by steve |
April 11 There really are police everywhere. I live about nine blocks from where the main protest is happening, and when I went to buy bread and vegetables this morning, I counted five cops in my four block walk roundtrip. I've got to question what it is that the police learned from Seattle. I know DC cops met with Seattle police to learn about what tactics work, but what did they tell them? Is tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets an effective measure against peaceful protesters? Will we see the same things in Washington that we saw in Seattle? I heard that there is someone taking photos on the top of the Pepco building, I'm going to try and get pictures of them tomorrow. It occurred to me that a police radio would an amazing thing to have. I found a site that broadcasts the police radio. Later, the cops realized they were being monitored. |
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April 13 Growth Industry Prison-gray steel barriers border an entire city block-- Only the police can walk those smooth stone sidewalks Fenced in by walls that took a day to put up. Now they stand there, strangely incarcerated by their own doing. I circle the building cupping sugary coffee As morning unfolds with stark grays, Watching policemen watch me-- Thinking Sunday's the only common ground in our collective minds. I see their guns and nightsticks and feel them softening my drive, Dulling the eager point in my mind That's ready for a full-scale celebration-- a street parade impassioned masses upswelling of a protest. The wind surges as I complete a lap and tip my cup To catch the last trails of syrupy mocha-brown sugar. My head aches from coffee And cops who bring tension to the morning still. |
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April 14 On the far side of Pennsylvania Ave., people are sharing large amounts of food. As one person said to a nearby NBC cameraman "Everyone is fed." I saw a steel worker talking to a kid in dreadlocks, and it reminds me how different this movement is from what I perceive the 1960's to be, where you had a lot of people believing the same things. In both cases people are fighting against a common enemy, but in this case, they have a lot of different causes. |
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April 15 Impromptu dancing and drumming settled a tense crowd, though up on 20th and K over 200 arrests were made (we didn't see this). Tomorrow is Sunday. |
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April 16-17 April 19th
Update
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