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I wasn’t able to be at the protests in Lakewood, just outside Tacoma, today. I’m sure pictures will be showing up over the next few days so I’ll post links to them as I find them.

Local nightly news coverage is beginning. The Fox channel (Seattle) focused on the ‘unfairness’ of police enforcement. One protester said that the police faced the anti-war protesters instead of the support the troops crowd. The on-scene reporter did say that the police responded to that by pointing out that they had more trouble getting the anti-war protesters to follow their instructions.

The same thing happened last week at the Tacoma mall. The police had two lines between the two groups (three after the anti-war protesters started trying to agitate the situation… more than at other times). The officers in regular uniforms on bicycles were in front of the support the troops crowd, but the line in front of the anti-war protesters were in riot gear. Imagine that.

This one was handled by the WA State Patrol and the Lakewood police. Some expressed concern that the Lakewood police weren’t as well equipped or as well trained as the Tacoma police. Lakewood was part of Tacoma until it was incorporated in 1996. Being a newer community they might have trouble getting new programs and training organized. This might help motivate local politicians to make sure that happens.

Probably unrelated, a man in Silverdale, WA (near Bremerton) was asked to leave a mall after harassing two marines. I’m guessing this might have been an actual right-wing nutjob (rather than those of us who are labeled as such).

Update: Tacoma News Tribune’s ‘Word on the street‘ blogger has some information, pics and video (pardon the sympathetic treatment of the anti-war crowd, I didn’t find any other video to link to). A military wife comments:

So I have to say that the protesters have every right to speak there mind. But to go infront of my home (the Post) and speak there mind, making my husband and friends feel like they need to be DEAD, makes me feel discusting!

All that I have stuck in my head is of a picture I saw some time ago of a few woman holding signs up that said “Thank God for Dead Soldiers!” What do I tell my son when he asks me what the protesters are doing? Should I tell him that they want his daddy dead?

I am at a loss for words. I hope that people can realize, this is how we survive. My husband is working his best to give his kids everything he never had. Thank God for the military!!!

GOD BLESS THE USA AND THOSE WHO SUPPORT EVERYTHING WE DO!!!

Also: I finally found video of last year’s protest that was supposed to shutdown Tacoma.

Update: Local news: KING5 (NBC), I haven’t found anything on the othes’ Web sites yet.

Update: Pics and video up at George Bentley’s blog. Notice in the first pic the highway sign says “Freedom Bridge”. The media portrays the name as some kind of nickname.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Military, Tacoma, Washington State. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.