Portland Police attacked peaceful protesters yesterday afternoon in Portland, Oregon.
Protesters were penned in near the intersection of 12th and SW Jefferson, just west of downtown, when police rode horses into the crowd on the sidewalk, nearly trampling several people.
Police then used pepper spray, bean bag guns, and pepper balls indiscriminately on the crowd. Protesters and even some police were affected - one man (who wasn't directly hit by any of the weapons) inhaled pepper spray and had an asthma attack, and had to be taken to a nearby medical clinic.
Video from KGW news is
here. Notice the kick one cop gives a woman whose back is turned at 0:46 of the video.
Even with Katrina and FoleyGate showing people the truth behind the smirking chimp, police still are getting away with violence against anti-war and anti-Bush protesters that is unthinkable against any other political or social group.
It's the same mentality as Daley's stormtroopers of the 1968 Democratic convention, the 8/22/02 attack by police on anti-Bush protesters in Portland, the Seattle WTO and Miami FTAA protests, or the police terrorism against anti-Republican Convention protesters in New York in 2004. Police do not respect people's rights to free speech (at least if it criticizes Bush or the war), and attack and arrest with seeming impunity.
Only this time, pepper spray (fire) is used instead of the police dogs and water cannons of the era of Bull Connor.