Cross Posted at Flickr.com:
Activists gathered at the Port of Tacoma to protest the deployment of the 4th Stryker Brigade (2nd Division) from Ft. Lewis to Iraq.
Participants gathered and held an open and inclusive democratic meeting for nearly an hour in order to discuss and strategize the night's actions.Finally, the demonstrators took action, and the group, by some estimates around 200 individuals, took to the street and marched approximately 1/2 mile to an intersection nearby the USS Soderman - the military vessel which is accepting Stryker vehicles for shipment to Iraq.
I told the police that I believed that their barricade was an obstruction of justice, as the activists gathered were prepared and willing to serve justice and uphold the rule of law by stopping the deployment of the Stryker Brigade via actions based on nonviolent civil resistance.
The federal government has failed us. To whom and where do we turn?
I think it is to us that we turn, to our communities, to our local governments and institutions.
...
I think it is imperative that local institutions, like the Pierce, Thurston and King County Sheriff's departments; and the Tacoma Police Department, not hinder or obstruct the citizens' volition to uphold the rule of law by stopping this shipment.
I believe that to nonviolently occupy the USS Soderman in order to prevent its departure is an appropriate tactic at this time. But the relevant police forces are not allowing this democratic and humanitarian mission to fruition.
