We explore the actions and tactics of a brave and concerted group of people who are not prepared to take the kind of abuse being heaped on them, and others, lying down. The added influx of trouble makers from other cities, and the sometimes confusing messages from varying alternate groups with differing agendas, all the vying for attention, makes the documentation as complex as the reality.

At first, we blocked the faces of the protesters, or obscured them because we wanted to protect their identities. But in reality, those who take off their bandanas and march down streets -- or lie down in them – are aware that they are being filmed, and photographed. Their inclusion in these images, however, is not clear. While some are obeying the law and are simply innocent onlookers – others are breaking the law, deliberately and to serve a greater cause. We make no disntinction, and mean no harm, the same way as we show the faces and identies of the police in that secion of this feature.

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March 19, 2003. George W. Bush, hair primped and coiffed, announces the bombing campaign launched on Iraq. Protestors mobilize almost immediately. The following morning, March 20, 2003 San Francisco is at a standstill. Protestors block intersections, vowing to shut down the city, and keep it closed. Police mobilize riot squads. Chaos reigns supreme. The protestors are too disparate to contain, and are sucessful in shutting the city down. A police state looks and feels like San Francisco on this day.

By Saturday, March 22, the antiwar protestors had become even more brazen following over a thousand arrests since the war started. They were now joined by many who could not afford to, or were unable to, take off work during the week. Of course, an influx of out-of-towners arrived to create pandemonium, allowing the media to lump a large group of determined antiwar protestors as scoundrels and vandals, simplistically and conveniently painting huge groups of diverse people with one clumsy, marginalized stroke.