STRYKER PROTEST -- VIDEO: More video of police violence in Port of Tacoma early Sat. morning
Written by Mark Jensen
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Joe La Sac of the Univ. of Puget Sound posted two more videos on Saturday afternnon showing violence unleashed by police on peaceful antiwar protesters early Saturday morning at the Port of Tacoma, where longshore workers began loading vehicles for the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division late Friday. -- The first shows an angle on police aggression different from that in another YouTube video posted by La Sac a few hours earlier. -- At the beginning of this video, which La Sac calls "Port of Tacoma Police Riot — Camera #2," riot police can be seen up close casually tossing a tear gas cannister with no warning into a peaceful crowd of protesters.[1] -- Several minutes of chaos ensue as the cameraman and others flee the scene; police then advance on protesters as they try to help each other cope with the choking, blinding effects of tear gas. -- The victims of the assault appear understandably incensed, and some respond by tossing tear gas cannisters back toward police. -- This footage was taken sometime between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. on Sat., Mar. 10, at the corner of Milwaukee Way and Lincoln Ave. on the Tacoma tideflats. -- A second video shows a King 5 News report by Bernard Choi on the incident broadcast that was broadcast on Saturday.[2] -- Ironically, Tacoma PD Detective Brad Graham justifies police misconduct by saying that protesters were blockading the street. -- In fact, the intersection shown in the video was blockaded without notice by police on Friday, after all week long serving as the entry point for protesters exercising their constitutional rights of peaceable assembly and freedom of speech near the parked Stryker vehicles. -- Earlier Friday evening Sgt. Jagodinski of the Tacoma Police Department would only protesters assembling there that Milwaukee Way had been closed "a while back" and would not explain why. -- Thus police, not protesters, were "blockading" the road shown in the video. -- Protesters' surprise and panic at the sudden tear gas attack contradict Detective Graham's claim that adequate warning was given....
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[Video]
PORT OF TACOMA POLICE RIOT -- CAMERA #2 By Joe La Sac
Another angle of the horrible violence committed by police against un-armed, peaceful protesters.
