I'd go with the assesment that it was neither a great success nor a disaster. It sure was a beautiful day and a great day of solidarity and bonding for a lot of us. And the Punk Bloque made the wait at the Water Tower a lot more fun!

There was no big outbreak of violence becasue we kept our heads when they let people try to provoke us at the plaza and when the younger cops tried to start something. Yes, there were a couple cases I was near that could have erupted easily. In one case, near the back, cops having a tug of war with a banner had to be screamed at and physically pulled off by one of their commanding officers to let the marchers proceed. I had association in different quarters so I was up and down the length of it and it was no coincidence that the highest concentration of cops was always nearest the black flags. It was humourous that we were flanked by a single line on both sides by cops in full riot gear most of the way. Yet as we passed Lasalle Bank the city riot cops were three deep on the bank side of the street and there were a handful of state cops (not in riot gear)to cover the businesses on the other side. That's about as clear a message as they could send us as to what their priorities, and the priorities of the Bush regime and the jobless so called recovery are all about.

Keep the pressure on!