the NYC peace march -- an observation(s)

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Ronda sent me this reporting of the rally which seemed to indicate that the
police reacted forcibly. I asked an Iper who was there what he saw and
attached the note after a snip of the foreign report.

In every protest there are efforts on the protestors part to get the policy
to react violently. Sometimes they succeed -- Chicago years ago and the DC
events at the WB. Sometimes the police loose control of themselves. I was
not there and usually don't trust what I see or don't see on TV. So call it
as you will.

Read both.

Dave

Dieser TELEPOLIS Artikel wurde Ihnen
von  <ronda () panix com> gesandt.

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Massive Anti-War Protest in New York City Demonstrates

Ronda Hauben   16.02.2003

U.S. Government's Hostility to Democracy At Home and Abroad

There were marches in cities around the world on Saturday, February 15,
2003. Not, however, in New York City. Protesters were not only denied
the right to march, but massive numbers of people were also denied the
right to be part of the rally. Police on horseback charged protesters
and beat up demonstrators, preventing them from joining officially
approved rally on First Avenue. Yet estimates are that 1 million people
were in New York City on Saturday to protest the U.S. government making
war against Iraq.

"New York City politicians didn't want us here," commented one
protester. "They tried every single roadblock. We didn't let them win.
We are here."

Another protester explained, "Just think, people all over the world are
doing it. It's the only way to survive. Everybody came for the same
reason, No War."

Responding to the fabrication of a terrorist alert called "code orange"
used by city and federal government officials to deny protesters the
right to march on Saturday, a student from Cornell University said:

"The city did a lousy job. They give a permit to rally but then they
don't let people get there. The fact they didn't give the permit to
march is outrageous. The whole code orange is crap."

<snip>


------ Forwarded Message
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry () piermont com>
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 12:29:56 -0500
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: perry () piermont com
Subject: Re: Was this what you saw?


[You can post this if you like.]

Well, I'll answer your question by saying what I *did* see.

I arrived at Lexington Avenue and 51st Street by subway with a group
of friends near noon. We were physically prevented by police
barricades from getting East of 3rd Avenue. 3rd Avenue was filled --
FILLED -- with people as far as the eye could see, and cell phone
conversations I had with other friends I was supposed to meet
indicated that the street was in similar condition several blocks to
the south and at least as far north as 60th or so. Traffic could not
pass -- the streets were totally full. There were protesters of every
age and description -- everything from 80 year old women to
teenagers. It was one of the most diverse groups of protesters I've
ever witnessed.

However, the police were not going to let any of us near the rally
itself. Phalanxes of police in full riot gear prevented us from
getting anywhere east of 3rd Avenue, let alone 49th and 1st. The
police pretty strongly forced the crowd to move north, and my phone
conversations with my friend Dave indicated that they were forceably
dispersing the crowd to the north at 62nd or so -- the goal of moving
us north was to get us as far away from the demonstration as possible
and disperse us. Many people forcefully resisted this -- I was part of
a group that stood our ground at 3rd Avenue and 57th street for at
least half an hour or so, completely refusing to move out of the
intersection and completely filling it (and you can imagine how many
people are required to do that -- its six lanes in each
direction). People tried very hard to get to the main rally, but
ultimately the massive police presence, including mounted police,
prevented that from happening.

My companions and I tried very, very hard to get to the demonstration,
but the police made it clear we would not be allowed to, and refused
to even give information about whether there was any open route that
lead to 1st Avenue.

The claim from the police is that there were perhaps 100,000
demonstrators. However, the blocks I was on -- from 51st to about 61st
-- were completely packed with people trying to get east -- so packed
that it was nearly uncomfortable. My back of the envelope calculation
says that this alone represents at least 70,000 people, being pretty
conservative about it, and perhaps twice that number -- and that was
just what I personally witnessed. There is no way that the total
claimed number holds up to even to a reasonable test -- and I have no
idea how many were thwarted from getting even as far east as we were,
because when we later left, we discovered barricades had been erected
at Lexington Avenue to prevent people from getting to 3rd. I also have
no way of knowing how many were similarly trapped and trying to get
east from 2nd Avenue.

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that far, far more people were
prevented from demonstrating than actually made it to the
demonstration. I have a substantial number friends who I've
communicated with, by cellphone during the period and afterwards, who
also went, none of whom actually made it to 1st Avenue -- all reported
being prevented, somewhere substantially to the west of the designated
area.

Myself, I left somewhere around 2:30, having tried in vain for 2.5
hours to get to the actual demonstration. I later turned on the radio
and heard that the rally itself continued for hours afterwards, but I
don't anyone who managed to get to it.

As for violence, I witnessed police in riot gear everywhere, but I did
not personally witness any arrests or violence by the police. The
protesters were themselves extremely peaceable -- I suspect any
outbreaks of conflict would have been isolated, but I obviously was
not everywhere, and neither were my friends.

The police seemed very intent on separating groups, forcing them to
move north, and dispersing them, but did not seem interested in using
tactics beyond intimidation in carrying this out.

Anyway, I was very, very disappointed by the fact that the ability of
the public to show its displeasure was so obviously being thwarted by
deliberate action on the part of the authorities.

Perry


------ End of Forwarded Message

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