Word: guardsmen
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ROCKS ROAD is a quiet residential street running off Route 1, the main road through the small New Hampshire coastal town. On a balmy May afternoon a group of mostly young people sat on the road joking and singing songs and talking politics, until a platoon of National Guardsmen arrived and ordered them off. You see, the other end of the road leads into the Seabrook nuclear power plant, which was then under siege by about 1500 antinuke activists, and the Guardsmen were in no mood to discuss the issue...
...people ran ahead to talk to the guardsmen, explaining that no one in the group had helmets or gas masks, shields or boltcutters, grappling hooks or football pads, unlike the more militant, quasimilitary members of the Coalition for Direct Action at Seabrook (CDAS). The "negotiators" also noted that blockaders were moving aside to let Rocks Road residents and Seabrook local cops pass. The argument fell on deaf ears. "One way or another, you're getting off the road." The protestors sat quietly, preparing for the imminent debacle. The reporters snapped photos. The locals held their breath. The Commanding Officer gave...
...certainly the most unprovoked, but the crowd doesn't seem shocked--"Pigs suck," one group yells. A more ideological element at the other end of the parking lot chants, mysteriously. "We're non-violent--how about you" at the policemen, who are finally rescued by a dozen National Guardsmen...
...when police turned on the hoses; now, there is only grim determination. "Fall back, Fanshen." "Charge Fanshen," over and over. It seems less than likely that, should they succeed in tearing down the fence, they would be able to get very far against the phalanx of police and national guardsmen. But, to the delight of the network cameramen, they keep charging...
...Skyway has been the scene of three other major accidents this year. On Jan. 28 a collision between the Coast Guard cutter Blackthorn and a 605-ft. oil tanker killed 23 Coast Guardsmen. On Feb. 6 a boom from a Greek freighter slammed into the center supports of the bridge. Ten days later a Liberian-registered oil tanker hit an abutment. In the last two cases, damage was slight and there were no injuries...