest was an 'unlawful' gathering, they herded us back to the park, where they fired tear-gas canisters at unwitting people who were simply standing near their cars and talking over the days already weird events. It seemed as if the police, having been met with peaceful but unhurried and unafraid compliance, decided to prove their power in a needless and ugly display.

I saw no imminent riot. I saw no dangerous crowd in need of being dispersed. I saw no one deliberately blocking the street except the police. I saw no violence except the violence committed by the police.