Uranium Fist | Page 8

stunned, not knowing what to do. Moments later, the driver crawled out of the wrecked vehicle. He was covered in blood and swayed groggily. Then a patrol car skidded round a corner and slammed into the concussion-drunk man. The car skidded to a halt, rolling the man underneath it like a broken doll.
"I was scared. They'd just killed a man. They must have seen me. I ducked into the cover of a factory doorway anyway, and cowered on the ground. I was shaking, my teeth were chattering, and the noise seemed terribly loud. Car doors banged. Glass crunched under booted feet, then I heard something thrown onto the road.
"Carefully, I peered round the wall. The ruined van was being ransacked. One of the officers threw bundles of newspapers onto the ground. The other stacked them in a pile before setting light to the lot.
"I watched - still shaking - from the cover of the doorway until the cops left, then I crept cautiously to the junction with the next street. The office was being ransacked, its display windows shattered. Amongst the shards of glass was a broken word-processor and the desk that the police must have thrown through the plate-glass. Then I saw Sara, one of my comrades, as she was dragged out of the building and thrown to the ground. She landed on the glass shards and was badly cut.
"'Drop that or I'll drop you!' a cop barked at a man in an office worker's cheap suit. He held a lump of broken paving stone and was about to throw it. Others followed his lead. More flagstones were ripped up to provide ammunition.
"'I warned you!' The cop pulled out a tazer and fired. The office worker dropped to the ground in spasm, silencing the enraged crowd. I didn't know if they were going to disperse, or riot, but the atmosphere was intense.
"'All of you, go home! This office has been closed by order of the Government's emergency powers. If you don't disperse you will be arrested.'
"More police came to the door and stared at the angry crowd. One them began to speak into his radio, I knew that meant riot cops, but the rest of the crowd ignored it. One of the cops walked a few paces towards us. With one hand resting on a hip, legs apart, he pointed his baton at the crowd and angrily told them to disperse. The crowd ignored him. That pose of authority made no impression.
"'Cops go home!' someone cried, followed by the rest of the crowd as they took up the chant. Someone threw a stone at the leader. He went down, the side of his face smeared with blood. Everything went crazy. Stones pelted the police. They tried to duck into the building for cover, but the crowd surged forward.
"A distant wailing made itself heard above the noise of the fighting. Two black vans clad in steel mesh slammed into the body of the riot. People fell through the air and writhed on the tarmac. Hordes of black-uniformed, amour-clad cops rushed out of the vans and without a word they charged at us. I was caught in the middle of a pitch-battle as the police hammered anyone in their way. With club and shield they smashed people to the ground. People were dragged away, bruised and bleeding, to be thrown into the waiting vans.
"But the crowd fought back. It was getting too dangerous there. Hastily I pushed my way through the struggling figures and tried to get clear of the fighting. A riot cop appeared in front of me. He grinned like a madman, the gleam of joy in his eyes truly frightening. With a blow from his riot shield he knocked me to the ground and I felt a hefty kick. I curled into a ball to protect myself from the expected beating, but nothing more came. The tables had turned and the cop was no longer smiling. I crawled away quickly, frightened that I would be trampled in the confusion.
"After some effort I managed to push my way through to the pavement, where I leaned heavily against a wall. Once I got my breath back I started to make my way down the street, desperately trying to avoid the attentions of any more cops. An old man appeared for a moment in a gap in the crowds, he looked terrified - a passer-by that stopped to watch the commotion and then found himself caught up as things turned ugly. I looked on in outrage as a cop appeared and punched him savagely in the face. Down he fell, and the cop kicked him in the stomach. I rushed over to the old man as fast as I could. He was babbling where he lay, 'I'm not involved...' he said,