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I had a slight factual error in my account of the anti-Bush protest in Portland yesterday. The Tribune wasn't the only media organization reporting on the events, they were just the only media that stayed around until the end. In fact, some of them were even helping us relay information when things got chaotic. Way to go Portland Tribune!
(update: After reading the account of the protest by the Tribune, it's obvious that they're willing to ignore facts in order to project an inaccurate, gentler image of the actions of the police. Boooo Tribune.)

A lot of media was mixed right in there with us. The first person to get hit with a rubber bullet was a photographer. The local fox station even aired footage of their reporters being sprayed in the face with pepper spray.

Despite the injuries taken by the press, there was still a lot of the usual spin put on the story once it got out. The most common error I noticed was that most newspapers reported police using tear gas and pepper spray on protestors because they were blocking traffic on the Morrison Bridge, but the truth was that police boxed them in so they had no where to go, and then began firing aerosol cannisters of pepper spray at them. One of them was a ten month old child who's parents had repeatedly requested that they be allowed to get him out of the cordoned off area.

Other reports continued to skew the facts in whatever sensationalistic manner they pleased. For instance, these were not "violent protestors." These were peaceful protestors who were attacked by violent police. Nobody "hammered on the hoods of police cars." People slapped their palms and fists against police cars when they damn near ran them over. And there were not "1500 people graffiting walls and throwing bottles." There were 1500+ people, and a few dozen were graffiting, but mostly with chalk.

In all, the protest was 7 hours of peaceful demonstration mixed with about 30 minutes of police brutality. It was fun. We brought about a few small changes (a federal attorney has requested that the Mayor fire Mr. Soft On Fascism, Chief Kroeker,) and according to his staff, we surprised the hell out of Bush (who earlier in the day had stated that there are so many wildfires in Oregon because we're not cutting down enough trees!) Anybody who cares about the direction this country is moving in should consider taking similar action. It might sound scary at first, but believe me, it is a rewarding experience. This morning, for the first time since I can remember, I woke up feeling that I can make a profound difference in this world, and you can too.

For information on what's happening in you area, go to indymedia.org and then find your city or region in the column on the left