Posted on 08/23/2002 4:08:58 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
PORTLAND, Oregon - Riot police used pepper spray and struck some demonstrators with batons after ordering hundreds of people to leave a protest near a hotel where President George W. Bush ( news - web sites) attended a fund-raiser.
Protesters hammered on the hoods of police cars as pepper spray wafted through the air. Protesting Bush's foreign policy, they chanted "Drop Bush, Not Bombs."
Bush supporters in formal attire were jostled and taunted by protesters as they arrived for a fund-raiser for the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith ( news, bio, voting record). After elbowing through the demonstrators, they were checked by Secret Service agents before they were allowed inside the hotel.
Brian Schmautz, spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau, said protesters threw things at the police.
Protesters at one point pushed down a barricade and a female police officer who was standing behind it, Groepper said. The officer sprained or broke her wrist falling down, and two patrol cars were damaged, Groepper said.
Police ordered about 500 protesters to move. Riot police wearing helmets then walked into the area, pushing activists with their batons. Some activists fell. Police then fired aerosol canisters of pepper spray at the protesters.
Police also used pepper spray after about 150 demonstrators blocked vehicle access to Morrison Bridge.
Five protesters were arrested through the afternoon, police spokesman Henry Groepper said.
Many of the protesters criticized a new forest initiative announced earlier in the day by Bush that would make it easier for timber companies to cut wood from fire-prone national forests.
"The new policy is classic doublespeak," said Kenneth Kreuschu, 24, of Cascadia Forest Alliance. "It has been shown time and again that more cutting leads to more fire. The new policy is a hoax."
Some of the activists were worried about a possible war with Iraq.
"I don't think any American boys' lives are worth a barrel of oil," said Rob Moitoza, 57, who carried a sign that said: "Vets Against Bush."
Moitoza said he served two years in the Navy aboard an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War and fears a much worse conflict if U.S. troops are sent to Iraq.
"If he (Bush) starts a war against Iraq, it will be to get re-elected. All he cares about is wealth and power," Moitoza said.
Before flying to Portland from Medford, Bush was taken to a still-smoldering fire.
About a dozen protesters dotted Bush's motorcade route. Some waved signs saying, "No attack of Iraq. You can't fix Daddy's mistake" and "More forests, less Bush."
The demonstrators along the route were far outnumbered by people waiting at the ends of their driveways who held signs saying "We love you" and "We support you."
Throw a brick at someone with a loaded M-1 and Darwin will have his way. You have the right to peaceably assemble. Kent State and the Anarchist are not about peaceful assembly. It is domestic insurrection, and the people have a right to put it down with lethal force.
This is a war of socialism (theft and murder) against private property (hard work, profit).
I say waste them!
Protesters hammered on the hoods of police cars...
Bush supporters in formal attire were jostled and taunted by protesters...
protesters threw things at the police...
Protesters at one point pushed down a barricade and a female police officer who was standing behind it...
Many of the protesters criticized... (LOL - I threw that in to see if you were paying atention)
Yes, but years later everyone agreed BIG mistakes were made by the National Guard at Kent State.
I heard she sprained an ankle or broke a fingernail.
Good. I hope it runs every hour on every news network. The people who might sympathize with the protesters are never going to vote (R) anyway. To the vast middle-of-the-road chunk of America, these people look like the nuts that they are.
In this case, enemies of this nature aren't necessarily a bad thing.
Yes, firing indiscriminately into a crowd of people & killing some students who were guilty of the horrific crime of *gasp* walking to class was a terrific idea.
That must be why Nixon's own Scranton Commission declared that the Guard's actions were "unneccesary, unwarranted, and inexcusable".
You probably thought Waco & Ruby Ridge were good ideas too.
Yah, completely innocent, there had only been violent protest for several days...violent enough to bring out the National Guard. Then these so called innocents stroll along between armed men and a violent crowed. If they were innocent, and I'm sure some were, they were stupid. It was probably just couple professional agitators that through the first brick, but they were surrounded by useful idiots who went along with it. And, they deservedly got shot. In my less then humble opinion, throwing bottles, rocks, or bricks is potentially lethal force and should be answered with a bullet.
For three decades we've been asked to believe that weekend warriors are going to drop the hammer of a .30-06 into a crowed they know is innocent. I don't buy it, these guys were provoked. Gee, the hippies only peaceably burnt down the ROTC building the day before.
Like I said, waste them.
That must be why Nixon's own Scranton Commission declared that the Guard's actions were "unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable".
Nixon also said "I'm not a crook","We're all Keynesians now", and also claimed to be a republican. The man was all to quick to lie for political expedience.
Let see, their is a moral equivalence between violent insurrection and women and children in their own home. Yah, that's intellectually coherent.
The demonstrators along the route were far outnumbered by people waiting at the ends of their driveways who held signs saying "We love you" and "We support you."
IMHO, the media hyped this to make it look like all of the Northwest is upset by Bush's common sense approach to managing our forests.
WHERE DID WTO THEN RIOTS HAPPEN? ----> Just north of Portland, in Seattle
WHERE IS THE ENVIRO-WACKO/ANARCHIST MOVEMENT CENTERED? ----> The Pacific Northwest
IMHO, Bush knows what he is doing. Let "fly-over" country see the "granola belt" go crazy in the streets. "Fly-over" country will see that there are TOO MANY TWINGS, BERRIES, AND NUTS IN THE GRANOLA!
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