From the very start, cops hemmed in the formation with bike and motorcycle cops. At several times, people were tackled and detained. Since no arrests or charges ensued, the cops must have been the ones out of line.

Neither police harassment nor problems with the mobile sound system were able to stop the marchers, so once again the 14th and L recruiter was invited to the party-or rather the party invited itself to the recruiter!

At the recruiter, cops heavily defended the site-and Capt Harold had the nerve to declare stickers on the window "property destruction"-and declare the entire event an "unlawful assembly." He ordered everyone to clear the streets or be removed by force. The crowd called his bluff and ignored his orders!

Since stickers on windows are NOT property destruction, Harold did NOT follow through on his threats, and marchers remained in the streets! In addition his forces(He said at the start he had 60 on call) were outnumbered by the estimated 100 marchers who turned out on less than one week's notice.

The police behavior jives both with reports that GOP groups have goaded the FBI into "investigating" "attacks" on recruiters(some of which are just protests, some are the real thing)-and the cop I overheard saying that police agencies were filling up with Iraq vets who wanted to treat protesters as "insurgents."

Of course, if this was Iraq, the "insurgent suspects" would often be shot on sight, and the occupation authorities would be dodging IED's and snipers, not boomboxes and banners in the streets!