Burlington Riot Police VS New England Hippies

There is power in our voices, 

There is power in the land, 

Saying yes to the earth 

We say no to tar sand.

In 1968 during the Democratic National Convention police officers in Chicago took unprecedented actions against protesters.  The video footage of violent responses from authority figures against non violent protesters stirred a generation in to action.  In 2012 it seems like every other afternoon we see more and more footage of violent responses from police officers against non violent protesters.  Instead of learning a lesson from 40 years ago we've descended in to a depth of depravity regarding the use of pepper spray, rubber bullets and flash grenades that the flower children from a generation past could have never even fathomed in their worse nightmares.

The last place one would imagine to see police officers dressed like soldiers would be a small ski resort town like Burlington VT.  Sadly this weekend officers dressed ready to fight against the Taliban aimed and shot guns at protesters wearing, to put it kindly, very little.  A woman wearing literally a bikini top and skirt was on the front line staring down the barrel of riot police in bullet proof vests carrying shields, baton and guns.  Is this really necessary?!

According to The Burlington Free Press:

Burlington police in riot gear shot a number of protesters with rubber bullets and pepper-sprayed and hit others as a large, peaceful demonstration turned violent and ugly Sunday afternoon. 

They go on to say:

Demonstrators said police in riot gear, about 25 of them, cleared the driveway forcefully, pushing people into the street. At least two individuals were shot with rubber bullets, and at least two others were sprayed with pepper spray.

“The demonstrators blocked big gigantic buses,” said Bea Bookchin of Burlington, who had attended the earlier demonstration. “so the police slowly pressed against the people. The police moved forward with their shields against people.”

When questioned by a reporter one protester had this to say:

Did the police overreact? 

“Absolutely,”Tokar said. “Their only concern was to get the bus out as quickly as possible, no matter what the consequences.”

The initial tipping point in instigating the violence was, as it so many times seems to be, a complete misunderstanding:

“One policeman tripped,” over a dropped banner, Fernandez said, “and that’s when they began firing. They pepper-sprayed a man who was just standing there. It was a gross overuse of violence,” he said. “It was completely unnecessary.” 

Another protester pondered why the police are so willing to attack their fellow citizens with such little provocation: 

“I want to know why they’re willing to inflict pain,” he continued. “Misunderstanding is met with aggression. It doesn’t make sense. Today we were trying to open up a conversation,” he said. “This is Vermont. We’ve been shut out.”

“The world is messed up, and historically the only thing that has changed things is when people organize,”