Smells of a typical Police Department Cover Up.

Who is this joker Lombardi that stated "the demonstrators staged the march to lure police into a confrontation"? If that crazy assumption were true, they did in fact succeed and by doing so exposed the lack of police department training, sensativity, common sense and yes, the willingness to use excessive force and strongarm tactics. I am sure that in this day and age, with all the camera phones and pictures taken by the public, that justice will prevail and folks within the police department, including the Mayor, had better find the truth in this matter fast, or they could very well be ousted from office along with the over zealous police officers. Bottom line is, there can be NO justification for what happened to this young lady and these officers need to be fired along with financial reimbursement, by the city, of all medical expenses incurred.

Good point raised by the mayor. Did ANYBODY know whose these malcontents were before the protest? No. Their first action in the state of RI just HAPPENS to result in a protester injured fighting with police? Come on.

We won't even get into how their manifesto advocates the criminalization of personal monetary income.

The Wobblies have no business targeting local businesses like this -- especially when their information is WRONG. The restaurants were no longer using that distributor BEFORE the demonstration.

They seem to be a bunch of college students with little or no grasp of history, shallow (if any) roots in the area, and too much time on their hands. But the history of the Wobblies is one of violent demonstration, anarchist activities, and civil disruption, as is the history of the SDS.

Are we now going to have to deal with these dilettantes disrupting our lives and businesses?

Right-on Angela! The order of society is naturally perfect and there is absolutely no reason why someone should find it necessary to protest. Those crazy "liberals" are at it again.

We all have causes and issues that we might choose to support or advocate for in a public venue. That is our constitutional right.

It's certain that what we choose to support, others may not, and vice versa.

But it is our right to protest, publicly and in a group, if we choose to do so.

Clearly even with the easy technology available on our phones, people might view video or photo evidence differently, that's the nature of the beast.

But there are some photos and video related to the march that are very damaging and very worrisome to all citizens: The horrible angle of Alex Svoboda's leg and the peculiar news video response of Mayor Lombardi where he seemed totally unfazed by her injury, or the possibility of police error or their probably over reaction (lack of training?) to this event.

What is most frightening about this, is that no one is challenging the claims made by the "IWW"!!
First, is this even a real labor union - has anyone checked? And if so, are all of these protesters members of the union as the Projo keeps implying?
Second, if this distributor in New York is violating labor laws, then file complaints in New York and get it addressed! There are laws and there are procedures to get these things addressed. If we don't follow those procedures, then that business has been tried and convicted using media hype instead of due process. This is frightening that a bunch of kids with nothing better to do can bring down 2 businesses and a police department and the media doesn't even do the most basic fact checking on these clowns.

I'm just shocked that a bunch of bored, privileged, whiny Brown University students can continue to get this level of media attention for protesting a business that was doing nothing wrong. WITHOUT A PERMIT. If they had got a permit, the police would have assigned a detail for crowd control and safety and NONE of this would have ever happened.

Instead they intentionally avoided getting a permit but had enough forethought to alert all the news media, broke the law by marching in the streets and then chose to disobey police instructions to clear the road and take the protest to the sidewalk where it belonged and where the NPPD would have allowed it to continue.

This 'victim' assaulted the police with sticks and was forced to the ground. She planted her feet and attempted to resist a man far stronger than her. Something was going to give. If she had complied she'd be fine today. Fortunately she'll remember that lesson from now until doomsday while she walks with a limp.

Not all the IWW members marching that day were "Brown University students." There was support from the Providence Students for a Democratic Society but the march was mostly made up of union members and not students. The media is trying to confuse the public on who is who!

It is ridiculous to believe that the protestors got one of their own injured so badly just for attention. I think this incident is an example of what happens when poorly trained police officers overreact to a situation.

IWW are bullies that ran into a tougher bully - the north Providence Police. The IWW have no business harassing Jacky's Galaxie and disrupting his business. IMHO, the IWW's goal is really about money by unionizing the workers at Dragonland. Their beef should be with Dragonland and not with Galaxie. 8/26/07 should be interesting when the 2 groups of bullies get together again.

From a Nebraskan,

I want to say good job to the cops out there. And I would like to apologize for one of our own being "stupid in public". I think Alex Svoboda got what she deserved when she defied the cops. Good Job RI Cops. Keep up the good work

To Gary, A little history. Rememebr the Boston Tea Party? That was also a protest. Good job RI cops? For breaking the leg of a citizen? Are you kidding me? Do you have children? Better yet, where does the combo of hate and ignorance come from? Stay in your small town Archie Bunker.

I WASN'T AWARE OF THIS INCIDENT.I WAS AWAY ON VACATION.IT SEEMS THE PROTESTERS FAILED TO RECOGNIZE THE OWNER'S RIGHT TO DO BUSINESS WITH WHOM EVER HE CHOOSES AND TO CONDUCT HIS LIVING WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THEIR GESTAPO.THEY ALWAYS PREACH ABOUT RIGHTS VIOLATIONS WITHOUT THOUGHT OF WHAT THEY ARE PRACTICING.KUDOS TO THE N.P.P.D. AND TO A MAYOR WITH BACKBONE TO SUPPORT HIS PEOPLE.A LONG TIME WAITING FOR SUCH A MAN.ABOUT TIME N.P.VOTERS WOKE UP!!

It's amazing to me how well the comments here are a verbal equivalent to what happened on the street: a group of ill-trained, insensitive, violent jerks resort to violence to control the noise generated by a group of kids and mental children trying to get attention.

Is it possible for us to have compassion for the injured person, wonder what could be done to prevent it, and simultaneously refrain from spurious arguments, obfuscation, and the same tired ol' whining about those other idiots that don't agree with our position?

At least both the IWW and the police thought they were trying to do a good thing for others- what's your excuse for these rants?