officers - The Black Vault

• •
'·had contented th'emseives .. with~ -sciriie,.-.-of""ii1e''.profesters spilled
observing the. protest from hehind back intC? ~e.street, sto~ping traf!ic
;glass doors. . . . . , . · ·_and terronzmg . motor~sts, _whtle .
, ·. Policemen r,aced . . . others flashed ptcket ·stgns m the
• But three police::nen watc~ing_ faces ·o( th~ ~ver~growing n~mber of .
·alone from ·a nearby· parking lot · .riot officers pr9tecting .the entrance
·suddenly raced .. to the building: en- ~o Parker ~e~ter;: · ~·. · . . :
~trance ahead •of .the_ prot~sters, · ' At one po~nt, ·dozens of people
slamm~ the glass doors shut and raced toward ~ parking a~tendant's ,
braced th~m with metal bars. . . 'booth in .an adjacent lot, smashed
Th!! crowd re·sponded by slinging the window, pushed tJ:le structure oo .
trash cans, rocks, ]?ottles and other its side and set .it on fire. All the
projectiles at the retreating officers, whi!~; prot~~ters ~hanted, "No ·
and punched at least ftve baseball-· justic'e, no peace. :No justice,_ no
sized holes in the thick glass~ . peace·. No justice, rio peace.''
· One frustrateq woman, _groping - Officers fidgety ·
•·for· ~omethin~ to throw, tore out: ·· Many Qf the wide-eyed of!icers
rows of small green plants'and hurl-., appe~red fidgety, moving their night
ed them at the facility. · sticks from side to side. A few
~ · · Outburst s~t?si4ed ·. visibly treml?led as they faced down
The brief ~utburst subsi~ed whep tpe.angry demonstrators. ·
·:protest 1eaders prevajled .. on ·the ·Police Commission. President
angry crowd to move away from the Stanley Sheinbaum, a civil liber­
:glass·doors. Within miimtes, dozens · tarian and millionaire industrialist,
. of police mobilized and rushed the· stood behind the phala11x of. highly
·mob at the :front doors, pushing charged offic~rs and commented on
. peopl€?·back 15 feet. the department's strategy.
· ."Hold ·-your .line! Hold your: "They [demonstrators] aren'~ go-·
:.grounq! N? ~me moves!" barked a ing to leave. very readily, and the
. sergeant. , . . department isn't going .to push-them
•. F~fty riot-equipped officers, form-· around that readily, 'either~" .
~ ing an irregular. line around the ex- ' Dangerously overhead
terior of the facility, braQdished .L- As he spoke, the protective line of.
shaped batons, held them. at a '90- riot. police dodged an occasional'
degree angle and ·waited patiently rock, stick or other projectile sailfor
the 01:der to rush the crowd. ing dangerously overhead'.
But the o~d_:~_n._:v~r c_am¢. ___. --· . ~-n~-t~:_ta_t:ntin~ ~onti~.U~·- __