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News :: Protest Activity |
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Campus Protests Disrupt Class, Traffic |
Current rating: 0 |
by John Fettig
Email: jfettig (at) ameritech (dot) net (unverified!) |
21 Mar 2003
Modified: 12:49:27 AM |
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Around 300 protestors took to the streets Thursday in response to the beginning of the war on Iraq. |
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The protests were peaceful but as disruptive as possible, as war is disruptive. The march took a zig-zagging route through campustown and Champaign-Urbana, blocking traffic at Green and Wright for a significant amount of time (I would estimate about a half hour). Streets that experienced delays due to the protest included Springfield, Green, Lincoln, Wright, Matthews, Neil, State, and University.
The protests also entered several campus buildings, in an effort to disrupt classes and encourage students to walk out in protest. The buildings that were demonstrated in include Henry, English, Lincoln, Grainger, DCL, and Beckman.
Here are some pictures from the day. More can be found at http://salty.ncsa.uiuc.edu/gallery/dayofwar
#file_1#
#file_2#
#file_3#
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See also:
http://salty.ncsa.uiuc.edu/gallery/dayofwar
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Note About Police |
by John Fettig
jfettig (at) ameritech (dot) net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
21 Mar 2003
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Reading reports from other cities...we are lucky that we live in a town where the police don't quickly resort to brutality. By and large, the police stayed out of our way and let us do our thing.
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Good Cop, Bad Cop |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
21 Mar 2003
Modified: 09:17:04 AM |
While John is generally right about most of the police accepting the fact that people were simply exercising their civil rights, not all the police action yesterday was quite as benign as he relates. Generally, the University and Urbana police worked at keeping the march safe by providing traffic control while people expressed their disgust for the war in Iraq.
The tone in Champaign was decidedly different, with the police there targeting certain individuals for photographic surveillance. As the march approached West Side Park, members of the SWAT team warned a baysitter to remove children from the park because "We may have to use peppergas" on the protesters.
Champaign Police set up a surveillance perimeter around the park and recorded what was nothing more than people exercising their civil rights. This is a pernicious use of police surveillance, meant more to intimidate than for any legitimate or lawful purpose. After the withdrawal of police to nearby positions after it became obvious to even them that no lawbreaking was occurring, another point was made when the Champaign police's "tank" (actually the armored car that the Champaign SWAT team was rather ridiculously and profligately equipped with a few years back) rolled up to the stoplight next to the protest.
In general, the police acted responsibly during yesterday's protests. However, the actions of the Champaign police should be examined for their propensity to engage in illegal surveillance of constitutionally protected free speech. |
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Re: Good Cop, Bad Cop |
by John Fettig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
21 Mar 2003
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Wow. I thought it was just coincidence that the paddywagon drove by (University is a direct route to the station). I didn't realize that they had warned about using peppergas. I wonder if they realize (or care) how rediculous this warning was in retrospect.
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