Oh Joy! Flag burning in Boston (DNC protestors-anarchist crowd)

Protesters burn an American flag and an effigy of President Bush (news - web sites) and Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) on the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Thursday, July 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)





http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=705&pg=1&cap=0

I'm not getting this..

on the RNC payroll, I'm sure

assholes

They're plants from the RNC, to give photo ops so their RW talking points can illustrate how "wild-eyed" Democrats are.

So they aren't democrats (wild eyed or otherwise).

Just anti government in general I guess.

is a sure indication that she doesn't want to be recognized.

If Rove were behind it we wouldn't be seeing Kerry's effigy burning. These people really are nuts. :crazy:

http://blackteasociety.org/index.php

http://boston.indymedia.org/

and, naturally, it makes the national-level news.

(Independent press, my ass.)


MDN

Now we can swing leftwards and still have people to the left complaining about it....


SHOVE IT! - Drop Bush Not Bombs! - Hero Kerry AWOL Bush
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

Mostly people who are "okay with it personally, but are worried about the effect it will have on {insert perceived swing constituency here}."

and I'm entitled to say they look like fuckin jag-offs.

These people have no agenda whatsoever but to cause chaos. What's their great platform or solution for this country?

As the great Lester Bangs said "Saying 'This sucks, that sucks' and nothing else is somehow, er, insuffucient. After a while you have to have the courage to be FOR something."

See gratuitous's post #8

Karen Hughes.

I just don't see how this kind of behavior will lead to whatever perfect world they envision.

I suspect a lot of this is done just for shock value. I'm not particularly shocked and am not likely to come over to their side after watching them.

MzPip
:dem:

ONE.

That's right - ONE

Link:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/conventions/articles/2004/07/29/activists_appear_to_save_anger_for_nyc/

(snip)
To prepare for the protesters expected to swarm Boston during the Democratic National Convention, security planners amassed a force of 5,000 law enforcement officers. The city built a razor-wired protest zone that attracted comparisons to the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Suffolk County officials cleared enough jail cells and courtrooms to handle 2,500 arrests.

Total number of protest-related arrests so far this week: One.

As the convention culminates today, protesters are planning a bike ride, a flashlight peace vigil near the FleetCenter, and unpredictable "decentralized actions" throughout the city. But signs suggest that there simply aren't enough activists here to create the kind of chaos that hit Miami, Seattle, or even the major party conventions in Los Angeles and Philadelphia in 2000. Now the question on the minds of activists, police, and local residents is: Where are the protesters?

"Clearly, what this represents is that folks on the left have decided it would be counterproductive to protest the DNC," said Jason Pramas, a labor organizer from Cambridge who helped create the Boston Social Forum, which attracted 5,000 people last weekend for several days of lectures, discussions, and performances.

"At this moment you could call it a truce" with the Democrats, he added.
(snip)

more. . .


:kick:

This is the first real trouble that I (viewing from afar) have seen so that number makes sense.

The "Free Speech Zone" has not received as much coverage as I (and many other DU'ers expected) and very surprisingly the press has not made it seem like a Dem invention.

ultimetaly these people don't believe in anything....

they eventually grow to become critical thinkers that understand anarchy is foolish.

it's the last one.

That banner over that restaurant or shop says, "Say!!! D.N.C. Thanks for nothing! Go Bush"

Apparently extra business from having a convention across the street is a problem for them.

Mark Pasquale, owner, closed shop for the week saying he wouldn't get any business from those filthy Democrats. The city fined him for erecting too large a sign without a permit. :shrug:

"Even though he voted for George W. Bush four years ago, Mark F. Pasquale was looking forward to the Democrats coming to town, especially since the pizza shop he has run for the past 23 years is right across the street from the FleetCenter. But then the barriers started going up, the security rules kept getting changed, and he finally had enough. He’s closing during the convention and leaving behind a banner in support of Bush.

"It seems like there was supposed to be a party, but it turned out to be a private party," said the 51-year-old Pasquale, who was deluged with media attention yesterday as the 24-foot-long, 4-foot-high banner draped across the building started getting noticed. "They have 30,000 prepared meals . . . I put my food against anybody, but you can’t compete against a free meal."

Pasquale said he will vote for Bush again and said that if the Texan ever comes to Boston, he hopes the president makes Halftime Pizza, located at the corner of Friend and Causeway streets, one of his stops."

and not because they are burning a flag but because they are "Anarchists". What has anarchy done that was positive? NOTHING!!

argh!

A**holes - both the Repugs and the flag burners.

I defend their right to burn it - but there's a part of me would like to throttle that woman in the bandana!

I respect the right of freedom of speech, but part of me desires to beat the shit out of someone who so willfully desecrates the flag like that.

I'd never do it on that aspect mind you, that is in full direct violating someone's freedom of speech, but still the thought is one that I will never get rid of when I see someone doing that.

are very left, much more left than many Democrats, and it is disingenuous to say that they are the same as the Reps and pawns of the established order.

marching down the streets. :shrug:

the same cops would quickly subdue some maniac who is out to physically harm a delegate or someone of importance from the Democratic convention as "Vader-like storm troopers"

its pretty obvious they are dressed for crowd control, just as they have been for other demonstrations. I am not attacking the individuals in the police force but the manner in which they are often deployed for protests.

As a friend of mine used to say about the pigs, "don't worry about them, they're all just stormtroopers for the Emperor."