Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - [Homestead] *this* is free speech ? "fire at will" is more like it ...

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>
  • To: "Homestead mailing list" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] *this* is free speech ? "fire at will" is more like it ...
  • Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 07:08:29 -0700

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap10-15-003224.asp?t=apnew&vts=101520040644



Police in riot gear fire on crowd with balls loaded with pepper

By JEFF BARNARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS



JACKSONVILLE, Ore., Oct. 15 - Police in riot gear fired pepperballs Thursday
night to disperse a crowd of protesters assembled in this historic gold
mining town where President Bush was spending the night after a campaign
appearance.

<>

Witnesses said Bush supporters were on one side of California Street
chanting ''Four more years,'' and supporters of Democratic presidential
nominee Sen. John Kerry were on the other chanting ''Three more weeks.''
Police began moving the crowd away from the Jacksonville Inn, where the
president was to arrive for dinner and to spend the night following a speech.
''We were here to protest Bush and show our support for Kerry,'' said
Cerridewen Bunten, 24, a college student and retail clerk. ''Nobody was being
violent. We were out of the streets so cars could go by. We were being loud,
but I never knew that was against the law.''
Bunten said she was pushed by police as she held her 6-year-old
daughter.
Jeff Treadwell, 37, an auto mechanic from Medford who joined the
protesters, estimated about 500 people were assembled, counting both Bush and
Kerry supporters.
Jacksonville City Administrator Paul Wyntergreen said the protest was
peaceful until a few people started pushing police. Police reacted by firing
pepperballs, which he described as projectiles like a paintball filled with
cayenne pepper. Two people were arrested for failing to disperse. There were
no reports of injuries.
Protester Richard Swaney, 65, of Central Point, said he was walking
with the crowd away from the inn when he was hit in the back with three
separate bursts, one of which knocked him down.



© 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





  • [Homestead] *this* is free speech ? "fire at will" is more like it ..., Toni Hawryluk, 10/15/2004

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page