What If They Held a War Protest and Nobody Showed?

By Shannon in News on Oct 29, 2006 9:01PM

Who do you think of when you think of the average anti-war protestor? We know these days, those sentiments encapsulate more than the usual suspects. But let's scale it down a bit. S/he might be rising up against The Man, maybe biting off more than s/he can chew, maybe even a little... forgetful, for whatever reason? Who knows. We do know, however, that while hundreds of police officers showed up on Saturday at an anti-war demonstration in Washington Square, the actual protestors did not.

Police didn't want a repeat of 2003, when anti-war demonstrations got out of control. So when John Beacham claimed his group, the Illinois Anti-War Coalition, wanted to do an anti-war march, the cops were there with bells on. Even the CTA sent staff down to Dearborn & Walton, ready to re-route 13 bus lines, if necessary. The proper authority figures showed up at noon. And waited. And waited. And waited. Unbeknownst to them, Beacham's group had decided long before the scheduled date to pass out anti-war fliers to surrounding neighborhoods instead. So much more effective, that. No word on whether fliers for anyone's band were incidentally slipped in alongside under any windshield wipers.

Deputy Superintendent Charles Williams is plenty cheesed at Beacham's actions, saying the incident was a huge waste of resources. Beacham lashed back, saying the city is to blame. According to him, officials never granted him a permit ... even though police showed ABC News a copy with Beacham's name on top. Backpedaling, he then said that since cops are always spying on him and his group, they should have known the march had been scrapped. Hoo boy. We think that the sight of all those cops gathered at one spot just might have made Beacham & Co. shit their collective hemp khakis. Gotta get your head straight before taking on so many pigs, man, even if they are there for your benefit.

Image via flagtothefloor.