From Refuse Fascism, Los Angeles chapter
A team of 7 traveled to Phoenix to get the word out about Nov4 and to disrupt this Trump/Pence modern day Nuremberg rally. We joined the protests against Trump’s Nazi rally and got out the call for November 4. We organized people on the spot to help distribute materials and we got people signed up to get Phoenix organized for Nov4.
There were masses of Trump supporters and about an even number of counter-demonstrators. The protests were made up of mostly white and Latino youth from 18-25 years old. There were also many democratic minded older white people, and the majority were women.
Our team joined up with a contingent of about 400 people and were leafletting and signing people up. We agitated on the bullhorn: this regime is a nightmare for humanity! We discussed with many why we are correct to call this regime fascist and how mobilizing the masses of people on Nov4 is the only way to drive this regime out. The crowd was very receptive to our message. We were able to win over a good section of this crowd and captivate them.
We thought several times about leaving this crowd to join up with the main protest which had THOUSANDS of people. But after bean bag rounds and tear gas canisters were deployed on the main protest, police shut down streets and prevented us from moving towards the other group. So ourselves and 400 other protesters were effectively cut off and contained.
It wasn’t long after that the police started to strap on their riot gear and began moving their vehicles into aggressive positions. At 10:00PM the riot police gave an order to disperse and not five minutes later the riot cops descended on the crowd and brutalized a young woman, throwing her into the steps. The riot cops came after us and the masses of people with us for about two blocks. And people chanted anti-police slogans the whole way.
We agitated on the bullhorn telling people to prepare for NOV4, and that we need to get back out on the streets but we need organization and more people. Many had a positive sentiment about this and we got a lot of “FINALLY!!!” responses.
Many people were shocked and outraged at this unprovoked violence from the police. Media sources such as CNN claim that they cracked down on protestors because someone was supposedly throwing rocks, but we actually saw police brutally assaulting protestors who were peacefully protesting and dissenting.
Donald Trump is unleashing these police and emboldening them. He lets them know that he ‘has their back’ and tells them to ‘not be too nice’. He has said before, when referring to a protester, ‘I’d like to punch him in the face’ and that he ‘longs for the days when protestors were carried out on stretchers’.
The actions of the Phoenix police department are nothing less than a continuation of the criminalization of dissent and protest going on all across the country.