WAW member Cheryl Bellus is in DC, here's a report:

Hi All:

I'm writing this from DC all comfy in my new Ben's
Chili Bowl sweatshirt (if you didn't see the Daily
Show last night, try to catch the repeat at 11:30
tonight if you have cable) after spending the day in
DC for the inaugural protests. It was chilly today but
nothing like the 1/18/03 DC march or 2/15/03 in NYC.

I took about 300 photos today, I'll be posting some of
them on the Hudson Mohawk Indy Media Center website
Monday night when I get back to Albany.

There were lots of police from around the country
today, we spoke with officers from Seattle, Chicago,
and LA, all very pleasant and enjoying their brief
stay in the District--of course they were all in
Starbucks ordering lattes--guess they don't go to
Dunkin Donuts anymore.

Today I saw the tightest security I've ever seen
--well, you know the fur-wearing "W stands for Women"
button-wearing women did need extra protection from
the likes of women like my friend and me. Despite the
Secret Service's repeated shouts at me to stop taking
photos, I got a number of pictures of the screening
process at the 7th and D check point--it was more
intrusive than what I typically experience at
airports, despite what the gov't said it would be
like.

I had a tough time waiting before we went through
security--Republicans of all stripes outnumbered us
and weren't very kind--heard lots of nasty remarks
made about those with anti-Bush, anti-war signs. It
was especially difficult to watch young men and women
degrade protesters, what on earth? I stood on a
barricade to take some photos and felt inspired to
yell "Show me what democracy looks like! This is what
democracy looks like!" Smiles and nods from the
like-minded, disapproving frowns from the
clueless--they really do not get it!

As we were waiting, a roar came from Indiana Ave NW
and a group of anarchists apparently came running down
the street--I saw a few snowballs fly into the crowd.
I wasn't close to the edges so didn't see anything
first hand, but heard people say some of the police
were beating some of the protesters and heard they got
sprayed too. As I say, this is second-hand, I held my
camera up to take some photos but won't know until I
get home and can enlarge the shots to see if I
captured any of it.

Once through the checkpoint, we stood by the Navy
Memorial to watch the "festivities." The wealthy were
seated in the bleachers and on the balconies
overlooking Pennsylania Ave, drinks and cigars in
diamond-encrusted hands, while the rest of us (low-
and middle-income Republicans included) waited on the
heavily barricaded sidewalks.

When the Bush caravan finally drove through, many
people turned their backs, held signs, booed, hissed,
and shouted, while others waved flags and their hands
and cheered. The car was completely encased with
Secret Service agents and SUVs, although I saw on tv
that somebody did cream the rear passenger side with
who knows what. All that and it was over. Most people
left immediately after, few seemed to hang around for
the floats.

We headed for a coffee and to begin to thaw out our
toes, then headed home to see what we missed on tv.

We spoke with one person who attended the ANSWER rally
this a.m. and said the speakers were terrific--we
didn't get there, but it was covered on C-SPAN--I
think you can go to their website and webstream it.

One experience from the scene,
g'night,
Cheryl

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"Insurgents" Delay "Second Coming" of Bush Current rating: 24
by DC IMC
(

The dreams of the faithful who came to honor the Christian crusaders were shattered today amid chants and tear-gas, when what was expected to be a grand victory march down Pennsylvania Avenue descended into an embarassing public spectacle for the president that temporarily brought his motorcade to a complete hault. With all eyes on Washington, DC, viewers across the nation and around the world were treated to parade images of waffing smoke and pepper spray, as police battled protesters right on the inaugural motorcade route. At one point, the fence barrackades on Pennsylvania Avenue about a mile ahead of the presidential parade were brought down by demonstrators during a prolonged clash that first slowed the president's motorcade, ultimately bringing it to a stand-still.
Moments before the motorcade stopped, it was actually forced to speed up briefly in an attempt to spare the president a prolonged exposure to an expanse of protesters who dwarfed the numbers of Bush supporters on the parade route at the site of the ANSWER rally. Large signs designating the president a fascist and his actions war-crimes framed the presidential limousine, and on mainstream television the voices of commentators attempting to downplay the significance of the protests were drowned out by the loud and angry shouts of "Fuck Bush!"

This was followed almost immediately by a request from police to slow down the advancing parade due to a continuing confrontation between security forces and demonstrators several blocks ahead on Pennsylvania Avenue. Police used tear-gas and pepper spray in their attempts to clear the street, and several media outlets including CBS captured images of the clash. Yet other television stations like CNN refused to air these pictures, focusing on the parade route while their commentators actually stated that they had no intention of "making too much" out of the displays of opposition.


The day began with a Critical Mass bike ride through DC early in the morning. A few hours later, a massive rally at Malcolm X Park, sponsored by the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN), was followed by a march to McPherson Square -- a march estimated by police to be 10,000 or more strong. A second march from the rally ended in civil disobedience at Lafayette Park, at the end of the parade route and in front of the White House.

Splinter marches broke off from the main DAWN march and moved into the city streets, and one of these groups met with extensive police violence including pepper-spray and battons, and there were several reports of some sort of projectiles being fired by police -- either rubber bullets or pepper-balls. DC Radio Co-Op reporter Darby Hickey, covering the protests from the field, was injured by the police actions.

During Bush's speech prior to the parade, Code Pink dropped a banner reading "Bring the Troops Home", but were quickly removed, as were several individuals who shouted other remarks in opposition to Bush. After the speech, the victory parade began, soon to be followed by the embarassment at one end of the parade route and large-scale fighting at the other end. During the large battle between police and demonstrators at 14th and Pennsylvania that halted the motorcade, there were injuries on both sides, with police reporting one officer with a broken arm. A stand-off set in, riot police lined up in front of protesters while tear-gas drifted in the air. Sixteen journalists had been pepper sprayed by the time calm resumed.

Several sets of protesters linked up to form a spontaneous and unpermitted march up Massachusettes Avenue towards Union Station. The march swelled and took up an entire lane of the avenue, and police moved in on motorcycles. The bikes were used to drive the marchers off the street, and several demonstrators were hit by police cycles in front of the Post Office on New York Avenue. While they were forced from the street itself, the marchers still made it to Union Station -- their destination, and the site of the so-called "Freedom Ball" for the Inaugural celebrations.

The mood outside Union Station became festive as the diverse group played music and regrouped, but shortly the arrival of Republican attendees of the Ball led to confrontations that included a fight between a demonstrator and a Republican -- the demonstrator being promptly arrested by police, and the Republican allowed to enter the party. Minutes later, another partygoer assaulted a photographer outside Ball, in full view of police who did nothing about the incident.

Late into the evening, yet another march started to form and make its way up Columbia Road through Adams Morgan. Protesters chanting, "Bring the War Home" were on their way to the Washington Hilton's Inaugural Ball, when at least 100 riot police lined up at 18th and Belmont while all roads and allies off Columbia were closed. The marchers were pinned in, and police were not allowing them to leave. The march turned onto the only road out, 18th street, and were totally cut-off by the police. Two buses appeared on 18th street, and four more on Columbia Road, as police moved in and started to arrest demonstrators while a helicopter overhead spotlighted the entire scene.

DC Radio Co-Op reporter Darby Hickey was reporting live from the scene, and police approached and told her to "take a walk", a warning that was followed by physical assault when an officer shoved her. Protesters were still being arrested as the entire section of Columbia was totally shut down and 30 additional riot police marched into positions on the road. Shortly, the two buses were gone along with 100 to 150 protesters who were arrested. A bank window was left shattered, bricks had flown, and some of those arrested were pepper sprayed by police even after they were adequately restrained. Another 50 people were on their knees being arrested in an alley just off Columbia Road as reports continued to come in from reporters in the field well into the early morning hours.

There is a clear sense that the oppressive tactics witnessed in DC, as well as during the RNC in New York and the trade protests in Miami, are increasingly the undeniable traits of an expanding police state. And yet, for all of the chest-thumping about the extensive security in place, protesters managed to carry their messages and their dissent right onto the parade route, through the streets all across the capitol of the Christian crusaders' empire, and make their voices heard around the world.


--------------

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
1247 E St. SE Washington DC 20003
(202) 544-3389 Fax: (202) 544-9359
www.ANSWERcoalition.org
www.CounterInaugural.org

For Immediate Release:
January 20, 2005

Contact: Bill Hackwell
202-544-3389, cell: 415-269-7917

Over 10,000 antiwar protestors at
A.N.S.W.E.R. Mass Convergence site
on Inaugural Parade route
between 3rd & 4th St. on Pennsylvania Ave.

Thousands of other protestors never
made it past Secret Service Checkpoints

Over 10,000 protestors from around the country converged on John Marshall Park in Washington DC today bringing a powerful antiwar message to the presidential inauguration of George Bush. Demonstrators filled the sidewalks in front of the park between 3rd and 4th Streets. The first thing that Bush saw as the presidential motorcade began the parade route was antiwar protestors lined 10 deep along the side walks and in antiwar bleachers. Atop the bleachers was a giant banner that said, “Iraq is Bush’s Vietnam, Bring the Troops Home Now.” It was the first time in inaugural history that the antiwar movement was able to have bleachers, a stage, and a sound system for a mass antiwar demonstration right on the parade route. Thousands more demonstrators stopped at the A.N.S.W.E.R. rally site and picked up signs and were able to line both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd to 7th Streets. Many protestors were stopped at security checkpoints and not allowed into the A.N.S.W.E.R. rally. Organizers from 30 cities took the platform to announce their plans to organize local demonstrations on March 19, 2005, the second anniversary of the start of the U.S. “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq.

Speakers included: Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney from Georgia; former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition; Brenda Stokley, President of District Council 7017 AFSCME; Zack Wolfe, chair of the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Committee of the National Lawyers Guild; Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg; John Boyd of the National Black Farmers Association; Macrina Cardenas, Mexico Solidarity Network; Vanessa Dixon, DC Health Care Coalition; Sue Neiderer, mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq; Celeste Zappala, mother of Sherwood Baker, National Guardsmen killed in Iraq; and Nathlie Hrizi of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five. The program was chaired by A.N.S.W.E.R. youth and student organizers Peta Lindsay and Eugene Puryear.

-30-

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News: Police/Legal/Prisons
Police Attack on Anarchist March Current rating: 0
by Mike Erwin
(No verified email address) 20 Jan 2005
Modified: 04:19:36 PM
Personal account of the police attack at 1:10 pm.
At about 1:10 pm the anarchist march was approaching another march near the barricades when the police suddenly began spraying pepper spray at us. I took a mouthful before the police began swinging their batons overhead at us.

As the police attack intensified, I was knocked down and my glasses were knocked away (another protester retrieved them). The police sprayed me from about 2 inches (5 cm) from my eyes. I was blinded for several seconds while the police continued to step on and beat me (I have a large welt on my left arm). I tried to get up as the police kicked me and tried to retreat as the police knocked me down three or four more times. I was barely able to see.

Some of our medical people led me and other casualties away from the police attack; some of our medical people came under policeattack themselves, if my then-bleary eyes have not decieved me.

After the long and repeated pepper sprays it took a great effort of will to even open my eyes. The medical people patiently washed my eyes seven or eight times; though it took a long while their care has worked and I can see and I barely feel the sting after these 3 1/2 hours. The fellow activist who retrieved my glasses returned them, after my loud screaming, when I was with the medical people.

Thank you to all who were there and though I am soon heading home to recuperate, thank you and keep struggling.
------------------

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, January 20, 2005

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
cell 202-487-0693, mclarty (at) greens.org
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576,
nallen (at) acadia.net
Mark Dunlea, NY, 518 286-3411

GREENS URGE PROTEST AGAINST PRESIDENT BUSH'S
SECOND TERM AGENDA ON INAUGURATION DAY

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On the eve of President
George W. Bush's second inauguration, Green Party
leaders urged all Americans concerned about Mr.
Bush's second term agenda to speak out and join
protests across the U.S. on January 20.

"The legacy of the first Bush Administration is
one of deception, lack of public accountability,
disregard for law, reckless military aggression,
and an extremist ideology of global force and
corporate power in direct conflict with basic
American values," said Nan Garrett, Georgia Green
and spokesperson for the party's National Women's
Caucus. "President Bush's idea of wartime
sacrifice is sending the children of working
people to fight for U.S. control over a foreign
oil source while granting the wealthy a hefty tax
break. His idea of family values is to vilify
same-sex couples while abolishing the services
and sources of relief that ensure secure, stable,
and healthy families."

Green Party members plan to rally on Dupont
Circle in Washington, D.C. at 8:30 a.m. on
January 20, and then join a rally and march
hosted by the D.C. Anti-War Network (DAWN) at
Malcolm X Park, after which Greens, DAWN, and
others at the rally will head downtown towards
the inaugural parade route.

Greens listed the gravest dangers of the second
Bush term:

-- Further deterioration of Iraq under a
prolonged occupation, with more U.S. troops and
Iraqi civilians killed and injured, a possible
theocratic movement taking power, and increased
terrorism against the U.S. and its allies.

-- Possible military action against Iran, leading
to a second and even more difficult war in the
Middle East.

-- Further inaction on global warming, placing
the planet at greater risk of catastrophic
climate change, and further rollback of
environmental protections.

-- Nomination of Supreme Court judges devoted to
the Bush Administration's goals, especially
reversal of Roe v. Wade.

-- Possible introduction and passage of the USA
Patriot Act II, especially if another terrorist
incident occurs on U.S. soil, which would abolish
many of the rights and protections of the U.S.
Constitution.

-- Passage of President Bush's plan to privatize
Social Security.

"Capping all these looming threats is the
possibility that Democrats will endorse much of
the Bush agenda, and will drop the ball on reform
of our election system," said Peggy Lewis,
national co-chair of the Green Party of the
United States.

The Green Party, in the wake of evidence of
election manipulation in 2000 and 2004, have
challenged Democrats in office to push for
auditable paper records of all ballots cast on
computer voting machines, equitable distribution
of voting equipment, national voting rights
standards, and other reforms
.
Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb
initiated and led the recounts and investigations
in 2004.

MORE INFORMATION

The Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193