source of article:

backalleyradio.typepad.com/backalleyradio/2009/05/police-brutality-at-bash-back-convergence.html

4 people were arrested, one of them was hospitalized. All were released early the next morning.

Best part of the night: a pig had shoved a masked queer or trans avenger against a car and was about to arrest them when the bloc surrounded the two. Another masked deviant jumped on the hood of the car--the pig raised his baton and shouted, "TRY IT!" The sexual degenerate fake lunged forward but jumped back as the baton came down and SMASH! the back car window shattered under the pig's baton. Property destruction by the cissexist homophobic pig fuckers! When queers and transfolk trick the police into doing the faggots' work, you know that they are BASHING BACK!

(the person was de-arrested in the confusion. almost forgot that part. too good! clumsy pigs, go back to your sty and wallow in your own shit.)

Fucked up.

For what it's worth, solidarity to Bash Back! and any others who got selected for the CPD's random beatings.

I hope this report gets around. Gotta keep folks aware of what the biggest gang in Chicago is up to.

you don't think it's reckless to invite a bunch of out of towners into a situation where the police will attack you? what was the point of the action, just another street party? anyone consider the police would brutalize and arrest people, or was that the purpose the whole time?

Well, I guess it is better than God just destroying Chi Town like He did Sodom and Gomorrah. There will be no warning when the time comes for you to answer to God for your abomination.

Please don't speak in my name, it sickens me.

morales your no angel

i'm interested in learning more details about what the action leading up to the brutality was like? did it have demands/a goal or was it a street party? knowing either way changes the context of what happened and would provide a clearer picture.

i'm also surprised that there has been very little said publicly about all that happened, and curious if this is because those involved haven't had the energy/ability to do media work; because they don't think it will make a difference; because the history of police brutality against the queer community in chicago has made folks resigned to it in a way; or for some other reason. can anyone shed some light on these issues?

also: were there cameras present to record the police behavior, or any other methods (however ultimately mediocre in the face of the weapons of the state) of keeping police a semblance of accountable? what can we learn from this for future such situations?

solidarity to everyone involved! i hope everyone's healing and safe.

Has bash back actually "bash backed" or had any impact on the lives of queers? Queers are discriminated at work (no federal protection) fucked with by land lords, people on the street, denied services, etc etc. I havn't seen any attempt by this group to reach past their radical bubble and work to actually "bash back" against day to day oppression. I can imagine that if bash back made these attempts similar to how ACT UP did, the group could grow to be a pretty massive group

What I have seen is a group the talks in a highly militaristic way and "talk the talk" about fighting oppression, but they are completely outside of the day to day struggle for queer liberation. I'm not surprised that this group is being target because they (stupidly) labeled themselves as terrorist, a gang and so forth.
Lets make it easy for the state during a time of war on terrorism to come down on us. If the group is not building a base or support then when the state comes down on them they'll be having benefit shows and vegan cupcake sales until there blue in the face. Benefit events may actually be the majority of "political work" that groups like this do. (maybe constant benefit shows are an informal methods of dues?)

Though I strongly identify as an anarchist, I believe that gay liberation network has been far more outreaching and have in several instances bashed back in more practical and in a serious way that bash back has not worked towards. I don't agree with GLN politics, however, they have put direct pressure on bosses who have hated, pressure on places that denied queers service, and work outside of their bubble.

I do not want to discourage you or lump everyone in the organization together, because I can imagine there is a wide variety of political viewpoints in work. I also see a positive influx of interested people in the project and the group is national which is a strength. I intend on this being constructive and I hope the best for the arrested

Saturday night's action began with an el train dance party. A group of 100+ radical queers boarded the a Southbound red line train to sing, dance and celebrate. The group then boarded a Northbound train and continued their party to the Belmont stop where they exited the train, still singing and dancing.
After heading out of the station, the group entered the street as a spontaneous march/dance party. They headed East on Belmont, passing several police who made no attempt to stop the festivities. Shortly after turning North onto Halsted, more police showed up and attempted to force the crowd onto the sidewalk with their cruisers. No demands were made and no sirens were turned on, the police simply began to drive into the group, running into several people in the process.
After it became clear that the police would continue endangering the still-partying crowd, several masked party goers dragged newspaper boxes into the street to hinder the advances of the police. Other individuals who were with the group then dragged the blockade back onto the sidewalk, assisting the police in corralling the crowd onto a dark side street.
Almost immediately, a person's foot was run over and broken by a police cruiser and several officers appeared with batons drawn. The police then attempted to arrest whomever they could grab while masked marchers successfully de-arrested several people.
Most of the crowd exited the street amid blows from the police in an attempt to quell the brutality. The police continued showering the group with baton strikes, however and injured at least 8. Several vehicles parked on the street were damaged when police missed people pinned against them and instead hit the hoods, trunks and windows of the cars.
The crowd quickly dispersed and made their way to safe(r) spaces to regroup.
In the end, 4 were arrested, charged with misdemeanors and released the next day on iBond. At least 8 were injured, including the individual whose foot was broken and another whose hand was broken by the police.

Saturday night's action began with an el train dance party. A group of 100+ radical queers boarded the a Southbound red line train to sing, dance and celebrate. The group then boarded a Northbound train and continued their party to the Belmont stop where they exited the train, still singing and dancing.
After heading out of the station, the group entered the street as a spontaneous march/dance party. They headed East on Belmont, passing several police who made no attempt to stop the festivities. Shortly after turning North onto Halsted, more police showed up and attempted to force the crowd onto the sidewalk with their cruisers. No demands were made and no sirens were turned on, the police simply began to drive into the group, running into several people in the process.
After it became clear that the police would continue endangering the still-partying crowd, several masked party goers dragged newspaper boxes into the street to hinder the advances of the police. Other individuals who were with the group then dragged the blockade back onto the sidewalk, assisting the police in corralling the crowd onto a dark side street.
Almost immediately, a person's foot was run over and broken by a police cruiser and several officers appeared with batons drawn. The police then attempted to arrest whomever they could grab while masked marchers successfully de-arrested several people.
Most of the crowd exited the street amid blows from the police in an attempt to quell the brutality. The police continued showering the group with baton strikes, however and injured at least 8. Several vehicles parked on the street were damaged when police missed people pinned against them and instead hit the hoods, trunks and windows of the cars.
The crowd quickly dispersed and made their way to safe(r) spaces to regroup.
In the end, 4 were arrested, charged with misdemeanors and released the next day on iBond. At least 8 were injured, including the individual whose foot was broken and another whose hand was broken by the police.