Anti-Wall Street protesters dig in against police

[Dover]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Tensions were rising at anti-Wall Street protests in three western U.S. cities on Friday as demonstrators in Portland, Salt Lake City and Oakland defied orders by police to dismantle their camps.

In Portland, police said they had received reports that protesters were digging a reinforced hole and fashioning make-shift weapons out of wood and nails after Mayor Sam Adams gave them until midnight on Saturday to clear out of two downtown parks.

Police said they believed Occupy Portland organizers had also put out a call for reinforcements from Oakland, Seattle and San Francisco as they prepared for a confrontation.

"There may even be as many as 150 anarchists who will arrive soon," Portland police said in a written statement.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/12/us-usa-protests-idUSTRE7AB05L20111112

[christx30]

1. If a single cop

gets so much as a hangnail in the confrontation, they are going to open fire with every "non-lethal" toy in their arsenal.

[dipsydoodle]

2. What's a reinforced hole ?

:shrug:

[christx30]

3. If this was 1300 A.D.

I would imagine something out of Braveheart. A hole around 4 feet deep with an embankment on one or all sides, with sharpened sticks ringing it and pointing outward. An obstacle to make it hard for an attacker to get in.
That's what popped into my head when I read that.

[dipsydoodle]

6. lol

I can just them getting away with a hole like that - with sharpened wooden spikes sticking out.

Who's leading them - Vercingetorix ?

:hi:

[Beartracks]

21. +1000 for Vercingetorix reference! :) n/t

[RC]

20. So it will not cave in.

[hootinholler]

26. Only thing I can think of:

In the navy we called them paper assholes.

[timtom]

34. +1000

for the "paper assholes" reference.

timtom
USMC
1962-1966

[Magoo48]

4. Do the writers at Rooters just make this shit up?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

15. they convenienly forgot to mentions that real protesters turned these guys in..

Mayor Sam tweeted yesterday that a small group was fortifying, and the others were telling the cops they had rocks and were digging a trench, thus the plywood and rocks were confiscated.

[Philosopher King]

5. "digging a reinforced hole and fashioning make-shift weapons out of wood and nails"

Clearly, the least rational and unsophisticated protesters have assumed control in Portland.

[DMNinFL]

7. This is the line......

that really bothers me:

"There may even be as many as 150 anarchists who will arrive soon," Portland police said in a written statement.

In my opinion having 150 of these folks there would NOT be good at all!

[starroute]

25. Anarchists are not black bloc -- black bloc are not necessarily anarchists

There's an ongoing effort to demonize "anarchists" and use them as an excuse for shutting down the occupations.

But anarchists have been involved in the occupations from the start. Many of them are non-violent by philosophy. Others may endorse the use of violence under certain situations but believe it is not justified in the present situation, where it would only discredit the movement as a whole.

And nobody seems to know quite who the black bloc is. Police provocateurs? Angry suburban white kids looking for thrills? Either way, they're not at all popular with the occupiers in general.

So you can be quite sure that Portland's appeal for reinforcements was intended to get more bodies on the ground and more eyes watching -- and not to bring in forces of destabilization.

[lunatica]

32. The police are known to lie

Just saying...

[formercia]

8. Propaganda

...to adjust the Public mindset as to why an assertive Police action is proper. We will likely find out later that it was mostly bullshit, but the M$M won't report that and, unless OWS records every detail, the Public will breathe a sigh of relief.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. Document, document, document.

Those teensy little video cams are the most powerful weapons in the OWS arsenal.

[formercia]

11. Got that right.

Nothing like real-time video to dispel the bullshit.

[nineteen50]

10. This this the only way to be heard when the corporate

media and purchased politician and government ignore real
speech. They only hear the court defined speech, MONEY.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. Their big mistake was in allowing the public a means to talk back.

Other peaceful civil insurrections have succeeded, but none so efficiently prior to the Internet.

[blackspade]

13. What a bullshit story.

Un-cited sources, no evidence, more of the same.

The continuing effort by the M$M to vilify the OWS movement is disgusting.

The cops have 'received reports that protesters were digging a reinforced hole and fashioning make-shift weapons' and 'believed organizers had also put out a call for reinforcements' and "There may even be as many as 150 anarchists who will arrive soon"? Bullshit!

How about the reporter doing his/her stupid job and try to verify the cops' crap story?

[socialist_n_TN]

14. OOOH, the HORROR........

150 anarchists!!! Hide the women and children!

NOT an anarchist here, but I would think that 150 anarchists armed with rocks and bottles wouldn't be much of a threat to the HEAVILY armed and militarized police.

[dotymed]

16. Any violence just allows excuses to use violence to

"counteract" said violence.

That is, IMO, the main strength of OWS: Non-Violence. That is why these "stories" are being spread, FEAR, the GOP's best friend and weapon.

I have faith that if any violent "Anarchist's,Mennonites, whatever, infiltrate OWS, they will not be welcomed. OWS is based on non-violence, participants are trained in non-violent resistance, etc.

Sometimes I get pissed and want to be violent when I see peaceful citizens being attacked by "law enforcement." I understand why it would be a mistake. It would give "them" the reason that they need to become really violent and ban OWS.

Spread the word please, OWS will not tolerate violent participants.

[Beartracks]

22. Mennonites??

Mennonites are Amish-related. I don't think anarchy is their thing.

================

[dotymed]

28. Sorry, I have a warped sense of humor.

[No Elephants]

33. They must be the "public utilities are ok" sect.

I stayed in a bed and breakfast run by a Mennonite woman once. She wore a black dress and a small white cap and gave me one of the loaves of freshly baked bread she had made that morning. Could not have been nicer.

But, I digress. I think she was on the grid, not windmills.

[socialist_n_TN]

24. It shouldn't really be framed as violence.........

(at least not by our side) when it's property crimes. AND it's really more of a matter of self defense than violence. I'm a believer in self defense. I think that most people are.

[dotymed]

27. So do I, I hate bullies.

But, it will not be framed as self defense by all of the detractors. Hell, "they" charge people with resisting arrest or assault just because they beat the hell out of them. I helped organize a strike in IN, they charged me with "felony intimidation of a police officer" because I told the son of a bitches that I would get even when they were using their batons on me. Four on one and I "intimidated" THEM. I am 5'7' and not overweight.

We cannot beat them with violence, even the perception of violence.

[socialist_n_TN]

29. Well, I do come at this from a revolutionary Marxist perspective,

freely admitted, and most people don't, but try a thought experiment for a moment. What if the captitalists DON'T freely give up their power? Do we either give up the cause or do we have to FORCE them to give up the power? As peacefully as possible I hurry to add. Just remember as maligned as the Bolshevik revolution has been for nearly a century now, it was relatively peaceful (and yes I know, the civil war was ANYTHING but peaceful), but not completely so.

I would rather that our side had self defense cadres ready and able to defend people from police riots. I know how they will try to frame this also, but we DO have our media to show the truth.

[dotymed]

31. Personally, having the knowledge that America spends

more on weapons than ALL of the rest of the world COMBINED, leads me to conclude that if the MIC becomes involved (especially before the masses join OWS) then we don't stand a snowballs chance.

"They" could declare martial law, use drones or whatever to kill and destroy this young movement before it has the chance to spread. With the MSM fronting the violence meme (look at how fast the "Patriot Act" and the "bailouts" happened) they could get away with it. It might make them speed up their plans and under Martial Law they could classify everything and seal the facts. I have watched America becoming a fascist state for decades. The threat of violence in the streets could progress this.

It would set our resistance way back (IMO). Of course America could end up in another civil war because of it (maybe). I want to see the inequities destroyed, not our population. At this point, we are out gunned. At any point, I would prefer not to see wars in our streets like the ones we have created in so many other countries in the name of Democracy.

[socialist_n_TN]

35. As with any successful revolution, until the military

(and by military, I mean the grunts, NOT the officers) either comes around to the revolution OR at the very least, stays neutral, the people don't have a chance.

Which is why I'm looking for soldier/sailor/marine/air force soviets/assemblies. When those happen we have a chance because the EMs control those assemblies.

I'm a Trotskyist. "Timing is everything" is built into our bones. :)

[Earth_First]

17. Be strong, remain defiant, be safe and remain non-violent.

This is OURS.

[wtmusic]

18. 150 anarchists will arrive soon.

Did these cops timewarp out of 1933? :crazy:

[Beartracks]

23. They think it's "A Clockwork OWSnge." n/t

[stevedeshazer]

19. Just another day in Portland.

We ain't called Little Beirut for nothing.

Seriously, I hope anarchist dopes don't ruin Occupy Portland for the rest of us. That idiot who busted off a Molotov cocktail at the World Trade Center (yes, Portland has one) tarnished the entire movement.

Portland cops brutally murdered my friend, Jim Jim Chasse for pissing in a public place. I saw them teargassing crowds of protesters (myself included) in August 2002 in an anti-Iraq invasion protest. Many of Portland's cops live elsewhere, in Republican suburbs hostile to Portland's cool attitude. Trust me, they would love to engage in some serious hippie-punching tonight.

They'll break out the riot gear, dress up, and it will be a very bad outcome.

I have a really bad feeling about tonight.

Angry cops. Angry anarchists. Angry, but peaceful Occupiers. And Stanford will beat the Oregon Ducks.

These conditions spell riot, in my opinion.

[annabanana]

30. I believe that Denver is also facing imminent evacuation...

What's happening there/