World Wont Wait
10 arrested during World Can't Wait's anti-Bush march - Chronicle building hit by Molotov cocktail. Shaken not stirred.
An anti-Bush demonstration in San Francisco ended with the arrest of 10 people, including one who was found carrying several Molotov cocktails after such a device was thrown at The San Francisco Chronicle building on Wednesday, police said.
Nine people were arrested for blocking traffic at Hyde and Market streets, said San Francisco police Commander David Shinn.
About 2,000 people participated in the rally and march organized by The World Can't Wait, a group whose focus is to remove President Bush from office.
Shinn said the march was mostly peaceful but added that there was a "small element bent on violent acts of destruction."
At one point, as the small group marched along Mission Street, somebody pulled out a Molotov cocktail, lit it and threw it against the Chronicle building, where it exploded, sending fiery material onto the shoulder of San Francisco police Officer Gary Constantine, who was not injured, Shinn said.
Police arrested a person who was found with Molotov cocktails, but they were uncertain Wednesday night whether that person was the one who threw the explosive, Shinn said.
The protesters also staged a "die-in" at Hyde and Market, in which they lay down on the street.
Mona Villa, a monitor for the march, said the 2-mile march was ending when about 15 protesters -- some of them high-school-age teens -- stayed behind for the "die-in." Other protesters had done the same thing periodically throughout the walk.
As they lay in the street, about 25 police officers in riot gear holding batons told the protesters that "anyone who didn't want to be arrested should get up and move to the sidewalk," said Villa.
About a third did, Villa said. Without warning, she said, the police circled the remaining protesters, charged in and grabbed them, forcing them to fall on one another.
"I barely got out of the way," she said. "There was no reason to use such force. They were just lying there ... high schoolers practically singing 'Kumbaya.' "
They remained there for about 45 minutes, she said, refusing to let anyone move and clogging traffic. Villa said she saw a woman who was trying to obtain the name of one arrested youth get backhanded by police.
Shinn said police allowed the group to block traffic for a while, but when the protesters refused repeated orders to clear the intersection, police arrested them.
www.sfgate.com
An anti-Bush demonstration in San Francisco ended with the arrest of 10 people, including one who was found carrying several Molotov cocktails after such a device was thrown at The San Francisco Chronicle building on Wednesday, police said.
Nine people were arrested for blocking traffic at Hyde and Market streets, said San Francisco police Commander David Shinn.
About 2,000 people participated in the rally and march organized by The World Can't Wait, a group whose focus is to remove President Bush from office.
Shinn said the march was mostly peaceful but added that there was a "small element bent on violent acts of destruction."
At one point, as the small group marched along Mission Street, somebody pulled out a Molotov cocktail, lit it and threw it against the Chronicle building, where it exploded, sending fiery material onto the shoulder of San Francisco police Officer Gary Constantine, who was not injured, Shinn said.
Police arrested a person who was found with Molotov cocktails, but they were uncertain Wednesday night whether that person was the one who threw the explosive, Shinn said.
The protesters also staged a "die-in" at Hyde and Market, in which they lay down on the street.
Mona Villa, a monitor for the march, said the 2-mile march was ending when about 15 protesters -- some of them high-school-age teens -- stayed behind for the "die-in." Other protesters had done the same thing periodically throughout the walk.
As they lay in the street, about 25 police officers in riot gear holding batons told the protesters that "anyone who didn't want to be arrested should get up and move to the sidewalk," said Villa.
About a third did, Villa said. Without warning, she said, the police circled the remaining protesters, charged in and grabbed them, forcing them to fall on one another.
"I barely got out of the way," she said. "There was no reason to use such force. They were just lying there ... high schoolers practically singing 'Kumbaya.' "
They remained there for about 45 minutes, she said, refusing to let anyone move and clogging traffic. Villa said she saw a woman who was trying to obtain the name of one arrested youth get backhanded by police.
Shinn said police allowed the group to block traffic for a while, but when the protesters refused repeated orders to clear the intersection, police arrested them.
www.sfgate.com
posted by professor rat at 8:14 AM
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