The image is chilling. A middle-aged woman, plainly dressed,
          with a puff of auburn hair, is clutched in a hammer-lock by a
          Portland police officer dressed in full riot gear. His riot baton is
          jammed high under her chin. Around her, three more armor-clad
          police officers swarm in, face-masks down. The woman's face is
          contorted in terror. In her hand is a sign protesting George W.Bush.

          This was the scene on the streets of Portland, OR, on the
          evening of August 22nd as captured by a photographer for the
          Associated Press. Thousands of peaceful protesters had
          descended upon the Hilton Hotel where Mr. Bush was attending
          a political fundraiser for Senator Gordon Smith. They held signs
          reading, "Drop Bush, not Bombs," and other similar slogans.
          Among the protesters were pregnant women, parents with
          infants and small children, elderly citizens, and citizens in wheelchairs

          According to a report by CBS News, the protest became unruly
          when some of the fundraiser attendees were "jostled" as they
          moved through the crowd towards the entrance to the hotel. At
          that point, the riot police swarmed in, swinging clubs and
          dousing the crowd with pepper spray. Rubber bullets were also
          fired into the crowd, and snipers were seen on the roofs
          surrounding the scene. The protesters responded by hammering
          on the hoods of police cars and screaming, "We are not the enemy!"

          A man named Randy, who attended the protest, reports the
          sequence of events as follows:

          "I was between 5th and 6th on the sidewalk. Maybe the ones in
          front were warned to move, but I didn't hear any warning. It had
          been a peaceful protest. Suddenly the police came forward
          spraying pepper spray. A man nearby with an infant in a backpack
          got hit real good. The baby's face was so red I thought it had quit
          breathing. From the other direction came cop cars through the crowd
          and rubber bullets were fired at those closest to the cars. I kept
          retreating but the cops kept spraying. Lots of people were sprayed,
          including the cameraman from Channel 2 KATU."

          Other eyewitness accounts from the streets of Portland similarly
          describe what appears to have been a terrifyingly violent response
          from the police to a peaceful protest by assembled American citizens.

          This is a profoundly disturbing turn of events. Mr. Bush is
          protested wherever he goes these days, and the crowds which
          attend them are growing. These are not black-clad anarchists
          kicking in windows, however. The woman who was attacked by
          the police looked as ordinary as any small-town librarian, and
          anarchists are smart enough to leave their children at home if
          there is a riot in the offing. The streets of Portland were filled on
          August 22nd by average American citizens seeking to inform the
          President of their disfavor regarding the manner in which he is
          governing their country. They were rewarded with the business
          end of a billy club, a face-full of pepper spray, and the jarring
          impact of a rubber bullet.

          If America needed one more example of the cancer that has been
          chewing through the guts of our most basic freedoms since Mr.
          Bush assumed office, they can look to Portland. The right to
          freely assemble and petition the government for a redress of
          grievances has been rescinded at the point of a gun.

          The imperative is clear. Such violence by the authorities cannot
          go unchallenged. The next time Mr. Bush appears in public,
          there must be even more concerned Americans to greet him.
          They must face the baton and the pepper spray, they must stare
          into the shielded faces of the police, and they must stand in
          non-violent disobedience of the idea that they are not allowed to
          be there. The men and women who faced the brunt of police
          fury in Portland are to be lauded as American patriots, and their
          actions must be duplicated by us all. The groups which
          organized this protest, and the ones to come, deserve our praise.

          The media, which spent much of the evening reporting that only
          a few hundred protesters were in attendance, must be
          browbeaten into reporting the facts from both sides - from the
          police, who reportedly detained people like the woman in the
          picture "for their own safety," and from the protesters who took
          a savage beating for daring to stand against Mr. Bush. If the
          battle of Portland is allowed to cast even more fear into the
          hearts and minds of Americans, we have lost yet another swath
          of freedoms. Stand and be counted if you can.

          The whole world is watching.

William Rivers Pitt is a teacher from Boston, MA. His new book, 'The Greatest
Sedition is Silence,' will be published soon by Pluto Press. William is a
contributing writer for Liberal Slant. He is also on the writing staff at
www.truthout.com. E-mail him at: williamriverspitt@hotmail.com or visit his
website: http://www.willpitt.com/

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