I went looking for trouble. I found it.

The American Legislative Exchange Commission is in town and so are the protestors.  Today, instead of being at the Westin Kierland, the ALEC demonstrators went to the Salt River Project, a Phoenix based power and water company. A group of protestors chained themselves together inside the public utility’s business office.

Outside, protestors were pushed back to the sidewalk as they disrupted business.I don’t know whether it was the fact that I’m not 24 anymore or that maybe I didn’t eat today, but when the Phoenix Police reinforcements arrived, my heart started pounding when they broke into a very intimidating run.  I thought for sure the pepper spray was going to fly.  I was concerned because the cops are all wearing black and were severely back lit.  I was also downwind and would have been (indirectly) pepper sprayed for the third time this week.  Cooler heads prevailed and police held the line.  I was worried that my pictures would be severely out of focus because it’s hard to shoot when you can’t see or breath (I was probably more worried about the not seeing or breathing part).

While it seems at times that the protestors are disorganized or easily distracted, one thing is certain: Neither side is fooling around.

Unfortunately it’s the police that have to come between the protestors and those they are demonstrating against.  I enjoyed last night when The Rev. Jesse Jackson said that the police need to be cheered as they are also the 99%.

Until the right people start listening, I suspect the protests will continue.  And the untrained, disorganized soldier will continue to be arrested and take the brunt of pepper spray wearing only goggles, scarves and used gas masks. There were a total of 16 arrests.

I’d like to see an end to this.  I prefer to make pictures of people having fun.