When George Bush's motorcade rolled into Center City Philadelphia today the President was greeted with a loud and sustained chorus of boos and whistles from the crowd of protesters that assembled outside the president's hotel. Bush was in town to deliver a speech about the latest in Iraq. (transcripts of Bush's speech) This was the 3rd in a series of four events staged by the White House to respond to critcs of Bush's Iraq policy. Later across town, Pennslyvania Congressman John Murtha, the hawkish democrat and war veteran whose recent challenge to end the war effectively reframed the Iraq debate, responded to the president's latest Iraq assessment charging that the continued US presence in Iraq undermines any political progress. "The Iraqis are not against democracy!" Murtha said, "they are against our occupation." It was towards the end of today's protest that things turned decidedly nasty as police charged the crowd, clubs in hand, wrestling a number of protesters to the ground.
. What had been a peaceful and pleasent demonstration quickly disovled into mayham and confusion as Philly's finest essentially turned "attack dog" on the crowd. It was not immediatelyclear what kind of threat the cops perceived when they began their assult on the crowd, but they arrested two (black) men who had joined today's rally with their family. It should be noted that the fracas was witnesses by the young sons and the grandmother of the victims, all of whom looked on in horror as the police brought all the force they had to bear on their relatives. I saw the entire incident at close range and i must confess that it was very painful and infuriating to accept what Ii was witnessing.
Local media later reported that police had concerns that one of the men involved was carrying a dangerous object, which turned out to actually be a glass of hot cider. Harmless enough, if you ask me, afterall it was freezing outside. I also later learned from a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter that one of the men involved was taken to the hospital and relaeased. The other is in lockup at the 9th Police District, charged with assult on a police officer. Bitterly ironic.
While I am tempted to vent my frustration at what i saw towards the police, that would be to simplistic of a target. I think what i witnessed today is a byproduct of the politics of fear that is so prevelant in this country nowadays. In this post-9/11 world, the government seems to have masterfully exploited our sense of fear by inundating us with scarey, albeit mostly abstract, messages that eat away at our peace of mind. Has it gotten to the point where our country is "on edge" that a simple thermos of cider can set the cops into an asswhippin' frenzy?? After what I witnessed today, my answer is an emphatic YES.
off to bed
jay lassiter
http://einkleinesblog.blogspot.com/