Last night during the Ferguson protests in Philly there were at least two dozen people in full bloc mixed throughout the march. In addition there were dozens of people with bandannas, or scarves covering their faces. A friend pointed out two undercover cops early on. I hadnāt even noticed them yet, but I am positive that I would have known they were cops immediately.
What I saw was two beefy white macho-guys in jeans (one in a blue jacket and one in a red phillies hoodie with a baseball cap) wearing two black and white paisley bandannas, and holding similar signs (same shape, same thickness of marker, similar vague slogan, same stick holding them up.) We had a good laugh at the (chumps) and I went right up to them and took a few pictures (unfortunately not many good ones.) These āprotestorsā (See. cops) were walking right next to the row of bike cops, always on the left side. They barely āinfiltratedā the march by any means of geographical depth.
Time went by and I decided to follow them and see what they were up to. Another friend rolled up next to me and told me they were undercover cops, I told them I knew. Time went by and that friend went back into the march and I lingered off to the side. The Cop in red was behind me and the cop in blue was right next to me.
I heard the cop in blue loudly talking to the bike cops to āback upā and other pseudo-aggressive statements that the cop thought a protestor would say to cops. He then walked over to me (who was alone next to the march) and said:
"Do you want to fucking jump these guys?"
And I couldnāt help but laugh right in his face. Did he not remember when I went right up to him and took pictures of his face? from about two or three feet away?
I immediately said āShow me your badge number or shut the fuck up.ā
His eyes widened and then became angry immediately.
"Oh is that right?"
"Yeah, you can shut the fuck up and stop talking to me."
He walked away. I went up to a Legal Observer that I was familiar with and told them about the situation and showed them the pictures. I moved on to tell as many friends in bloc about them. I never saw the blue shirted cop again that night, but I was later pointing out the phillies hoodie cop to a group and as I was pointing at him, watched him turn away out of the crowd.
Obviously the philly cops havenāt learned that big beefy white men with jeans and a bandanna stick out like a sore thumb. Most people I talked to about it either already knew, or were not surprised to find out.
Itās business as usual, but I guess this is just an heavy-winded way of saying to only work with your crew. Donāt listen to strangers. Especially if itās random advice and bad idea. (during a completely nonviolent march, the idea of two people taking on a row of 100 bike cops is preposterous. I would have laughed at my best friend if they had proposed the same idea)
Just keep secure and keep safe. Get work done and keep fighting. Not to push the whole (outside agitator or infiltrator) trope but be careful. Remember, the cops (in Philly) are obviously incompetent as fuck at this. We can laugh at their weakness, but should also warn any younger or less experienced radicals to be careful.
P.S. The guy in orange was posing as a reporter but went up to a group of people in bloc outside of the police station (where the march was holding a rally) and tried to film our faces under his arm. We pointed out we could see the shape of his gun tucked into the back of his jeans and he laughed and walked away. Not minutes later I took the picture of him talking to the cops. Later as the march began moving towards city hall again, he was on the other side of the line of bike cops (the cops being between him and the protestors.)
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jacobvanloon
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