[extropy-chat] Police Officer Dies After Brawl With Biotech Protesters

[Joseph Bloch]

I hope nobody we know is attending Bio 2005 
(http://www.bio.org/events/2005/)...

http://www.nbc10.com/news/4632819/detail.html

Violence between biotech protesters and police in Center City 
Philadelphia has turned tragic. A Philadelphia police officer has died 
after a scuffle in Center City on Tuesday.

The officer, Paris Williams, 52, may have died from a heart attack but 
homicide is also investigating the case. He is a 19-year veteran.

Williams collapsed near the end of a brawl between protesters and police 
that lasted for several minutes near 12th and Arch Streets. Some 
protesters were seen being taken away in handcuffs by police after the 
incident. The fallen officer was taken away in an ambulance.

Police department spokesman Jim Pauley said Williams was pronounced dead 
at Hahnemann University Hospital shortly after 1 p.m.

The street in front of the convention center is now closed to traffic. 
Earlier, protesters chanted and pounded on drums, and blocked the 
entrance to the convention center.

Several hundred protesters had started marching to the Convention Center 
from 16th and Arch Streets before 12 p.m.

Some groups associated with a wave of violent attacks on biotechnology 
companies said in advance they planned demonstrations outside the 
Biotech convention center Tuesday.