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
Permalink
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
Marine Bump!
Nice post.
(but shouldn’t it be fourfriedchickensandaDIETcoke?) j/k
Thank you, Syncro.
Heaven forfend!
This behavior is apparently in the handbook they give out to leftist traitors, written in crayon of course.
They do similar crap in West Chester, PA.
They come across the street, stand in front of you and your sign, get in your face with a camera, literally.
Push, push, push.
First amendment rights for me, but not for thee.
To all that were there, I truly thank you.
The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has heard from individuals far and wide regarding recent Berkeley City Council actions and we appreciate that the American spirit is alive and robust.
The business community was not notified of pending city council action, nor asked for input.
We ask everyone to try to separate the actions of the City Council and not harm the good, hard-working small business owners - most of whom do not live in Berkeley and therefore cannot vote in Berkeley.
Additionally, we believe that the Berkeley City Council owes an apology to the community and others, whether they be a Marine or a hard-working business owner, folks that are just trying to do their job in this terrible economy, and which is now more difficult because their actions. We feel that granting a parking space in front of the Marine's office is harassment for them and their neighbors, and should be rescinded.
In the long term, we expect collaboration with the Mayor and City Council when considering actions which may impact our local businesses and community.
The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce believes in a community where all voices are heard in a fair manner.
At the same time, we believe that it is NOT in the spirit of free speech to grant favoritism to any viewpoint, whether we agree with that viewpoint or not.
Unfortunately recent City Council actions coincide with a very weak national economy.
As in many cities and towns across America, hard-working business owners, (85% of Berkeley’s businesses) have less than five employees, operate on a thin margin, and rely heavily on their walk-in customers. The housing and credit crisis have resulted in an unstable economy and a risky business environment. Combined with recent council action, our business community is painfully feeling the revenue loss.
The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce is proud that we promote, connect and strengthen business and community. In short, we are all here to help each other be successful, and to work together to create the best Berkeley possible, one that is inviting and respectful for all.
Berkeley lauds itself as the birthplace of free speech, a tremendous gift to America. We believe it works both ways, and in a fair manner.
Ted Garrett
CEO
Berkeley Chamber of Commerce
Thank you and the Gold Star Mothers and all those who participated in the rally to push back the moonbat antiwar thugs.
The police are derelict in their duty and the City Council of Berkeley should be recalled.
You and others were very brave to confront the enraged loonies who, obviously, were pressing hard for violence. (to be caught on film???) I don’t know how the pro-Troop people were able to keep from bashing the loonie moonbats into the ground...seems like you did your part to prevent such an event.
Perhaps this is a preview of what is to come all over this country. Or maybe it’s just the leftcoast loonies in
Berkeley who have gone off the deep end and taken their police force with them.
Thanks for the bump!
This only got worse and worse, more anti-war people kept coming over onto our side. It didn’t look like the permit we had worked so hard to get meant much of anything at all.
It was close to, but not quite 8:00 AM now, and there were a bunch of kids trying to skateboard on the cement structures over on our side. They were skating around at high speeds very close to our supporters, many of which are seniors and who were startled and alarmed by the aggressive actions of these kids jumping around them.
Code Pink leader, Medea Benjamin, stood in the middle of them, egging them on. It was disgusting to see her provoking hostile actions by young people to advance her leftist, hate-America agenda.
Her antics worked and these kids had no respect for our wishes, in fact we were amazed, every other word out of these kids mouths was “F$%K” or “F$%KING.”
Many of our supporters were getting very irritated so we decided to try giving some ground to the anti-war crowd, hoping they would settle down. Unfortunately there were still a growing number of anti-war people, especially young kids, coming over and invading our permitted side of the street.
I saw several older men across the street, dressed in all black, handing out orange scarves by the handful to eagerly awaiting mobs of youngsters, many of whom were also in black. In typical World Can’t Wait fashion, they tied the scarves to obscure their faces. Soon our side of the street was inundated with very rude, very confrontational World Cant Wait-ers and some Code Pinkos to boot.
I left the situation to go post a couple pictures to the Move America Forward website and by the time I came back the police had cordoned off a section of about a third of the space up front and blocked it with a line of bicycles. You could still go around the small line, which many did do, but it helped a little to keep the crowds to themselves. I was a little peeved that we had just lost about a third of our real estate, but I was more satisfied that there was less confrontation and thus less a lesser chance someone was going to get hurt.
MEDEA BENJAMIN: FOUNDER & LEADER OF CODE PINK
Medea Benjamin was walking all along through our area. I marvel at this woman, she is SUCH an opportunist. One of her favorite tactics is to spot a TV camera that’s either filming a crowd or scene, or doing an interview, and she will go up and stand in the background of it, making sure that she is visible and attempt to either soak up some of another person’s screen-time or try to make a scene and attract an interview.
So I decided to try and beat her at her own game, just a little. I spotted Medea, she was standing behind one of our supporters who was interviewing with a reporter and cameraman. So I found a “Support our Troops and Their Mission” sign leaning up against a nearby tree, grabbed it, and stood right next to Medea, holding the sign right behind her head. She didn’t seem to notice that, or she ignored it, knowing that she didn’t want to get nasty in front of TV.
Someone asked her something or she might have been trying to tell the camera something about “the Iraqis don’t want us there, they hate the US military” and I tried to tell her “That’s not true.”
I have just returned from spending Christmas with our troops and was not about to let Medea Benjamin make false statements to the media about America’s brave warriors. We argued about what the troops were doing: she gave me the same old tired lines…we target civilians, we bomb whole cities indiscriminately, we torture and terrorize civilian populations.
I responded by saying that “No, the troops over there know and love the Iraqis and the Iraqis know the troops, they know each others names, each other stories, and care about each others safety.” Medea literally laughed at my assertion until I told her that I only knew this because I had been to Iraq and had seen it for myself. She went stone faced pretty much immediately.
Her response? “Well, how many times have you been to Iraq?”
”Only once,” I told her, “two weeks in Baghdad, with the US Army.”
“Well, I’ve been to Iraq five times.” She seemed like she almost stuck her tongue out and went ‘nyah’ and stormed off back to her own side.
THE FLAG
A while later I just happened to be standing over somewhat near the bikes, across from the World Can’t Wait crowd and I heard several people, in a somewhat alarmed tone of voice, saying “They’re burning flags! They are burning flags!”
I look over and here is this girl:
I stood there and watched her, just staring at her as the flags burned up, I almost felt like crying, my heart was breaking for how stupid and hopeless these kids are, and she looked back and smirked at me, like she knew what she was making people feel by her actions
So somehow she got a hold of one of our flags we had available at our Move America Forward table, and burned it right in my face, with a clear intention of agitating us.
Fortunately, for her and her friends, this did not cause the pro-military forces to storm their way through the police to teach those kids a lesson, although I think they were just about incensed enough to do so.
THE INVASION
The day wore on, in the morning the size of the pro-troop crowd was strong and the participants were vibrant and energetic, then as the first few hours passed both the size of the crowd and its enthusiasm seemed to wane – on both sides. seemed to But as the sun rose higher in the sky and warmed this area of the East Bay it seemed like people were again just appearing out of nowhere and the numbers of our supporters steadily grew towards the 12:00 noon hour. Code Pink was also finding more supporters, but as both crowds grew, ours was taking the lead.
Maybe they were just bored, maybe they just did not want the TV cameras to see our side with more than theirs again, but whatever the motivation, Code Pink and World Can’t Wait decided to push further into our side. This angered a number of our people as there is a road with four lanes (two lanes in each direction) separating our groups, which should have meant that both sides stayed in their permitted areas.
But the City of Berkeley told the cops to not interfere with Code Pink’s efforts to form phalanxes of agitators who would come over in waves with the intention of pushing through our supporters, screaming in their faces, and denouncing our great nation.
The forces of Code Pink and World Cant Wait weren’t satisfied with their own side of the street, so they frequently came over to our side to try and provoke our people, interfere with our media interviews, and generally act stupid
With the crowds both growing and more and more people congregating on the pro-troop side of the street, the police line separating us had disintegrated.
People from both sides were pouring into the grassy field and there was a huge mass of people gathered around our table and in the surrounding area.
With the police still doing nothing to keep the crowds separated I noticed a huge crowd of police huddled over in one corner, far away from the mob of pro-troop and anti-war activists who were thus free to either rip each others heads off or engage in healthy discussion.
Many chose the former, a few chose the latter. But as disturbed as I was by the number of confrontations that turned violent during this time, I was also encouraged to see some peaceful debate going on as well.
It got really creepy when a huge number of the World Can’t Wait crowd started organizing themselves into columns and marching in step, making a wide encirclement of our patriots. They did not outnumber us, but having people CIRCLE around you feels unnerving.
That last remark, my what loyalty!
This account shows such bizarre actions by the code pinkos and their young skateboarding thugs that I am in awe of all the pro-troop supporters who were there and who endured the harangues and the aggression against them.
You said some were free to “take the heads off” others - and that violence did occur. Can you be more specific?
Was it only the pinkos who were violent to the pro-troop people? Did we have anybody who defended themselves with an appropriate knocking down a punk or two? I would have so liked to have thrown a stick or a flag down in the path of one of those skateboarders.....
Next time maybe having a line of muscle bound “defenders” might be appropriate. Calling the motorcyclists who often show up for such rallies? Rolling Thunderers, where are you?
Again, hats off to all the sane patriotic Americans who showed up.
Sorry, I know I should not be this way....and being a woman, I might be all talk and no action....but I would not have remained nonviolent in such a situation. These punks need to be taught a lesson or two. They are NOT free to burn our flags and they are NOT free to come into our groups and incite violence. And they are NOT free to harass and intimidate our senior citizens who might have been there.
Am sorry you are on the other side of the country from me. But, then, I guess it’s just as well I was not there. Thank you for being there.
I believe the term “heads off” was metaphoric in nature, meaning getting into a tussle with each other.
The police continued to say that they had to remain neutral, and could not separate people
I heard a Police Sargent say that when we questioned him as the code pink commies infiltrated our side.
They are in support of the anti-American Military hating protesters.
You will be glad to know that there was some action taken against the enemy.
A guy on a bicycle rode close to a group of Patriots holding a burning American Flag.
An older gentleman pushed his bike over, recovered the flag and rolled it up.
Another time, one of the anti-Americans came over and said he would like to speak about his family in the military
Melanie Morgan gave him the mic, and he proceeded to berate the military and use the "f" word.
Morgan grabbed the mic back, but this 6' coward fought her for it for about 10 seconds, at which time a Gold Star Dad Vet slammed him to the ground where he proceeded to eat grass and dirt.
He did not mention that he was burning a flag.
Also, earlier in the AM, the code pinker anarchists came over to the American side and proceeded to plummet some older patriots with their communist anti-military signs.
The news never mentioned this at all.
As you may have read, the police were called about the assaults perpetrated against the patriots, and the police hung up on the caller.
The city council and the police support the anti-military protests and allow them to break city, state and federal laws.
Their is a movement to have them charged with crimes.
Trust me on this.
Mmmmph
Last sentence, there instead of their
My fist is always horizontal, that would save time with the maneuver you described
I usually smack them with words.
When you smack them with words, you usually get more words. With my technique, there are no more words. If performed correctly, my way is quick, silent, and escapes notice by those who are not directly observing. People will think he or she has suffered a fainting spell.
hehe
This is really sad but has happened many times where the city leadership is on the side of the traitors. The police are told to let the creeps make all the trouble they want.
I was just wondering about who is the US Representative from Berekeley and what would this Representative do if any military bases in his/her district were shut down? It is really comical how all the commie/libs get super patriotic when there is a threat to losing one of their district’s military bases. They may not like the military but they like the federal money and the jobs that a base brings to an area. Federal money and jobs mean votes for the politicians.
For my friend Mark, who took down an antagonizer to the ground where he “grazed” on the grass, it was a better solution than your technique.
Different situations call for different actions.
Like the older Patriot that pushed a yarnbag commie off of his bicycle when he rode by burning a flag.
Sometimes it's better to have the commie lovers concious to wallow in thier humiliation
:>)
Different strokes for different moonbats
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