An article titled “In the Fight to Make a Better World” recently appeared on several Indymedia websites, including Portland Indymedia. The article began,

Washington Cops Kill AGAIN, Twice Today; A Statement from Friends

May 2010

“Shock Force” Riot Police Assault Students and Workers

Puerto Rico: Beatings at the Sheraton

The militarized Shock Force of the Puerto Rican Police threw demonstrators to the ground, beat them with riot clubs and sprayed them with tear gas and pepper spray at the Sheraton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the evening of May 20. (Photo: Xavier Araújo/El Nuevo Día)

From our correspondent

SAN JUAN, May 20 – This evening, there was a picket of several hundred students of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and workers from a number of sectors, including port workers, university professors and many others. The picket was held in front of a fancy fundraising dinner for businessmen where Governor Luis Fortuño was to give a speech.

When several dozen students entered the luxurious restaurant of the Sheraton Hotel in the Convention Center where the event was being held and tried to go up to where the privatizing, anti-worker governor was scheduled to speak, the notorious Fuerza de Choque (Shock Force) riot squad of the Puerto Rican Police poured in and savagely beat the students, spraying pepper gas in their faces and in some cases directly into their eyes.

URGENT REQUEST FOR FUNDS AND FUNDRAISING
from the State Street 29 Support Committee

Two arrestees, in particular, will need an estimate of $4,000 each to pay
the retainer fees for their lawyers to be present with them on April 20th
and the 21st.

Please reply to statestreet29supportcommitte@gmail.com to donate or be
added to our Legal & Event Announcement List.

We are a group of Olympia residents whose goal is to support the “State
Street 29”. Our goal is to encourage others to view these people from the
perspective of those who rely on and care about them.

On April 8, 2010, the metropolis finally opened its arms to us. With a history of somewhat homogenous anarchist events in Olympia, WA, we attempted to detach ourselves from the traditional mode of collective attack that the city has become familiarized with. Rather than bloc up, cause some destruction, and try to run away before the police snatch us, we decided to have a march in response to recent state violence wherein smashing a few windows and avoiding arrest wasn't the purpose of the action. Instead, we hoped to create something of a fairly calm spectacle that the police would be drawn to, creating potentialities for rifts elsewhere in the metropolis while the police tried to contain our march.