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Re: Environuts block tracks in Olympia, WA
Author: wsabo
Date: 11-30-2017 - 12:19
Dispersing crowds is easier said than done.
It's not like the "good old days" when railroad "bulls" could go around tossing hobos off the trains and their property and beating them when nobody was watching. They could get away with it because nobody was watching. The "tramps and bums that inhabited the campus near rail yards didn't have a lot of public support so there was no big public outrage.
Now there are always media people and others with cell phone cameras documenting the scene and posting on social media.
If police used excessive force there would be bad publicity and probably lawsuits that could cost the railroads a lot of $$$$ even if the suits are dismissed. And if police use excessive force and it's shown on TV news that inflames the situation and leads to more protests.
It takes a lot of time to move even peaceful protesters who sit down on the tracks and chain themselves together as they did on Caltrain tracks in a recent protest.
The local police have to call in mutual aid. Olympia would have to do that and it could be very expensive. And even if they clear the railyard or protest area they have to be ready for them to return for another round.
Moving more militant anarchist types like the ones in Olympia who might have brought rocks and other weapons is even harder and costlier. Look at what happens in some of the black lives matters and anti war protests.
Some of you who advocate more forceful use of trains to clear the tracks should remember the outrage when a protester who sat on the tracks at the Concord Naval Weapons station in the 1970's or 80's? was run over by a train that refused to stop and his legs had to be amputated.
That resulted in a very expensive settlement.
I don't know if railroad police have batons,tear gas, helmets and other gear that local police carry for big demonstrations and I don't know if major railroad police forces are trained in crowd dispersal.
It's not like the "good old days" when railroad "bulls" could go around tossing hobos off the trains and their property and beating them when nobody was watching. They could get away with it because nobody was watching. The "tramps and bums that inhabited the campus near rail yards didn't have a lot of public support so there was no big public outrage.
Now there are always media people and others with cell phone cameras documenting the scene and posting on social media.
If police used excessive force there would be bad publicity and probably lawsuits that could cost the railroads a lot of $$$$ even if the suits are dismissed. And if police use excessive force and it's shown on TV news that inflames the situation and leads to more protests.
It takes a lot of time to move even peaceful protesters who sit down on the tracks and chain themselves together as they did on Caltrain tracks in a recent protest.
The local police have to call in mutual aid. Olympia would have to do that and it could be very expensive. And even if they clear the railyard or protest area they have to be ready for them to return for another round.
Moving more militant anarchist types like the ones in Olympia who might have brought rocks and other weapons is even harder and costlier. Look at what happens in some of the black lives matters and anti war protests.
Some of you who advocate more forceful use of trains to clear the tracks should remember the outrage when a protester who sat on the tracks at the Concord Naval Weapons station in the 1970's or 80's? was run over by a train that refused to stop and his legs had to be amputated.
That resulted in a very expensive settlement.
I don't know if railroad police have batons,tear gas, helmets and other gear that local police carry for big demonstrations and I don't know if major railroad police forces are trained in crowd dispersal.
