Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 22:55:56 -0400
From: Chuck0 <chuck-AT-tao.ca>
Subject: Eugene: City, anarchists assert ideals


I want to make it very clear to folks, that I stand with the Eugene
anarchists, and will do everything possible to help them out. This is
clearly an example of why I'm an anarchist. I don't think this is the
time to whine about what our comrades may or may not have done,
according to the papers. This is yet another example of what we should
expect as Clinton's police state increases in size.

City, anarchists assert ideals
By ERIC MORTENSON 
The Register-Guard
http://www.registerguard.com/news/19990620/1a.riotfolo.0620.html

Depending on who you talk to, Friday's riot in downtown Eugene was
either a necessary blow against the oppressive global economic powers
that are killing the planet or a mindless rampage by hooded cowards who
have no message other than destruction.

In its wake, 20 people were arrested, eight police officers were hurt
and a driver who felt threatened by anarchists clubbed one of them on
the head with a wrench. Everyone who would talk about it Saturday was
angry, sad, disappointed or all of the above.<p> Nobody came out of this
one looking good. Anarchists were arguing among themselves Saturday,
with some claiming straight-faced that property damage isn't violence
and others muttering that the movement needs to grow up.

===Marshall Kirkpatrick (left) and Steve Bouton chat with other anarchist
organizers after they held a news conference on the sidewalk at Eighth
Avenue and Willamette Street Saturday morning.
===
Eugene police were harshly criticized from all sides. Eugene PeaceWorks,
which organized what began as a day to "reclaim" the streets, insisted
that police exacerbated tensions by following marchers to the park under
the Washington-Jefferson interchange and tear-gassing them.

PeaceWorks accused the department of not allowing marchers to disperse
without "selective harassment and arrest."

Police Chief Jim Hill strongly disagreed.

"The violence started well before we did any tear-gassing," he said.
"That's pretty ludicrous."

Critics at the other end of the spectrum were incredulous that police
allowed the riot to brew for five hours before firing tear gas. Hill
said some people praised his officers for their restraint and others
chewed him out for their perceived inaction.

Meanwhile, Hill said he's surprised by the restraint motorists showed
when anarchists spilled into the streets and stomped on cars trapped in
the resulting traffic jam.

"I'm surprised we didn't have a shooting. I'm just amazed," he said.
"There are a lot of people who don't like activists anyway. Pick the
wrong car or pickup truck, and you're going to have a mess."

He said it would be interesting to see how a jury treats the case of the
man who smacked the anarchist, providing the man is identified and
charged.

Whatever the case, it was clear Saturday that city officials have had
enough. Hill vowed that the department will review its tactics and most
likely will lean toward earlier intervention in such incidents.

"I don't think we're going to let people take control of the streets,"
he said. "We're not going to let this kind of stuff go on in the city.
It's just not acceptable."

Hill said he feels bad that the department couldn't do more to help
business owners or the people whose cars were damaged when the
anarchists streamed into traffic.

But he said his officers were hampered by a number of problems late
Friday afternoon. They didn't use tear gas earlier because the streets
were crowded with rush-hour traffic and onlookers, including media, who
weren't rioting, he said.

 His officers were too badly outnumbered to wade in with batons and
fight a crowd that was ready to fight back, he said. Police can fire
nonlethal projectiles, but officers would have had to move closer to use
the weapons and there was a risk of hitting innocent people, he said.

Hill said the department needs the capability to deploy officers faster.
By the time a force of officers would arrive at a trouble spot, the
anarchists would veer off in another direction.

"We were trying to move a bunch of officers through heavy traffic
against a group of people marching all over the place," he said.

Hill said the anarchists were spoiling for trouble from the start.

"It was pretty obvious to me that the folks who were involved like
confrontation, want confrontation, and have an agenda around the
destruction of society and disdain for order," he said.

Officers are reviewing videotapes of the riot and hope to make more
arrests, Hill said. Cases will be turned over to the district attorney's
office for prosecution.

Mayor Jim Torrey said he supports people's right to peacefully assemble
but said the riot Friday "went well beyond the reasonable limits of our
laws."

Torrey said he attended an event Saturday morning at which person after
person approached and told him the city cannot "give its streets over to
people who have no regard for our community, our laws."

The mayor asked that the newly formed Police Commission review such
issues as unlawful assembly, parade permit regulations, and sanctions
for failing to obey police orders to disperse.

Meanwhile, some anarchists appeared to be claiming victory Saturday. In
a statement faxed to The Register-Guard, a group calling itself
Anarchist Action Coalition said the "spontaneity and vigor" of the riot
"proved that anarchic rebellion is indeed alive and well, and capable of
undermining the very basis of the present social order."

At an informal news conference Saturday morning, several anarchists
blamed police for Friday's trouble.

A woman who said her name is Annie Oakley claimed that marchers were
attacked by police during a "peaceful" march.

She said the event was an act of "self-defense" against the "global
economic governments, the international system of industrial capitalism
that is poised to eradicate the last pockets of communalism."

People in their cars who were frightened or startled by anarchists
needed to be confronted because the issues are so important, she said.

In general, anarchists believe life is threatened by international
corporations and the governments of industrialized nations. To that end,
they reject much of modern technology and single out for scorn or attack
institutions such as banks or, locally, the Nike store.

Anarchists worldwide staged violent protests Friday, timing the events
to coincide with the start of the G-8 summit of leading industrialized
nations in Cologne, Germany.

During the early stages of the event Friday in Eugene, anarchists
smashed a TV set, computer, stereo and other appliances that
participants had brought.

The buildings attacked during the riot included U.S. Bank, Brenner's
Furniture, South Umpqua Bank and Taco Bell.

"People in those buildings work all day to support the banks and
investment houses that provide luxuries to the privileged," said
Marshall Kirkpatrick, who was involved in the protest Friday.

Kirkpatrick said confronting people in their cars and vandalizing
buildings politicizes the city and creates an opportunity for anarchists
to spread their message.

"It forces people to take notice of the issues," he said.

Chris Calef, speaking at the news conference Saturday morning, said
anarchists are reacting to the social and ecological injustices they see
around them.

"The biosphere is under attack at this moment by multinational
corporations," he said. "There's nothing we can do to save the planet
that's within the rules - that's why I'm enraged.

"We've got to get people's attention somehow or we're all going to die."

But Calef acknowledged that the movement's violent tinge could turn
people away.

"The anarchist philosophy needs to evolve to the point where we control
ourselves better," he said. "Yesterday was a gross outpouring of rage
from all sides."

20 PEOPLE ARRESTED

Here's a list of the people arrested during Friday's riot and the
charges they face; all are charged with riot, a Class C felony. Several
were released from the Lane County Jail on their own recognizance
Saturday; the rest are expected to be released today, a custody referee
said. Hometowns were not available.

Timothy Gage Lewis, 43, disorderly conduct, riot
Gregory Mark Applegate, 47, disorderly conduct, riot, interfering with
police; released Saturday
Kristen Victoria Schultz, 26, disorderly conduct, riot
Jennifer Lou Bissonette, 34, interfering with police, riot; released
Josie Oriana Basford, 25, disorderly conduct, riot; released
Albert Francis Nash, 32, disorderly conduct, riot
Cristel Annie Glade, 22, disorderly conduct, riot, interfering with
police
Diana Marie Applegarth, 18, two counts of disorderly conduct, riot;
released
Marie Susan Knapp, 23, disorderly conduct, riot
Jonathan Wesley Rynicki, 25, disorderly conduct, riot, third-degree
escape
Lisa Marie Alderson, 24, disorderly conduct, riot; released
Jason Cread Barnett, 20, disorderly conduct, riot; released
Nancy Cassandra Krause, 27, disorderly conduct, riot, third-degree
escape
Robert Santiago Deroock, 20, disorderly conduct, riot; released
Desiree Melinda Johnson, 20, disorderly conduct, riot
Christopher Shawn Allen, 20, disorderly conduct, riot; released
Christopher George Smith, 20, disorderly conduct, riot
Robert Lee Thaxton, 39, assault on a police officer, riot, second-degree
assault, resisting arrest
Jason Allen Dallas, 24, assault, harassment
Steven Tadlock, 19, disorderly conduct, riot

8 OFFICERS HURT
The following Eugene police officers were injured during the riot. Some
were hit by rocks. Others were injured while tackling and arresting
suspects. 

Sgt. Larry Blackwell, bruised chest
Mike Carter, right leg injury
Jeff Drullinger, right forearm
Sgt. Rick Gilliam, left flank
Sgt. Ron Roberts, right elbow
Sgt. Ron Swanson, left forearm, forehead
Ron Tinseth, bruised nose
Stefan Zeltvay, torn ligament, left arm

- Eugene Police Department

                                        

-- 
Chuck0
http://flag.blackened.net/chuck0/home/

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