After the initial outbreak of violence, the corner at Fifth and Taylor was pretty dang tense. A great many of the young male protestors were now openly incensed at the cops, and shouting at and provoking them.
Here we see the riot police reestablishing the barricade at the corner. In the parking garage to the upper left, a number of people were leaning out watching the proceedings.
After a few minutes, the police made another stupid decision. For reasons surpassing understanding, they decided to drive a couple police cruisers through the densest concentration of protestors into the blockaded zone. The protestors, especially those crazed on youthful testosterone, took the opportunity to pound on the cruisers, spit on them, and in a couple of cases actually fling themselves onto the hood and cling to it.
From this point on, I was less and less impressed with the good sense and maturity of my fellow protestors. Too many of them seemed to be deliberately trying to provoke another conflict with the police. Now, I can't say for sure that they wanted to get injured so as to achieve bragging rights and consequently get laid, but that's certainly how it seemed to me.
It has been claimed that at this stage of the proceedings the police had boxed us in on all sides: I must report that this did not appear to be the case. To the west was the barricade discussed so far, of course.
To the south, a block away, was a group of bicycle officers, who you will note were not preventing anyone from leaving.
To the east, also a block distant, was a large assemblage of police cruisers. Again, there were no protestors down there and traffic was moving freely.
To the north, although several people walked in front of the shot, there was no visible police presence at all. At this point, perhaps 20 minutes after the violent interlude, the protestors clustered at 5th and Taylor were clustered there of their own free will.
Emotions were somewhat inflamed, and many of the protestors were reluctant to move on from this area, still upset at the police.
Eventually, however, many of us continued marching down Fifth, winding up near one end of the Hawthorne Bridge.