] It was a long day for protesters and police alike.
] Officers in riot gear hustled to keep up with roving
] bands of demonstrators. Roughly 1,500 of the Police
] Department's 2,300 officers were on street duty,
] officials said, costing the city $500,000 in police
] overtime.
]
] The worst came during the evening commute.
]
] Hundreds of demonstrators repeatedly tried to storm the
] Bay Bridge, paralyzing traffic for blocks around. A
] phalanx of California Highway Patrol officers and city
] police turned them back after shutting down two
] approaches to the span and unleashing pepper spray to
] disperse a crowd near Fremont and Harrison streets.

] "We had a beautiful and very successful action today,"
] Ilyse Hogue of Direct Action yelled into a megaphone to
] demonstrators gathered outside the Federal Building.
] "We were able to unplug the war machine for a day."

Able to unplug the war machine for a day? How? Sounds like you just tried to screwed up San Francisco.. From what I've read about the riots^Wprotests, they sound more like an excuse to go out and break shit and cause trouble for the cops then peaceful protest against the war..

Am I missing something? Am I a victim of the war propaganda? I don't think so.. I'm just really fustrated with the peace protesters. Peace protest requires peace.. Not violence, and that is what I keep hearing about.. Violence at peace protests.. Thats not what we need.. Thats not what gets a message across.

Maybe all the anger takes root in how powerless people feel to affect change.. Whatever it is, the violence and vandalism does not help the protest.. Rather, it hurts it.. Makes it easier to dismiss.

] Mayor Willie Brown said in no uncertain terms that,
] although he opposes the war, he had no patience for
] the demonstrators and he lamented the tremendous
] cost the demonstrators had inflicted on the city.
]
] "I must express my frustration at the tactics of
] some protesters, who have chosen to specifically try
] to disrupt this city, rather than gather peacefully
] to voice their desire for peace, at the expense of the
] day-to-day lives of ordinary San Franciscans -- and at
] great cost to the city," he said in a statement
] Thursday afternoon.

I can understand how he feels.

] It was a long day for protesters and police alike.
] Officers in riot gear hustled to keep up with roving
] bands of demonstrators. Roughly 1,500 of the Police
] Department's 2,300 officers were on street duty,
] officials said, costing the city $500,000 in police
] overtime.
]
] The worst came during the evening commute.
]
] Hundreds of demonstrators repeatedly tried to storm the
] Bay Bridge, paralyzing traffic for blocks around. A
] phalanx of California Highway Patrol officers and city
] police turned them back after shutting down two
] approaches to the span and unleashing pepper spray to
] disperse a crowd near Fremont and Harrison streets.
]
] The protests started at dawn and kicked into high gear
] around 7 a.m. as demonstrators fanned out en masse to
] locations chosen in recent weeks in a well-planned
] campaign to shut down the city. Demonstrators promised to
] continue their protests for several more days.