Massive protest roils downtown (Sacramento)

Sacramento Bee ^ | June 23, 2003 | Dorothy Korber, Terri Hardy and Elizabeth Hume

[ElkGroveDan]

A spectacle -- part Mardi Gras, part nightmare -- rolled through downtown Sacramento on Sunday as nearly 2,000 protesters and an army of riot-gear-clad police hit the streets.

The chaotic scene was a precursor to an even larger rally and march beginning at 10 a.m. today at the state Capitol. Organizers have taken out a march permit for 8,000 people. Their target: an international agriculture conference, hosted by the U.S. government, that starts today at the Sacramento Convention Center.

[ElkGroveDan]

No this isn't a spoof its real.

I saw them yesterday -- really, really filthy looking people.

[bicycle thug]

I just posted this article a short time ago. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/934123/posts

[goldstategop]

Liberals. Conservatives are NEVER that filthy - or filled with a violence mojo.

[ElkGroveDan]

One worker from the Sheraton Grand Hotel ran down the street and pleaded to police to let him through the lines. Eventually officers adjusted their perimeters to allow hotel guests and workers to move in and out.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

"I'm a member of the (Sacramento Natural Foods) Co-op and I'm trying to inform myself about the USDA conference, and I thought this was a family-friendly way to do it," Mihos said, feeding her daughter bits of organic string cheese.

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words "EAT ME" were beautifully marked in currants. "Well, I'll eat it," said Alice, "and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door: so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!"

Incongruous images of whimsy and force were the order of the day. Merry vegetarians danced along, dressed as ears of corn and butterflies. Beside them strode young anarchists, masked and clad in black, who taunted police and shouted obscenities. A female wearing fairy wings darted through the crowd on a bike, striped stockings flashing. An elderly man using a walker pushed gamely along with the rest.

The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, saying, in a solemn tone, `For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen to play croquet.' The Frog-Footman repeated, in the same solemn tone, only changing the order of the words a little, `From the Queen. An invitation for the Duchess to play croquet.'

Among the most distinctive were restaurant workers from some of the Bay Area's most exclusive restaurants, including Chez Panisse, Millennium and ACME Chophouse. They wore traditional garb, high white chef's caps and starched tunics. One even carried a giant whisk. "We're here to expose the lies of big agricultural business," said Cal Peterneu, a chef at Berkeley's Chez Panisse. "Speaking through food can be convincing."

First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped like the three gardeners, oblong and flat, with their hands and feet at the corners: next the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among them Alice recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried nervous manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without noticing her. Then followed the Knave of Hearts, carrying the King's crown on a crimson velvet cushion; and, last of all this grand procession, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS.

As 20 dignitaries filed into the theater, a Humboldt County activist who called himself "Snap Shoe" used a megaphone to talk to officers on horseback guarding the entrance. "Put down your badges, your nightsticks, your guns and join the revolution," he said. "Get off your horses and join the people. It is your food, too.

Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, saying `We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble'; and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered. Alice thought the whole thing very absurd, but they all looked so grave that she did not dare to laugh; and, as she could not think of anything to say, she simply bowed, and took the thimble, looking as solemn as she could.

[Semper Paratus]

Rats. Saw this and thought Tehran.

[cake_crumb]

Anarchy has always been the tool of dictators. I hope they don't riot.

[Southack]

"Leda Dederich, an organizer of the protest, which she said drew more than 130 groups. "We are here to promote and defend sustainable agriculture and to protest the dangerous practice of genetically engineered food."

Of course, what little lilly-white Leda doesn't mention is that genetically engineered food is only dangerous to her radical brand of politics. Wouldn't want those poor, starving Black people in Africa to actually be able to feed themselves with such hardy foods, after all, as that would endanger the funding for her social programs...

Leda Dederich "Leda Dederich is an Internet developer, communications strategist, community organizer and artist. She has been producing Web sites for the non-profit sector since 1995 and is the former online director for AlterNet.org and the Independent Media Institute. A dedicated social change activist, recent projects include the United for Peace and Justice web site (http://www.unitedforpeace.org) and helping organize a mass shut-down of the San Francisco financial district the day after the U.S. started bombing Iraq. Other lives include a stint as a travel writer on the northern coast of France and co-directing an alternative theatre space in San Francisco. Leda holds an honors degree in Comparative Literature from the University of California at Berkeley."

[ElkGroveDan]

PING

[crimewatch.us]

In the midst of the protesters pics, arrests and eyewitness updates after the troops get in: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/933973/posts

Not one single treat of the unwashed materialized today. That's solely to the credit of SPD and local law enforcement. No matter what the Bee reports, at most, there were 1,000 to 1,500 in the Capitol march.

[struwwelpeter]

What USDA bureaucrat decided to have an ag expo in California? Des Moines or Kansas City are overbooked?

[DannyTN]

"I saw them yesterday -- really, really filthy looking people. "

I wonder if they are opposed to the corporate takeover of bathroom facilities? Sort of reminds me of the American Taliban.

[Eala]

Saying it was time to take back the garden, activists removed sections of the fence encircling the park.
...
It was padlocked late last year when toxic chemicals were found in the soil.

LOL. Let them have it then!

(Um, just keep them away from lawyers...)

[okie01]

"What USDA bureaucrat decided to have an ag expo in California? Des Moines or Kansas City are overbooked?"

California's agricultural production dwarfs any other state's.

And Sacramento is smack dab in the middle of the richest agricultural land in the world.

Drive five miles beyond the Sacramento city limits and you'd think you were in the Texas panhandle, somewhere between Amarillo and Lubbock. Flat as a pool table, but full of every conceivable row, tree or truck crop.

[okie01]

Understand, I'm not suggesting that there are any trees between Amarillo and Lubbock...

[Mr. Jeeves]

There was a tree there once. A tornado got it.

Funny, isn't it, how many people think California is nothing but freeways and liberal suburbs? The people that do all the damage live in about 5% of the land area of our state - the other 95% is as conservative as any place in the country.

[SierraWasp]

Yeah but... There's a woman behind every tree in Greenland!!!

Greenland... That's where we should send GANG-GREEN!!!

[dalereed]

"There's a woman behind every tree in Greenland!!!"

Keep looking but I still can't find a tree there, they must all be white and hiding!

[okie01]

Yeah but... There's a woman behind every tree in Greenland!!!

That's what the USAF-types used to say about Adak...

[jimkress]

What a disgusting bunch. Next they'll be claiming we're being forced to consume Soylent Green.

[Rate_Determining_Step]

No this isn't a spoof its real.

I saw them yesterday -- really, really filthy looking people.

My solution...