Cheney Protester Assaulted in Eugene

Free speech in a headlock again...

A chilling aspect of the 6:00 news report on Cheney's Eugene bund rally yesterday was the completely tolerated violent group assault on a protester. A man in a white t-shirt with "Pro-Jesus, Bring the Troops Home" written on it began shouting during Cheney's speech. A 66 year old man, Art Briga of Springfield, in a red-orange jacket, lunged at the protester and put him in a wrestling headlock -- with a hand clamped over the protester's mouth. Another man shoved the protester backwards as others began pulling the protester from behind. The protester's female companion (similar t-shirt) seemed to be appealling to them to stop the assualt. The TV report then showed the man (Art Briga) who committed the initial assault outside after the rally, saying that protesters are "snakes in the grass" and need to be stamped down.

This is certainly similar to the hand-over-mouth assault on Kendra in Beaverton during the Bush bund rally, and a pictured hair-pulling attack on another protester inside another Republican rally recently. The double standard is obvious -- imagine if a protester did such a thing -- we would be doing time. But apparently for Bu$h/Cheney supporters it is open season on protesters, with impunity. The violent attack in Eugene was so obvious that Cheney himself had to mention it: "Treat him with kindness, now."