Fw: Police brutality at anti war march in Austin, Texas

[Andrej Tisma]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Raulmax at aol.com>
To: <Raulmax at aol.com>
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 6:50 PM
Subject: Police brutality at anti war march in Austin, Texas


> march 20, 2003
> 
> POLICE BRUTALITY AGAINST PEACEFUL AUSTIN PROTESTERS
> 
> just want someone to know what happened here
> today...seems like there is a media blackout on
> austin, texas...
> 
> today all day nearly 2000 people expressed their
> opposition to the war on iraq by blocking traffic on
> the main drag near the university of texas, then
> beginning at rush hour marched very slowly with
> die-ins in the intersections from the capitol to the
> main tourist bridge. 
> there were signs that said, "'Iraq' is arabic for
> 'Poland'" and "Iraqi lives are sacred too" and "Draft
> the twins" (a reference to bush's daughters) and "Not
> in my name" and so on. 
> dozens of riot police with no names, no badge numbers,
> (unaccountable and anonymous) waited for night to fall
> and then began "clearing" the street of protesters.
> about 20 or so people committed to sit in the street
> in an act of peaceful civil disobedience and be
> arrested and the rest of us stayed on the sidewalks as
> witnesses. 
> with absolutely no cause a policeman approached those
> of us on the sidewalk and sprayed us in the face with
> pepper spray.  when we complained that it was uncalled
> for and that the sidewalk is public property, we were
> told that "tonight it's not" and "we're about to spray
> you again if you don't leave."  we began walking with
> the police walking behind us and they started to walk
> faster and hitting us in the back with their batons,
> screaming "move." we screamed that we WERE walking and
> they had no cause or right to hit us in the back but
> they kept doing it.  as soon we were pushed far enough
> away so as to block our view of those who were sitting
> in the street, they began the arrests.  
> the chants of "this is what democracy looks like,
> quickly turned to "this is what a police state looks
> like."
> as we were pushed along off the sidewalk and into an
> intersection, one of the riot police grabbed a young
> man (right in front of me) who was chanting
> peacefully, just like the hundreds of us who remained,
> and slammed him onto the concrete. at the same time
> another cop sprayed a woman at close range directly in
> the eyes with pepper spray. the rest started running
> toward us to push us far away so as not to see what
> was happening with the young man who was on the
> ground.  
> all of this was completely, utterly, unprovoked.  it
> actually seemed as if they were trying to provoke a
> riot so that they could become even more violent.
> it was clear that this group of riot police had a
> sense that it was accountable to no one and/or that
> they could do absolutely anything and that they would
> be protected/absolved at a higher (federal?) level.
> 
> my name is annette d'armata, i am a composer and human
> rights activist. i was there with my partner, lourdes
> perez, vocalist/songwriter and activist, diana hamad,
> of palestinian childrens' welfare fund, and patrice
> mallard of american friends service committee, all of
> whom were also pepper-sprayed in the face. there were
> many other witnesses to what i wrote above.  there
> were several television cameras but to our knowledge
> nothing was shown on the 10 p.m. news.  
> we are meeting tomorrow with latino community leaders,
> city councilpeople and the mayor about these
> deplorable actions against peaceful people.
> there are actions planned every day while there is
> war.
> please let the rest of the world know that austin is
> overwhelmingly against war and the only reason you
> don't hear about it is because it is not being
> reported.
> 
> peace,
> annette d'armata
> annettedarmata at yahoo.com
> 
> 
>