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Copyright 2000
Oregon Live ®

Police arrest at least 15 and resort to tear gas after protesters march through streets, throwing rocks and smashing windows

Saturday, June 19, 1999

EUGENE -- A Eugene police officer and a citizen were hospitalized Friday after what was organized as a peaceful street demonstration escalated into violence and mayhem on the streets of Eugene.

The riot resulted in the arrest of 15 self-described anarchists by Friday evening, five hours into the downtown protest.

More than 100 people suffered minor eye and throat pain after Eugene police officers in riot gear threw tear gas into the crowd at a downtown park.

The street party, planned in opposition to global capitalism, attracted more than 300 people to downtown Eugene at 2:30 p.m. Many were masked, and about 20 women were topless as they made their way to a central location in the downtown mall.

Protesters burned an American flag and smashed various electronic equipment before starting to walk through the streets, waving signs encouraging the destruction of industrialized society.

Police hovered nearby as protesters smashed windows of a furniture store, threw rocks through windows of a downtown bank and hotel, and stopped traffic at several intersections.

"The police showed amazing restraint," said City Councilor David Kelley, who walked on the periphery of the protest. "I think they've handled it just right, to keep the situation from escalating."

About an hour into the protest, more than a dozen police cars and a force of officers in riot gear began following the crowd, which had diminished to about 150 people. Police repeatedly announced that rioters would be arrested or tear-gassed if they did not immediately disperse. After protesters stopped rush-hour traffic at a busy intersection, pounding on cars and verbally harassing drivers, police rushed in to make two arrests.

About a half-hour later, police again lined up at the Washington-Jefferson Park where protesters had gathered, warned the crowd to break up, and then lobbed at least 30 canisters of tear gas at protesters.

Eight-year-old Megan Wilson cried out when the cloud of tear gas hit her face. "We made an effort to stay on the sidewalk like the police told us to and we came to a public park for a peaceful protest and my child still got tear-gassed," said Delyla Wilson, the child's mother.

Police said protesters had agreed in meetings before the demonstration to stay within a specific area of downtown, but they broke that agreement.

Police arrested one man at the park, who was videotaping the action. After the rioters again went to the street and held up traffic, one driver stepped out of his vehicle, swinging a hammer.

One protester was struck in the head and was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center by ambulance.

Police later made at least 12 additional arrests as the protest continued, according to Brian Terrett, a spokesman for the Eugene Police Department.

Terrett said the police officer injured in the shoulder by a rock was being treated Friday night at Sacred Heart Medical Center. A second officer, hit in the head with a glass bottle, was treated in the field, he said.

No names of those arrested or injured were released by police.

The street protest followed a two-day anarchist conference held at the University of Oregon, which included at least one panel on the use of property damage during protest actions. Organizers of the event said the activists had come together to encourage the dissolution of the country's economic system, particularly corporate America, and a return to a more primitive existence.

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