Anti-war protesters descend on San Francisco Financial District

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/14/03 | Bay City News Report

[MikalM]

10:19 a.m. -- In a protest aimed at shutting down the Pacific Stock Exchange, hundreds of anti-war protesters gathered in downtown San Francisco this morning, blocking streets and snarling traffic.

The demonstrators failed to close the exchange. "We had absolutely no disruptions to trading," said stock exchange spokesman John Werts.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for your hard work in gathering, indexing and posting these articles.

My number one question is the title to one of these links: Who is paying for these protests?

Who's Paying for It All? [re: anti=war demostrations] INSIGHT magazine ^ | February 18, 2003 | J. Michael Waller Posted on 02/18/2003 11:11 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen

"That's a good question," Wallace H. Spaulding, who analyzed international communist affairs for the CIA for nearly 40 years, tells Insight.

"Running demonstrations like the Jan. 18 antiwar protest in Washington requires organizational skill," noted the National Catholic Reporter. "Crowds must be generated, buses chartered, permits secured and Port-A-Johns put in place. It's a large undertaking."

Herbert Romerstein, a veteran investigator for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and former head of the Office to Counter Soviet Active Measures at the U.S. Information Agency, agrees. Romerstein says, "It's a reality in politics -- there's no such thing as a spontaneous demonstration. Somebody has to pay for them. Somebody has to have organization. Workers World [Party] has that. Workers World is totally subservient to the government of North Korea. What we don't know is if there's money coming in."

For a party of such small numerical size, it does a lot. "It's just a couple of hundred people," Romerstein tells Insight. "They maintain a weekly newspaper. They have headquarters in New York and offices around the country. They put on demonstrations. How do you pay for all that?"

It's a question the FBI is much freer to investigate thanks to the new USA PATRIOT Act. If the Workers World Party is receiving money from North Korea to run political agitprop here, it has violated federal law and is a legitimate target for investigation and sanction, proponents argue.

"Here is a group closely associated with one of the governments that the president says is part of the Axis of Evil," Romerstein says.

Thanks to the USA PATRIOT Act, which Congress overwhelmingly passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to help law-enforcement monitor potential terrorist support groups and foreign agents, federal authorities are better positioned to monitor the Workers World Party.

Romerstein's recommendation to the FBI: Follow the money. "No very radical group in the U.S. has been able to exist for very long without direct foreign support," he says.

I have been saying this all along. These radical so called non profits in America have probably been on the payroll of the Opecker Princes and Islamofacist Thugs like Saddam for decades!

[William McKinley]

Anarchists suck.

[jriemer]

The "organizer" of the black-block rally is an anarchist going by the name of "August Spies". It's an appropriate nom de guerre (pardon my French) considering Mr. Spies was an anarchist / socialist responsible for rallying the mob at the Chicago Haymarket Riot in 1886. During the riot, an anarchist threw a bomb towards police and killed seven policemen dispersing the mob.

If history is your guide, expect stormy weather in the City by the Bay...

[MikalM]

With a name like yours, I can see why you feel that way!

[jriemer]

Anarchists suck ping & see #23.

[Lee Heggy]

"Ahhhh, I see you know the Ga, er, Bay Area well."

You say that like Dracula listening to wolves..."Ah, the children of the night! What sweet music they make!"

Nope, It's been over thirty years since I was last in San Fransissy but I suspect it hasn't changed much.

[Ga Rob]

It proves what this is really about....Socialism vs Capitalism!!! It's not anti-war...it's not even anti-bush...the same as it wasn't anti-nukes or anti-reagan.....IT'S ANTI-CAPITALISM!!!! I have said it before and I will say it again and again and again. These people are communists and useful idiots...that's all!!!

[L,TOWM]

>>>>>>over thirty years since I was last in San Fransissy but I suspect it hasn't changed much<<<<<<<

I lived there for 8 hellish years (1990-1998). A few of my friends assured me that it had, indeed changed from the early 70's.

It had gotten worse.

And no, the music being made by the Stepford Wife homocommielibs marching in bleating, ignorant lockstep in the Land That Time Forgot is not sweet to my ears--more like fingernails on the chalkboard.

[byteback]

I usually take mass transportation to work but when I heard that they were blocking the busses I decided to drive my SUV instead.

[Lee Heggy]

"And no, the music being made by the Stepford Wife homocommielibs marching in bleating, ignorant lockstep in the Land That Time Forgot is not sweet to my ears--more like fingernails on the chalkboard."

LOL! I'm with you there pal.

[BurbankKarl]

Peace, Love, Dope!

Yes, we have no Fajitas today!!!

I used to run this joint....before I ruined middle America with fradulent tech IPOs

[American Preservative]

Thanks for posting MikalM.

Thread ping.

[Timesink]

San Francisco has a financial district? What is it, a boiler room?

[Mr. Jeeves]

I work in the building on the left. We were all having a good time laughing at these clowns (total number < 150) and wishing the windows would open so we could drop water balloons on them. I'm lucky to work for a company with a lot of Republicans - and even most of our Democrats thought these people were idiots.

[finnman69]

Question:

What would happen if good samaritans dragged this guy out of the street to make sure he is not hurt? Any legal implications?

[Mr. Jeeves]

San Francisco has a financial district? What is it, a boiler room?

Au contraire, San Francisco is a major financial center, trailing only New York and Boston. Downtown is filled with hundreds of thousands of sober-minded, conservative people every day.

Then before it gets dark, we all go home, and the vermin emerge from the shadows.

[Drango]

Then before it gets dark, we all go home, and the vermin emerge from the shadows.

LOL...I see vermin there 24/7.

Seriously, my wife REFUSES to go into SF because of the street people. If by chance we have to go in, she puts a death grip on my hand...

[MikalM]

Any time, AP. I monitor the local news pretty closely, and this is definitely an important story, considering that the idiotarians are ALREADY using these tactics, a day before the Saturday rally and in advance of a full invasion of Iraq.

[TenaciousZ]

And the anarchists are coming to San Francisco tomorrow (their planned event seems counter to the spirit of anarchy, but anyway). Related thread here.

[theDentist]

Jake:"What's the holdup?"
Elwood:"San Franciscan Liberal Peaceniks. They're blocking the streets
to protest our going to Iraq and blowing Saddam Hussein to a
thousand bits!"
Jake:"I hate peaceniks."

"Hit It."