Hard to forgive the protesters for "juvenile" and "antagonistic" behavior? Police blasting unarmed people with pepper-spray guns, beating people with obvious glee, tear-gassing mass crowds, THAT is "antagonistic behavior", and when this is the CONSTANT response from the thugs of the state, just what the HELL type of "behavior" do you expect or think should BE expected??

And don't try any crap about "the cops are responding to the antagonism blah blah" or that the protesters "give the cops the excuse" -- that is utter nonsense and I'm tired of these ridiculous lies. Any of you happen to witness Miami's anti-globalization protests? Notice the nice, peaceful elderly folks getting attacked by thugs with badges, or the way those "brave" cops "protected and served" the public by shooting (rubber bullets) unarmed, praying, peaceful demonstrators in the back and then again in the head while they were already wounded on the ground? Did you see the images of coughing, bloody people dazed by the ferocity of the police attacks?

Being "peaceful" or "legally permitted" gets you NOTHING, they will hunt and smash and shoot and gas and beat you, whenever and wherever they can get away with it. It is not in "response" to anything, and it's especially offensive to give any sort of legitimacy to these brutal, inexcusable, thuggish tactics by portraying the protestors as "antagonizing" armored, helmeted, heavily armed troops with shields and gates. Such claims are entirely without merit, and while it's good to see you demonizing the actions of the police it's irresponsible and unrealistic to equate the actions of protesters to those of the cops. There is no comparison.

The actions of the demonstrators are in response to the ever-expanding national security state police-powers that were on display yesterday in DC. The real "provocation" from the protesters that the police responded to was the expression of dissent, of speech, of assembly. THIS is what leads to the police violence, and there is no point in pretending otherwise.

Drew Poe