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US Anti-War Protests Flare, More Than 1,000 Arrests


— March 20, 2003

I understand that there was some violence — and more than 1,000 arrests — in San Francisco today. I watched the demonstrations around SF’s Federal Building for several hours on-and-off. Apparently, the protestors managed to close the federal courts completely for the day.

I did not witness any violence, nor any arrests. The protestors I saw repeatedly blocked traffic, and the police would sometimes move them along, or sometimes not. Usually, the protestors would only block traffic for a few minutes at a time, and then let it flow — causing an inconvenience, but probably not a great hardship. All told, I was impressed with the behavior of both the protestors and the police — I thought both groups comported themselves reasonably. Apparently, a few of the protestors decided to express themselves by vomiting, but I missed this too.

UPDATE: The SF public defender, the ACLU, and the National Lawyer’s Guild are worried about a courthouse glut of protestors’ arraignments, and are asking private attorneys “to donate their services to defend protesters charged with more serious violations,” according to this.


I understand that there was some violence — and more than 1,000 arrests — in San Francisco today. I watched the demonstrations around SF’s Federal Building for several hours on-and-off. Apparently, the protestors managed to close the federal courts completely for the day.

I did not witness any violence, nor any arrests. The protestors I saw repeatedly blocked traffic, and the police would sometimes move them along, or sometimes not. Usually, the protestors would only block traffic for a few minutes at a time, and then let it flow — causing an inconvenience, but probably not a great hardship. All told, I was impressed with the behavior of both the protestors and the police — I thought both groups comported themselves reasonably. Apparently, a few of the protestors decided to express themselves by vomiting, but I missed this too.

UPDATE: The SF public defender, the ACLU, and the National Lawyer’s Guild are worried about a courthouse glut of protestors’ arraignments, and are asking private attorneys “to donate their services to defend protesters charged with more serious violations,” according to this.

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