"I've got Po-lice* in my Hair"

by AnnieChrust 11/00

Why is it that when hundreds of people get pissed of and react violently and then go out and loot, riot, kill, and burn-the cops appear to be less organized and people get away with breaking every kind of law.  Yet, when people are not breaking any laws, only congregating to express their discontent within society in a peaceful way, the police turn into this army which is prepared for war. 

On Tuesday of the DNC protests, we were marching peacefully in a Gay and Allies march through downtown LA.  After a certain point we noticed the police were starting to surround us on the sides, as if we were doing something wrong and they were going to pounce on us at any second.  Finally, the group stopped to have people lay on the ground in honor of all the people who died (I think from brutality) and at that moment, we were surrounded by police in riot gear who seemed to come out of nowhere. 

Why did the cops try to interfere with an organized and peaceful march, if not to provoke hostility?  The march was supposed to keep going straight, but when we got there, the organizers had to make some kind of deal with the police, who wouldn’t let us disperse and wouldn’t let us go any further in the direction we were headed.  We were stuck and we were scared.  We felt that the police would use the smallest excuse to pull their trigger-happy finger and let out some plastic bullets or gas.  Some agreement was made and we turned around and headed back the direction we came from.  A few blocks later, two friends and I decided to leave the march and try to get back to the car.  We were well ahead of the group and didn’t even look like we were with them anymore, but the cops came whizzing around the corner and cut us off and told us we couldn’t go any farther, we had to go back the way we came.  Of course, the cops shortly came up behind the march and blocked us all in again. 

So here we were, having to pee, not wanting to be involved any more, and we couldn’t leave.  What if we just happened to get off the bus there and got trapped into this insane and unnecessary blockade?  After we were finally ‘allowed’ to walk down the street (back the way we came of course), each route the march organizers chose got blockaded another 4 times or so.  We managed to escape through a parking lot and skip to the next street where we became observers of the police circus.  The march was never far behind us, but at least we were free to walk wherever we chose.  The whole thing was unnecessary and the only thing it accomplished was delaying the march and pissing off a lot of people.  The police are silly.  If they can be this organized, why don’t they use their abilities fighting crime instead of peaceful citizens?  How are we supposed to respect police when they treat the innocent as criminals?

*I stole that line from Phish (not the band)