We had someone holding up our silenced marine sign all day
Posted on 02/15/2008 12:13:16 PM PST by Syncro
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Posted By:
MAF Blogger Danny
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Berkeley Report - Protest of the City Council
MONDAY – February 11th
For Move America Forward staff, our pro-troop demonstration against the Berkeley City Council actually started the day before when we sent off MAF Director of Operations Ryan Gill in a 10-foot moving truck. His mission was to secure supplies, and pick up MAF spokesperson and Gold-star mom Debbie Lee who flew in from Arizona to the Oakland airport.
The remaining staff spent the day in Sacramento faxing and emailing out last minute press releases and media advisories. Most of us went home around 11 pm, with plans to leave Sacramento by two in the morning to get there before five. I slept for about an hour and a half, woke up at 1 in the morning and was in the office by about 2:15. Some of our staff bypassed sleep altogether, as there was much prep work to be done in the final hours before we stood our ground in support of our troops. We weren’t packed up and on the road until about 3:00 AM and we stopped for a quick breakfast at Denny’s before hitting the road again and arriving in Berkeley at almost 5:00 AM.
Other supporters were traveling via car and caravan from Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Southern California. People went to great efforts to make it to this important event.
TUESDAY – February 12th
By 4:30 AM Ryan Gill arrived at the rally location along with Debbie Lee. Blue Star Mom,Deborah Johns – whose son is a Recon Marine who served in Iraq for three tours of duty, arrived moments later.
By 5:00 AM I arrived in Berkeley along with MAF Deputy Executive Director, Mary Pearson, and MAF Grassroots Coordinator, Joe Wierzbicki. We were joined by about two-dozen pro-troop supporters, including Gold Star Father Scott Conover and his wife, Julie. The enemy was also present with about two-dozen or so anti-military protestors and already it looked like the scene was turning ugly.
As we approached Martin Luther King, Jr. Way I got a call from Ryan on the phone, saying, “It’s hot already, already some people have been knocked down and everyone’s getting in each others faces.”
The mood may have been hot, but the morning air was freezing cold.
When we turned the corner of MLK Way, I saw why Ryan had said that the situation was boiling over at critical mass. There was an angry mob on the street, about to tear itself apart as anti-war and pro-troop supporters were clashing in close quarters! Cameras were already everywhere, lighting up the area of the park, despite the fact that it was still dark as midnight and only the pale, dull yellow light of some streetlamps bathed the streets of Berkeley.
As soon as we parked I jogged down to the corner where the mob was self-imploding upon itself. I squeezed between some cameras just in time to jump between Scott Conover and some anti war protester who was jabbing his finger in Scott’s face and yelling angrily while holding a sign depicting images from Abu Ghraib prison.
“This is the reality of War” he said, “The US Military is a bunch of war criminals!”
“My son was not a war criminal!” responded Scott, who seemed ready to tear the man apart, and from the looks of it, sizing up the difference in size between Scott and the anti-war guy, it looked as if he could. “#$% you! You are a traitor you piece of #@$%!”
EMOTIONS RUN HIGH
But Scott pulled himself back, cooled off and thanked me for stepping in, I know that Scott is familiar with MAF, but we had never met before so it was a good way to get introduced.
I looked across the street and saw several police vehicles parked. Across the park there was another one parked at the opposite end of the street. Yet I could see no police officers, and the throngs of angry protesters were boiling with rage.
When I looked across the street again I saw that there were now some police congregating around the crosswalk. I walked over and picked one to introduce myself to, I told him I was the communications director for MAF and he didn’t seem very interested. Okay, fine, well I asked what we were going to do about getting a handle on the situation over there across the street. I was told I would have to make a phone call and talk to his Lieutenant.
POLICE FINALLY STEP IN
Around 5:30 or 6:00, as the crowd got bigger, more pandemonium ensued. At one high point of craziness, one of our supporters, a really big guy in a red sweater, was literally pushing back a whole line of anti-war people, wading into several at a time and slowly forcing them back.
The effort only served to enrage others to push back and soon the whole crowd was tussling. I still had no clue what the police were doing, so several people jumped in, myself and this anti-war guy holding a sign that said ‘dialogue corner’ were jumping in between people and holding our hands out to try and keep the crowd away from each other.
It was only sort-of working, but finally the police formed a single column and marched through the middle, putting a line in between. I was caught on the anti-war side of the line, and while for a moment the crowd was separated, we were still all yelling at each other.
I got a phone call from the police dispatch telling me to come across the street and speak with Lieutenant Hart of the Berkeley PD. Hart told me that Code Pink had voluntarily decided to bring their people across to the other side of the street at 7:00 am.
I was pretty sure that our permit said they weren’t supposed to be on our side anyways, but Hart told me her understanding was that despite the permits, neither side was prohibited or guaranteed to be in either location, the park or the city council.
One of the Code Pink ladies, Rae, kept trying to talk to me, saying things like, “oh, you look like someone who’s trying to keep order and control your people. You have a cool head.” She kept trying to tell me to control my people and saying we were being aggressive. it was obvious to me that the Code Pinkos were the ones provoking and egging people on, and had deliberately marched across the street from their permitted area into our area to show the families of dead soldiers pictures of bloody mutilated bodies of innocent Iraqis blown up by insurgents or pictures of dead soldiers.
She was pissing me off, trying to get me to admit that our people were being overly aggressive by being nice to me or whatever. Finally she went away.
Read more at MAF Presents: The Daily File
The intire country was outraged at the anti-American actions of this small California city.
On Wed, Feb 12, MAF and hundreds of Patriotic Americans went to Berkeley to support the Marines and America and to attend the City Council Meeting that evening.
There were many members of Free Republic at this event, and a lot of Military Vets and many many Patriotic Citizens.
Our combined outrage at the city’s blatant hatred for our Military Service Members and this great country in general was duly noted all across the land
The petition
We, the undersigned condemn the Berkeley City Council’s treasonous attack on US Marine Recruiters stationed in their city. We ask that Congress cut off funds from any and all municipal entity within the confines of the city of Berkeley, California, until such time as the city council withdraws it’s action.
The City Council has voted to tell the Marines their downtown recruiting station is not welcome and “if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome guests.”
The measure passed last week by a vote of 8-1.
The council also voted to explore enforcing a city anti-discrimination law, focusing on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
In a separate item, the council voted, also 8-1, to give the Marxist protest group Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting office once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cutoffberkeleynow
If you wish to, please share with your friends or e-mail to your address books. You DO NOT have to donate at the petition site, there will be a page asking for one for the site after you sign, just back out or exit. Your signature will already be on the petition.
http://www.fourfriedchickensandacoke.blogspot.com
Outstanding!!!!!!!!
Dittos!
Bump
It was quite the little gathering...
And excellent reports from MAF
I’ll be back later with more
Thanks for the BUMP
I just spent some time on the various sites talking about Code Pink, and the other groups.
Code Pink are Pinko Maggots.
BTTT
Keep up the good work, I am on the right side of our country or I would of been there.
Thanks for your input.
Since the Berkley Police Department won’t do their jobs, send in the National Guard. Since law means nothing there, it should be imposed from without. Here’s another idea, Congress could pass a resolution declaring all Berkley political officials and appointees to be “unwanted intruders” anywhere outside of Berkley, subject to harassment and arrest.
So we had what, 20-30 people there? Out of an urban population of 3-4 million? Those numbers make us look ridiculous. This ain’t the 1920’s. We don’t even have effective police presence. Get busy people, study their tactics or prepare for civil war.
Thanks to all of you, that are supporting the troops. I once walked through an airport in 1970 in uniform and had these assholes pour a coke on me. It took all the restraint that I had not to break their little heads and hand them back to them. I am not sure that I need to be at one of these rallies, because I might not have the same restraint as then.
BTTT Sync!
Let me also add, that I greatly admire your courage and dedication to our troops. YOu and the MAF are heroes one and all. Thank you for your efforts.
I couldn’t wait till 7 am, which did eventually come around, and much of their crowd did establish itself on the other side. We had our space, for the most part – though there remained a couple of leftist agitators straggling on our side—when MAF Chairman Melanie Morgan arrived on the scene shortly after 6:00AM.
Melanie had heard about the melee and even though she was in the middle of her radio program, she left it and rushed down to Berkeley so she could rally her troops! We all got into a circle and around the megaphone held a little impromptu press conference, with our Blue and Gold-Star parents taking turns speaking to the crowd about their stories of the service and sacrifices of their children and their disgust, contempt and frustration with the Berkeley City Council.
THE INTRUSION
It was not long after most of the Code Pink people had gone across the street that they were already back on our side, encroaching on our territory. Several Code Pink people, and some members of World Can’t Wait came over and got into a confrontation with Scott Conover.
This one young man, he looked like he could have been Arabic (but I don’t want to assume anything) was wearing a keffiyah around his neck and was screaming something about millions of Iraqis dead and millions more displaced.
At first I was just trying to keep him safe from ole’ Scott Conover, but when he started yelling about American barbarity and economic sanctions and millions of dead Iraqis, I had to yell at him.
How dare these people say that we’re somehow responsible for Saddam Hussein’s rape and domination of his own countrymen because we didn’t want to do business with an aggressive nation!
Soon enough he slinked back behind Code Pink’s reps, Zanne Joi and Rea, who were back again.
I asked them what their people were doing over on our side and they tried to tell me it was because the portable bathrooms were on our side of the street and we needed to let them use it. I looked around and noted that we were probably about 50 yards away from the porta-potty and there was actually a small crowd of anti-war people over here and they didn’t look like they were waiting to use the john.
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