As mentioned in that account, the anarchists swept in like the hordes of barbarians or Vikings that storm establishments in the Capital One credit card ads.
Inaugural Parade & W2 Ball Report, Audio, and Photos (large file warning)
January 23, 2005 | BillF
Posted on 01/23/2005 2:43:27 PM PST by BillF
[snip]
BARBARIANS AT THE GATES
Between our first time waiting at the security gate and our second time, bmwcyle and I drank some beer at a brew pub a few blocks away.
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As I drank, I looked out the window and saw a black wave moving down the street. Like the hordes of barbarians or Vikings that storm establishments in the Capital One credit card ads, the anarchists had taken to the streets. Grabbing my camera, I went just outside the door of the restaurant and took these photos.
Two waitresses from the brew pub had stepped outside to watch the garbage pass. One said, "that is so cool." Obviously, she was highly sympathetic to them. I could have taught her a lesson by shouting "hey, this chick here is a Bush supporter," but it would have been wrong.
The anarchists looked like they were spoiling for a fight. Hundreds, possibly over a thousand, moved by very quickly and turned the corner on the way to the security checkpoint that bmwcyle and I had left 20 minutes before.
A few police cars trailed the anarchists. A short time after they had passed, at least ten police cars and ten police motorcyles zoomed by. They were going a different way, but apparently planned to head off the anarchists.
ANARCHISTS , OFTEN CALLED "BLACK BLOC"
DUE TO THE BLACK CLOTHING
[CLICK ANY PHOTO TO SEE FULL SIZE]
Returning to my beer, I would later hear about the anarchists' further exploits from witnesses. The anarchists moved towards the crowd at the checkpoint, apparently hoping to create a stampede. The anarchists probably wanted the crowd to flee the anarchists by breaching the security gate. The anarchists could have walked across the bodies of the injured people and used the chaos to get into the secure zone without going through the checkpoint.
Fortunately, police vehicles swooped in to block the anarchists from getting too close to the waiting crowd.
The police vehicles protected the crowd from the anarchists, but some people at the edge of the crowd had to quickly get out of the way of the police vehicles. This created a big crush in the crowd, causing many to fear for their safety, especially those with small children. Many of those people gave up on the parade and left the area as soon as they could.
The anarchists got a Protest Warrior on the ground and kicked him. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured.
CAMERA-SHY GUY THAT YOU DON'T WANT
TO MEET IN AN ALLEY
[THIS PHOTO, NOT HYPERLINKED TO LARGER ONE]
SKULL AND BONES, BUT NOT IN HONOR OF THE
PRESIDENT'S SECRET YALE SOCIETY
The anarchists threw snowballs at people. Then they took the signs and flags off their support poles. When they threw the poles at officers, the police responded with a canon that fired pepper spray on the anarchists.
