All weekend long the police talked of the “criminal anarchists,” groups allegedly hellbent on inciting riots and causing destruction during the RNC. Now today, the national media has used images of smashed windows–there was a Macy’s window smashed, windows of a cop car broken when a cop wasn’t in it, and a bank window smashed, I saw it happen–as proof of a bunch of protesters gone wild.

We followed this group for nearly the entire day, a small faction made up of a total of 60 or so Funk the War and Food Not Bombs anti-war protesters and some self-proclaimed “anarchists” who said they weren’t part of any group. (The Food Not Bombs house was one of the homes raided on Saturday.) There was threats of tear gas, and pepper spray used on us more than once. Around 20 people had to have their eyes cleaned out. There was intimidation on every corner and from ramps of parking garages, and one cop wrestling someone to the ground. As cops and the mainstream media would tell it, it was out of control. But for the “anarchists,” it was hardly anarchy.

Caltrops intended to halt traffic.

Caltrops intended to halt traffic.

For one thing, despite the media fearmongering and the ominous presence of riot cops–some aiming tear-gas guns at protesters from garages–and the 12 cop cars following us down the street at one point, for the most the 60 or so protesters in this group were fairly benign, though there were about 15 of them whose worse crime committed was pulling newspaper boxes into the street, and in one case, a Dumpster. When that happened, about five people in the group stopped to clean up the trash that had fallen to the street.

On one street, a few people threw down caltrops to block traffic. One kid who looked under 20 years old jumped on top of a cop car that broke through the pedestrian barrier. Another two smashed windows of a Macy’s, First National Bank, and unoccupied cop car. However, this was the work of maybe five or so people in the breakaway protest group.

Pepper spray was widely used on protesters.

Pepper spray was widely used on protesters.

Yet the media headlines say that “anarchists” marred peaceful protests. They broke away and “resisted police.” They caused protests to turn violent. To be sure, a handful certainly weren’t always peaceful or obeying the law. But there was also less than 40 of them in the entire group at many points, and when windows started to get smashed by a lone few, yells came out from the group such as, “What are you doing!? You idiot! How is that going to send a message?” Anarchy and mass chaos? Hardly.

Photos by Tim Roman