UGGGHHHHHHHHHH.

Tacoma: Protesters will take to streets

Friday, November 09 2007 @ 05:10 PM PST
Contributed by: Collin Sick
Views: 49
BordersProtesters plan to �shut down� downtown Tacoma today and Saturday to �send a very clear message that will be heard by the powers that be� that they�re unhappy with federal immigration policy. A group spearheaded by some self-proclaimed anarchists is unhappy with the 1,000-bed Northwest Detention Center on the Tideflats. It�s the main detention center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement for Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

Protesters will take to streets

SCOTT FONTAINE; The News Tribune

Protesters plan to �shut down� downtown Tacoma today and Saturday to �send a very clear message that will be heard by the powers that be� that they�re unhappy with federal immigration policy.

A group spearheaded by some self-proclaimed anarchists is unhappy with the 1,000-bed Northwest Detention Center on the Tideflats. It�s the main detention center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement for Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

The protest will start about 11 a.m. and be centered at a �green zone� near Tollefson Plaza at South 17th Street and Pacific Avenue. �Bring puppets, musical instruments, signs, banners, creativity and passion,� a Web page about the protest reads (www. no-racism.net). �The rest of downtown will be open to diverse and creative tactics!�

The protest was planned at Pitch Pipe Infoshop at 617 S. 17th St. It bills itself as �a not-for-profit, collectively run radical lending library and community space� and boasts that it �has the potential to become a hub for regional anarchist networking, skill sharing, and organizing.�

No one from the shop returned phone calls or e-mail messages.

There also appears to be a counterprotest brewing. A group called March for America! sent out a mass e-mail in a �call to all American patriots who are able, to stand in solidarity against the communist/socialist/anarchist pawns who call for an end to the nation state, who call for an end to America.�

Jonnie Crivello, founder of March for America! Washington, was unsure how many people the group will have because of short organizing time.

The Tacoma Police Department expects the rally to be peaceful. However, it�s also heard that some smaller groups might use the rally as a way to move throughout the downtown corridor and engage in �unlawful behavior,� police officials said. The department is prepared to respond if there�s illegal activity during the rally.

The department has been aware of the rally since last month and has been planning its response.

�Hopefully we won�t be needed whatsoever,� spokesman Mark Fulghum said. �We�ll be ready in case we are.�

The department encourages business owners and residents to go about their activities as usual. However, officials ask business owners to make sure their outside area is free of debris and obstructions like sandwich boards, displays and other signage.

Officials ask people to report suspicious activity to the police.

The Business Improvement Area is adding an extra security patrol Saturday, said director Paul Ellis.

Patricia Lecy-Davis, president of the Downtown Merchants Association, said she�s not sure what to expect, but one thing should be different.

�This will be the largest crowd we�ve had in downtown for a while,� she said with a laugh.

Few expect violence to erupt, but some businesses near Tollefson Plaza are taking precautions. The Courtyard by Marriott hotel at 1515 Commerce St. will add an extra security guard this weekend, said front-office manager Jennifer Chell.

Warren Cabes, owner of Tacoma Art Supply at 1552 Jefferson Ave., said his biggest concern is customers finding parking this weekend. And, he adds, the protest could become a positive.

�I might (tell the protesters), �Well, you know, this is an art store,�� he said. ��We sell markers and paint if you want to make signs.��

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Two years ago I would have been all like "WOO YEAH PROTEST! IMMA JOIN IT!" but now, especially after today I find it incredibly, extremely ANNOYING.

Today at 12:45 I went out to the bus stop on Pacific Ave. After waiting until approximately 1:00, it occured to me that, oh, the buses are avoiding this street cause of the protests. Well, okay, no big deal.

I got on the link and took it down to the downtown bus zone at 10th and Commerce and waited there for the bus instead, because that's a major bus junction thing and my thinking was that the buses wouldn't detour around it. And I was right in one sense...by the time I got off the link to get there, I'd narrowly missed the bus...so I had to wait for the next one.

But then the protesters moved down the block towards the bus zone. And they FREAKING BLOCKED THE FREAKING STREET, and no busses could get through. That started pissing me off. Yes, I really do support your cause, as do other people, but PISSING PEOPLE OFF AND IRRITATING THEM IS NOT GOING TO WORK THE WAY YOU WANT IT. Their drums, posters, stupid puppets and chanting seemed so immature, silly, childish, selfish....it was sure a striking difference in my own attitude than a few years ago. I loved protests...

I then moved further down the block, and had to choose whether to wait at the 16 bus stop or the 11. I chose 16. So I was waiting at the 16 stop for 20 minutes and then the 11 goes by. I cursed my decision, but how the hell was I supposed to know which bus to take?

30 minutes later, the 16 still had not come, and so I decided to give up on that and wait for the 11.

But then after 20 minutes of waiting at THAT stop, the 11 went by, a block up, apparently on even a new detour than half an hour previously.

Then I gave up, thoroughly miffed, and walked home.

I got home at about 3:00. If I had been able to just simply catch a bus like normal, I would have been home by 1:15.

SO FRUSTRATING.

Erica is "sick" apparently. And she is taking way too many painkillers. Apparently she took 5 Tylenol tonight, even though she had already taken Ibuprofen a few hours earlier.

Doesn't that seem a bit excessive? Isn't she worried about overdosing? I mean, I know she's not as small as me, but I can take 1 ibuprofen and I will be all good. I don't understand it.

And M-guy is over AGAIN. Every Friday night. It's annoying. I think he's Hayley's boyfriend. Why doesn't he just spend the night at Hayley's?

GRUMPY.

And Reina is not our sponsor child anymore, apparently her family is making enough to support itself now.

At least I got the Empire Strikes back in the mail today.

I'll watch some of that tonight.

Even though it will make me think of Luke a lot. And make me all fhfsdhfh.

Dick Cheney has some marbles missing. I cannot understand Republicans at all.

Not at all.