last two on NYC

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Suzanne M. Johnson" <sjohnson () pobox com>
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 12:19:20 -0800
To: dave () farber net
Subject: small towns too...

Small US towns also participated in the Saturday peace demonstrations.

Minden is a Douglas County, NV town (county population is about 45,000.
Douglas is staunchly republican, and is located along the south shore of
Lake Tahoe and into the nearby valley.)  Planners for the local event
figured that maybe 200 people would turn up..closer to 400 appeared.
Ministers from several local churches participated.  The local Rabbi wanted
to participate, but she had a previously scheduled Bar Mitzvah and was
unable to attend.

Planners of the event are disturbed enough by Patriot I and II that they
feel it should be the topic of one of the next demonstrations.

http://www.stpaulssparks.org/COMMUNITYEVENTS/PEACERALLYMINDEN/VigilRpt.html



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------ Forwarded Message
From: Heather Green <heather_green () businessweek com>
Organization: Business Week Magazine
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 15:19:51 -0500
To: dave () farber net
Subject: The real issue regarding the NYC demonstrations

For IP if you would like.

I was at the demonstration on Saturday and as a New Yorker, I have to say,
it
was an embarrassment. A group of people got together to exercise their right
to
free speech and frankly, too many were gypped. What is frustrating is that
none
of this was really covered by the papers.

I was lucky enough to have been able to get to First Ave. It was great
cross-section of people: 60s protesters, families, college kids, union
groups,
women's clubs, school classes. It wasn't until I left around 2:30 or 3:00
that I
encountered what seems to have been the experience that too many people
shared.
West of First Avenue, the police were turning people back, preventing them
from
getting to the rally by providing them with misinformation. I heard police
tell
protesters that people were being crushed on First Avenue and that fights
were
breaking out there. I had been up and down First Ave. and can say I didn't
see
anything like that. The police were also directing people north, ostensibly
telling them that they could join the rally by taking cross streets further
north. But then people who had already gone north countered that that they
had
been turned back up there as well. I heard some police respond that they
couldn't give protesters more up to date information because their radios
didn't
work. It felt like a concerted effort to disband and disperse the crowds
without
allowing them to join the rally.

The crowds roaming up and down Second, Third and Lexington Avenues did start
resisting the police, taking over sidewalks and intersections. I was part of
a
crowd at 53rd and Third that was dispersed by police in riot gear on
horseback.
People were frustrated by the tactics the police used to keep them away from
the
rally. The skirmishes resulted from that frustration. I didn't see any
destructive behavior on the part of the crowds. The police themselves also
well
trained. I did see arrests but mostly they used overwhelming numbers, horses
and
intimidation to keep the crowds moving west. It's likely that the police
were
simply overwhelmed, but their strategy for dealing with the crowd was
demeaning
and destructive to civil liberties.

It was a disappointing experience, especially in New York, where we have
been
exhorted to get out in public, go to Yankees games and to Times Square to
see
Broadway shows so that the terrorists could see that they haven't won.
Millions
of people in other countries were able to assemble peaceably without
harassment.
Why not here in New York?





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