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The Militarization of America

Tanks at Los Angeles Anti-War Rally

la.indymedia.org   10 November  2004
www.globalresearch.ca 10 November 2004

The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/IND411A.html



MARINE APCs APPEAR AT ANTI-WAR PROTEST IN WESTWOOD
LOS ANGELES, November 9, 2004 - At 7:50 PM, What were first reported to be tanks and now identified as Marine APCs showed up at an anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood.

The APCs circled the block twice, the second time parking themselves in the street and directly in front of the area where most of the protesters were gathered.

Enraged, some of the people attempted to block the APCs, but police quickly cleared the street.

The people continued to protest the presence of the Marines, but after about ten minutes they drove off. It is still unclear as to why they were deployed to this location.

 

Video by . and Photos by Ich Bin Ein Fallujan

 http://la.indymedia.org/


 

Westwood Anti-Occupation Demonstration Pictures 

Despite the one-day notice, about 400-500 people turned out to protest the day after the start of the second U.S. attack on the people of Fallujah. Mysteriously, two tanks arrived and were immediately surrounded by chanting demonstrators.

Westwood Anti-Occupa...
18_tankstoppedbydemonstrators2.jpg, image/jpeg, 760x570

 

Above: Tank Stopped by Demonstrators on Wilshire Blvd.

Despite the one-day notice, about 400-500 people came to the Westwood Federal Building on Tuesday night to protest the start of the second U.S. attack on the people of Fallujah, which had been officially launched on the previous day. To my own recollection, this is a record number for a demonstration called on such short notice.

As usual for such short-notice demonstrations at this location, most of the group stood on the sidewalk along Wilshire Blvd. waving signs and shouting to oncoming commuters in cars and buses, who frequently expressed their support by shouting and blowing their horns, and (much, much less frequently) expressed opposition. Smaller groups were stationed on each of the other three corners of the Wilshire and Veteran intersection, and as the lights changed some of these groups would parade across the intersection, making themselves still more visible to traffic.

About 7:30pm, two tanks barreled past going East on Wilshire, rounded the corner onto Veteran going South, and disappeared.

About ten or fifteen minutes later, two tanks (apparently the same ones) appeared again going East on Wilshire and stopped for the light there. Demonstrators immediately stepped in front of the lead tank, blocking its path, and started to chant "U.S. Out!" at the soldiers, whose heads and torsos were clearly visible and who evidently exchanged a few words with protestors.

The soldiers seemed amused and not really unfriendly. Unfortunately, a few of our protestors chanted "murderers!" at the soldiers, although in general I think we were more sophisticated than that, realizing that many soldiers are victims themselves who were recruited through propaganda, guile, and economic incentives that the very poor can find it difficult to refuse.

I have no idea why they were there, and neither did anyone else that I asked.

Both tanks were surrounded on three sides by protestors for about three or four minutes until the LAPD showed up and placed themselves between tanks and protestors, and cleared the protestors who were blocking the front tank out of the road. I did not witness any brutality as this occurred, nor am I aware of any arrests having been made.

The tanks then proceeded to turn right onto Veteran and disappeared from view.

Our protest continued following this incident. If sending tanks driving by was meant to intimidate us, it definitely did not succeed, and in fact had the opposite effect.

Thus, we citizens of conscience in Los Angeles have joined people around the world in expressing our public opposition to a U.S. policy of dealing death and mayhem to the citizens of Iraq in general and to those of Fallujah in particular.

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan
Posted: Wednesday November 10, 2004 10:06 AM


Tank Stopped by Demonstrators

Tank Stopped by Demo...
19_tankstoppedbydemonstrators.jpg, image/jpeg, 760x570

 

 

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan
Link:
Posted: Wednesday November 10, 2004 10:06 AM

Tank Surrounded by Demonstrators

Tank Surrounded by D...
20_tanksurroundedbydemonstrators.jpg, image/jpeg, 760x570

 

 

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan
Link:
Posted: Wednesday November 10, 2004 10:06 AM

Second Tank Approached by Demonstrators

Second Tank Approach...
21_secondtankapproachedbydemonstrators.jpg, image/jpeg, 770x595

 

 

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan



Second Tank Surrounded by Demonstrators

Second Tank Surround...
22_secondtanksurroundedbydemonstrators.jpg, image/jpeg, 770x542

 

 

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan



Tanks Surrounded by Demonstrators

Tanks Surrounded by ...
23_tankssurroundedbydemonstrators.jpg, image/jpeg, 733x550

 

 

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan




Tank Commander Negotiates Terms of His Surrender

Tank Commander Negot...
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Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan




Police Protect Tank from Demonstrators

Police Protect Tank ...
25_policeprotecttankfromprotestors.jpg, image/jpeg, 733x550

 

 

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan




Crew of Second Tank that was Stopped by Demonstrators

Crew of Second Tank ...
26_crewofsecondtankstoppedbydemonstrators.jpg, image/jpeg, 750x563

 

 

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan


Demonstrators Chant U.S. Out at Tanks

Demonstrators Chant ...
27_demonstratorschantusoutattanks.jpg, image/jpeg, 750x563

 

 

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan




U.S. Our of Iraq and Fallujah!

U.S. Our of Iraq and...
28_usout.jpg, image/jpeg, 438x570

 

 

Author: Ich Bin Ein Fallujan

 


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