The offices of Friends General Conference are across the street from the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which is this week hosting a biotech convention. The streets outside are hosting a bit of a counter-convention led by a group named “BioDemocracy 2005”:http://www.biodev.org/. Here are some shots from a melee outside our front door a few minutes ago.
*Update:* apparently one of the police officers at the center of this scuffle “suffered a heart attack and has since died”:http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/special_packages/bio2005/11949070.htm. I’m not even sure how to comment on that. From my vantage point it certainly seemed like the police officers were using undue violence. But while I was ten feet away I don’t know who threw the first punch and what exactly happened in that sea of bodies. Whatever happened, it’s quite appropriate to hold him and his family in our prayers.