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In November 2007, members of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance blocked several convoys of Army combat vehicles called Strykers, and trucks carrying military cargo from the Port of Olympia to Fort Lewis (recent video links below). Some protesters and bystanders have been pepper-sprayed and hit with police batons. I and other witnesses have been using my video camera to help in preventing violence and enhancing safety. Protesters have been blocking trucks carrying military equipment for the war in Iraq (such as Strykers that need to be repaired to return to occupation duty), but have allowed all trucks with civilian equipment to pass through their human blockades and barricades. After six days of protest, the Port of Olympia changed tactics to enable the military cargo to leave the front gate, near the Farmers' Market. On Tuesday, November 13 at 9:24 am, a truck carrying military cargo was snuck into a convoy of five civilian trucks. The military-cargo truck drove fast and close to the truck in front of him, in order to prevent protesters from stopping him. Yet he was forced to slam on the brakes when the logging truck in front of him stopped, and nearly rear-ended the truck and lost his military cargo. Protesters then ran into the tiny space between the trucks, and the military-cargo driver inched his way forward to force the protesters back. When they sat down in the road, the port gatekeeper and a protester convinced the civilian trucker to pull back into the port. (The guy on the left of the blockade is an Iraq War veteran). This was the second truck carrying war materiel that was stopped today, and the front gate blockade continues. Zoltan GrossmanFor background on the port protests against weapons systems from Fort Lewis:Olympia Movement for Peace & Justice http://www.omjp.org/Port2007.h... Militarization Resistance http://www.olypmr.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P... Other videos from this week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... video on past port protests http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Channel: News & Politics Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am Author: zoltangrossman

Length: 01:55 Rating: 3.16 Views: 13214