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¡No pasarán!
Welcome, protesters and people-in-need alike, to the Anaheim Police Department, site of weekly Sunday protests from noon until 2:00 for over the past year! Last week’s protest was a bit larger than normal, what with the “unrest” on Anna Drive in the North Central area and all. The crowd got rambunctious (though without being violent or destroying property, as happened last Tuesday around City Hall), coming into the police department lobby and yelling at the police there. There are some indications that this will be harder to accomplish this week.
"Single file, please!"
When I first looked at this scene, I thought “oh, well at least they’ll still be open for business.” My next thought was “you know, you could still get a crowd of 50-60 people through that opening and into the lobby.” In that case, what was the use? Later, looking at this photo, I had another thought: you can get lots of people in, given some extra time, through that small entrance — but you can’t get them out quickly again. If police decided that they wanted to arrest a whole bunch of people, they’d be able to do so at their leisure. Perhaps we should call this the Admiral Ackbar Gate, because … IT’S A TRAP!
"Why no, that doesn't look imposing at ALL!"
The visitor’s parking lot is closed off to traffic, unless you want to risk driving into a “do not enter” sign, but it’s not entirely empty. Some people appear to have been camped out there for a while — and will remain so through tomorrow.
Wouldn't it be tragic to deny them a story? They've worked so hard for one!
You, on the other hand, are not going to park there. Not at all.
You, on the other hand, will NOT be parking there.
See you at the protest rally at noon! Good luck finding a place to park!
Exactly. There are going to be more traps than just the P.D. dept.
There are going to be plenty of public relations traps. If you are going to protest something, be specific. Disney? The Bought City Council? The Police Dept? Get your talking points kids!
Greg or Vern, Tell us again why the Anaheim city council can be accused of taking bribes on behalf of the Hotel and tourism Industry at the detriment of other city general fund expenditures. I forget exactly how that worked. I am not a lawyer but it did seem to work that way from the articles that I read.
Seriously, Double Eye, I can’t do better than the home page of “No Jordan Brandman,” a site which is looking more and more invaluable. (Despite its title, it’s about much more than Jordan Brandman) :
http://www.nojordanbrandman.com/
Some of us, including Take Back Anaheim, make the connection: These corporate subsidies shouldn’t just be given away in return for campaign contributions, concessions should be wrung out of developers in return for the huge tax breaks; those concessions should include – mainly – guarantee of local jobs and investment in the community; that would reduce poverty and make the gang/drug lifestyle less tempting; there would be less pretext for police brutality.
Of course the neighborhoods also need political representation which is why these district elections is important. And there needs to be real reform of the Police Department, aside from investigations into specific incidents of abuse.
Hopefully, the NRA supporters will be leading the protests as I keep reading they need assault weapons and large clips to protect us against repressive governments. However, I imagine they’ll stay home and write more letters to the editor calling for protesters to be put on the chain gang.