Shock and Awe: Flashback to March 20, 2003
Posted on March 20, 2004 @ 12:20 pm
Friday, of course, marked the one-year anniversary of the launch of the U.S. strike on Iraq: March 19, 2003. I actually didn’t hear about the strike until the following day, however. My wife and I were on our honeymoon in San Francisco at the time and woke up on the morning of March 20 to the unmistakable sound of protest chants from outside — loud enough that they reached us through our closed tenth-floor hotel room window. Looking down to the streets below, we saw a sea of anti-war protesters and a handful of police in riot gear trying to maintain some semblance of order. Flipping on the television only confirmed our suspicions; Operation Shock and Awe was underway in Iraq.
After we showered and got dressed, Kourtney and I headed down to the streets to check out the action. As a social scientist, I was dying to get an even closer look at the protests, but I would have hated to have ended up getting arrested in the pandemonium and spending a day of my honeymoon in jail. Even from a distance, though, I could see that the protesters were a savvy bunch. Some had locked their arms together in metal sleeves wrapped in electrical tape and were blocking intersections throughout the Financial District, creating some serious gridlock. Others were just sitting in the streets and chanting, waiting for the police to drag them away. As the police would begin to load people into the paddy wagon, the protesters would use their cell phones to coordinate with order protest groups around the city, helping to make sure that they would be where the police weren’t.
Speaking of the police, they made a valiant, if ultimately hopeless, effort to keep the city functioning smoothly in light of the widespread protests. Even behind their riot-gear face shields, though, it was obvious that they were on edge — if not downright afraid. They were afraid that the protests might get out of hand and turn into a full-fledged riot. They were afraid that they might get blindsided by an angry protester (some were allegedly firing bolts from slingshots). They were afraid that they might find themselves with no choice but to use force against the protesters to maintain the peace. They were afraid that they might accidentally do something wrong and end up on the nightly news with a caption under their photo reading “Police Brutality in San Francisco.” Frankly, I can’t say that I blamed them for being a bit edgy. I imagine these civil disobedience situations can be among the most nerve-wracking in a cop’s career, and these officers seemed to be handling themselves about as well as one could expect under the circumstances.
As fascinating as it was to watch these events unfold, Kourtney and I had to leave for the airport that afternoon and couldn’t stay any longer. Somehow, the airport shuttle made it our hotel to pick us up despite the protests. Getting back to the airport, however, was another matter altogether as the protests continued to move from intersection to intersection, growing in intensity as the day wore on. Every time the driver would head down a street, his dispatcher would signal over the radio that the street was closed just a few blocks ahead. The driver would then curse under his breath and attempt to formulate another detour. Eventually, he devised an alternate route and got us to the airport (and by “alternate route,” I mean a route that took us through most of Nevada and parts of New Mexico before we eventually arrived at the San Francisco airport).
All in all, it was an amazing experience that helped make our honeymoon even more memorable than it already was. Plus, we had the chance to witness history — even if just a footnote in history — firsthand. In my book, that’s just as good as a trip to Fisherman’s Wharf any day.
Posted by Jess | Filed Under Life in a Nutshell |
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