In
Oakland, California, police fired
rubber bullets and
beanbags at anti-war protesters and dockworkers outside the Port, injuring at least a dozen demonstrators and six longshoremen standing nearby. Most of the 500 demonstrators were dispersed peacefully, but a crowd of
demonstrators was blocking traffic on private property near the port and fail to disperse after police warnings. Oakland Police Chief said demonstrators also threw objects and bolts at them, and said the use of weapons was necessary to disperse the crowd. He indicated non-lethal projectiles were used to respond to direct illegal action. The longshoremen were caught in the crossfire. A dockworker spokesman reported Police gave two minutes to disperse, then did not move to arrest people, instead they opened fire. Demonstrators also claim though the rubber bullets were supposed to be shot at the ground, the Police took direct aim at them. Oakland police said 31 people were arrested at the port.
Embedded
NPR journalists relay reports from a top official with the first Marine Division that U.S. forces near
Baghdad have discovered 20 medium range
BM-21missiles armed with
warheads containing deadly
sarin and
mustard gas that are "ready to fire.",[3][4]
More than a dozen Coalition soldiers, a
Knight Ridder reporter, a
CNN cameraman and two Iraqi
prisoners of war are sent for chemical weapons decontamination after exhibiting
symptoms of possible exposure to
tabun and
sarin nerve agents and
lewisite blistering agents while searching an Iraqi
agriculturalwarehouse and a nearby military compound on the
Euphrates river between the cities of
Kerbala and
Hilla. U.S. soldiers found eleven 25–
gallon barrels and three 55-gallon chemical drums, hundreds of gas masks and chemical suits, along with large numbers of
mortar and
artillery rounds. Initial tests of the chemicals were positive, then a second test was done which came back negative. A third test, conducted by a mobile testing unit provided by Germany confirmed the existence of sarin. Some reports indicate that the chemicals found at the agricultural warehouse may turn out to be
pesticides. Further tests are planned in the United States. U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld said later in a Pentagon briefing that "almost all first reports we get, turn out to be wrong. We don't do first reports and we don't speculate.",[5][6]