Home > Anti-War Protests Continue At Port Of Olympia
Demos-Actions Movement Wars and conflicts Police - Repression USA
By Tracy Vedder
OLYMPIA - A protest became a melee on Olympia’s waterfront Tuesday as sheriff’s deputies arrested 22 people who stormed the port’s gate. And war protesters were back on the line Wednesday night — as are the deputies.
The protesters hope to disrupt shipments of war supplies heading to Iraq.
For more than a week, the two sides have held their ground on Olympia’s waterfront. The military transport ship Pomeroy continues to load cargo bound for Iraq, including Stryker vehicles and other military supplies for the Stryker Brigade from Ft. Lewis. Its escort of Coast Guard boats is always present.
On the other side, the protesters with their anti-war slogans and signs, keep constant vigil.
All week, there were jolts of confrontation. But Tuesday night it turned ugly. Protesters pulled down the port’s front gate, then sat down with linked arms, blocking access.
Police and protesters have different versions of what happened next. Protester Jeff Berryhill was one of the first arrested, he describes it this way: "I walked in, I let the cops know this is going to be peaceful we have no intention of doing anything of vandalizing anything of trying to be confrontational."
But Chief Criminal Deputy Dan Kimball with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office says others were threatening his officers: "They began to throw objects at the officers, including about a half full plastic pop bottle, and the last straw was a fairly large rock."
The end result was deputies arresting 22 protesters. Some believe the violence clouds the issue.
"I mean, the real issue here is the occupation of Iraq," says Olympia Councilman T.J. Johnson, "and the fact that our community is now directly connected to what is going over there."
Port staff aren’t taking any chances this time around. They moved a heavy cargo container across the gate, and it won’t be easy to get around.
What does the rest of Olympia think? Opinions are mixed. We overheard one woman tell another she wouldn’t be voting for any councilmember who supported the protesters. Others were sorry they missed the action.
But World War II vet Leonard Nord thinks no matter what your opinion about the war in Iraq, to try and disrupt supplies the soldiers need is a disgrace.
"And I resent the use of public facilities for denying our troops the right to defend themselves, I resent that."
And it’s not over. As long as the Pomeroy is in port, protesters plan to camp out here. The Pomeroy could leave port as early as Wednesday evening.
The equipment it carries is in support of the Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade, which is returning to Iraq for its second tour of duty there.
Forum posts
5 June 2006, 12:26
Here’s the Port Manual to brief you on what’s been going on the past two years: http://www.omjp.org/PortManual.pdf and here’s an article worth reading: http://counterpunch.org/jacobs05272006.html To top things off I hear tomorrow, 6 June (6-6-6 if you’ll pardon the black humor) Congress will debate a bill for the reinstatement of the draft. Let’s at least try to prevent it: http://www.rense.com/general71/dd.htm
6 June 2006, 02:54
While I feel the draft is wrong and evil, I also think the people who will be drafted need to be the ones mounting the charge, they and their parents, many of whom support Bu$hco in their efforts to empty the treasury into Halliburton’s, KBR’s, Carlyle’s, Lockheed Martin’s, G.E.’s, Boeing’s, bank accounts while drinking the Kool Aid about the "Terrorist" war that will last 100 years. My generation fought the government until the draft was abolished, the next generation didn’t care about that becausee they were so busy sitting on their butts watching t.v, and stuffing their faces, and now they are ripe for the plucking.....who should care if they do not?
6 June 2006, 13:32
Hey 72 -190 I look to the vietnam era as a source of inspiration, when the will of the people rose up to stop the war. So thanks for all your hard work back then. But since your still breathing, I don’t think you should turn your back on this thing, because clearly the job is not done. Yes it was mostly students back then doing the heavy lifting, but there were folks of all ages out there protesting, and so it is, and must be, again. Sorry, no time to rest on your laurels, time to get out there and help bring about the end to this nightmare, as long as your still breathing. We could use your sage wisdom from that earlier experience.
7 June 2006, 09:38
Well, I can’t seem to ignore the pattern of government deception entirely, I have a world peace group, and I still work hard to bring people together against the lies and the warmongering happening about Iraq much of which is identical to the lies and the warmongering during Vietnam.....I will never be able to forget 58,000 of my peers (friends drafted and killed) losing their lives FOR NOTHING, and the ugly government that still refuses to tell us the truth about why we were fighting in Vietnam (they can’t tell the truth or the game would be over). I finally figured it out for myself, it was for the money being made by Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, G.E., Boeing, Northrup Greuman, all paid for by the citizens of this country who were duped and lied to by their corrupt government. That war lasted 10 bloody years...we murdered 3 million Vietnamese who never did anything to anyone in this country and was no threat to anyone here, just like Iraq. We always choose a weak country that can not defend itself because we have a chickenshit government. We carpet bombed and incinerated whole villages, sprayed them with agent orange, and its a wonder they managed to have anyone left alive. But the amazing thing is that they have forgiven us, and I never will.
My advice to Iran is that they better get some nuclear weapons quickly, or they will be next to suffer our chickenshit country’s vicious warmongering. That gap toothed bitch is dragging her ugly ass around the world passing out suitcases full of cash to bribe other country’s leaders to go along with our mass murder mentality. Tony Blair is set to leave office and go to work for the Carlyle group a Bu$hco company that is in the warmongering business....these people have no morals, all they care about is wealth and power and they always pick on the least able to defend themselves to get it.
I hope the students and young people today will not believe the lies and the propaganda being spewed by the newsmedia for the corporations that make war profits that own the news media that manufactures our consent. If they can find the truth out and learn that this government is based on a war economy, we are always at war either hot or cold because that is all we have for an economy....how sad for us, how evil our country has become. Ike Eisenhower (R) president right after WWII tried to warn us about what was coming that the military industrial complex would take over our country, and it has, and unfortunately we have nothing else to base our economy on.