"S.F. CITY COPS, THEY AIN'T TOO SMART"

A reader writes in to Atrios about the SFPD beating down some demonstrators who had "deviated from the designated route"

There was a sudden commotion around me, and I turned around to see gang of rebel protesters running down the middle of a busy street. (Fourth St between Mission and Market). I didn't know they were anti-war protesters at first. But there were maybe six, maybe eight of them, and they were being chased by no less than twenty police officers on motorcycles.

The protesters ran out of breath at the corner and I watched as the cops stopped their motorcycles, got out their batons and proceeded to attack the protesters. The protesters didn't make the first move, though they may have said something snide or somesuch, they were far enough away that I couldn't hear them. But the point is they didn't resist. They didn't resist and the cops beat them down with their batons.

I didn't know what to do. One of the protesters made it farther than the others and was standing right next me. "Christ, what did you guys do?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said. "We just deviated from the designated route or whatever."

Click the link to read the whole thing. The SFPD is probably on edge and dont-give-a-fuck-y given the shitstorm surrounding the indictment of half the department a couple weeks ago, and they're gonna have a disproportionately limited amount of patience for protesters. That, of course, is no excuse for shit like this.