S.F. protest a lesson on how to do it right

[Mugu]

C.W. Nevius

When San Francisco hosts a protest, you never know what you're going to get. Five years ago today, to demonstrate against the beginning of the war in Iraq, tens of thousands of demonstrators created a citywide meltdown.

On Wednesday, the same organizing group staged an anniversary protest and struck a whole different tone. Tech-smart, media-savvy and carefully organized, Direct Action to Stop the War may have inconvenienced a few people with some street closures, but the worst damage was to a police cruiser hit by a flying news rack.

Granted, the number of protesters was way down from 2003. But there also was a change in tactics. The organizers of this year's protest have learned that there's little point in barricading the Bay Bridge in a city where most people are against the war anyway. They've abandoned most of their scorched-earth methods.

"I think five years ago the focus was to block the streets," said Brant Olson, who was riding through the streets shooting a live Internet video with a camera taped to the top of his bike helmet. "This time I think the tactic was to organize to target specific businesses and not just block the streets."


Read complete article at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2008/03/20/MNVLVMQO7.DTL

[meegbear]

1. But the French do it like it nobody's business ...

you name it, they'll go on strike for it and lock the cities down.

[lame54]

2. Here's another WILD San Francisco protest...

We just walked out the train station to see this come rolling by
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26idl_wild-war-protest_politics