Dueling Middle East war protests in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO -- Police arrested a demonstrator today in a melee that started when a woman tried to burn an Israeli flag at a rally in downtown San Francisco over Israel's military actions against Lebanon and Palestinian territories.

After thousands of demonstrators marched through downtown at midday, police used batons to subdue the brief skirmish at the Civic Center. Tensions flared between the demonstrators and counter protesters, who were on opposite sides of Polk Street, separated by metal barricades and dozens of polices officers.

The two groups exchanged insults and gestures periodically throughout the rallies. When a woman started to burn an Israeli flag, police rushed toward her and then other demonstrators joined the fracas, resulting in one arrest.

The protest was one of several rallies today around the country, including one at the White House. The San Francisco protest began at 11 a.m. at the Civic Center and featured speeches, chants, drummers and the march down Market and Mission streets, which were closed to traffic.

Initiated by the Answer Coalition, the National Council of Arab Americans and the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation, the protest also supported the Palestinian "right of return" to land that is now Israel, and money for jobs and education.

The counter protest, which attracted a few hundred people, was organized by the San Francisco Voice for Israel. Founded in 2004, the group's mission is to counter "anti-Israel hate speech on the streets of the Bay Area," said a spokesman.

In Washington, D.C., Speakers in Lafayette Park energized the most mostly Muslim crowd with chants and speeches condemning Israeli involvement in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, U.S. support for Israel and U.S. involvement in Iraq.

Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark drew cheers when he called for President Bush's impeachment....

We have been protesting in San Francisco indeed. Please allow me to post this oldie-but-goodie from way back in the day before the FIRST time I was banned, under the name AR15_Patriot:

Report from the SF Anti-Anti-War Protest

Hi All.
On Saturday I attended An Anti-war protest in Dolores Park, SF, CA. There were about 2000-3000 of the enemy, consisting mostly of aging hippies, angry lesbians, stoners, ignorant college students, marxist/socialist worker groups, and various other America-haters. On the other side were EIGHT brave FReepers, including my girlfriend and myself, Freeper "American Preservative", and others whose names I missed in the whirlwind. (Hi Joe K.!) It went well in the beginning, with our side vocal but well-behaved. (You expected anything less?) The Anti-patriots were an angry, hostile lot, and I felt the situation could turn violent very quickly, but there were police near us holding the rabble in check. But after a while the other side got in our faces and got belligerent and threatened us with violence, and I looked around and saw that our police escort had abandoned us! Thank you, SFPD, for neglecting your duties, and putting peaceful peaceful FReepers (Half of them women) at risk of getting beaten by an angry mob of uncouth heathens. At one point an enormous, angry African-American gentleman got got in my girfriends' face, shouting at her to "go back to Europe" and calling her a "blue eyed devil" who "needed to die." The crowd swirled around us, and I, a (supposedly) brave Patriot, was suddenly in fear for my safety and the safety of those in my group. It was then that I reevaluted the wisdom of the sign that I brought. It was a blown-up photo of Osama bin Laden within a snipers' sights over his face, with the text "SNIPERS WANTED" above, and "OSAMA BIN DEAD MEAT" below. I quitetly rolled up my sign, and tried to separate my girfriend from the angry African American gentleman (who had devolved to shouting "F#ck your white ass!" to my signifigant other. My S.O., being a citizen of Texas, did not have the common sense to rise above his behavior, was yelling choice words back at him. I spread the word to the people in our group that we should get the hell out before it was too late, and leave in a group. One guy did not want to leave,and the last I saw, before he was swallowed up by the crowd, he was in heated dicussion with a wild-eyed guy beating a bongo yelling "kill the devils, kill the devils!" I hope he got out safe. Anyway, I learned a valuable lesson this Saturday: Most of San Francisco Sucks, the SFPD included, and if Osama was to nuke the entire town, killing me, I would consider it an honor to "take one for the team", so to speak, in order to wipe this cancer off the map. I have never been so appalled at the behavior of the supposed "pacifists", and at the same time I've never been so proud of my fellow FReepers. God Bless You! I also learned not to put my faith in the police, because you can't count on them to be there when you need them the most, and indeed, its' at those times that seem to abandon you.

Be Safe and GOD BLESS, AR15_Patriot

20 posted on 09/30/2001 10:35:48 PM PDT by AR15_Patriot

Thanks for the walk down memory lane. I used to counter-protest with "American Preservative," so I may have been around in those days as well.

I started out with FReepers and we counter-protested the "anti-war" rallies starting with Afghanistan and leading up to the war in Iraq. The first time there were about five of us and 30,000 of them!

Later, I got involved with SF Voice for Israel and Protest Warrior (few FReepers too) and wrote regular after reports.

I then "retired" for a while, but jumped back into the fray recently with all the Mideast action.

In their defense, the SFPD has gotten way better with handling these things and their policy of keeping both sides separate is a good one. Only because the lefties/jihadists/"white devil" haters will attack, not us, of course.

I did have a bad experience with the Berkeley PD once when they actually facilated a group of jihadis breaking into our peaceful anti-terrorism rally and getting violent. So you're definitely on your own in Berkeley (in more ways than one!).

That said, you can only rely on yourself and your fellow counter-protesters. But something tells me we'll be in SF for many years to come...

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