> As I heard it, that was actually the cops' estimate, and it was based
> almost exclusively on the actually rally on First Avenue.
>
> As I understand it, the rule of thumb for official figures is 7,000 per
> packed city block. The rally on First Avenue for over 60 blocks, and 60
> would give you 420,000. The 500,00 was then based on that and the packed
> block side streets up near the top.
My understanding is that the NYC cops' rule of thumb is 4000 per block, 5000 for wide streets.
> But as everyone that was there knows, 2nd Avenue and Third Avenue were
> also packed, if not from wall to wall. According to the radio, they both
> reached up into the 70s.
>
> And even that doesn't count it all. I was marching with a woman who was 8
> months pregnant and she eventually had to go to a bathroom. So we went
> into the Citicorp center, since in 2 hours of marching -- which mainly
> consisted of taking over the streets and getting pushed back by horses, in
> a way that would have warmed up Chuck0's heart -- we'd only made it ten
> blocks up town. When she went to the bathroom I turned on the radio to
> listen to the speeches. By the time she returned 15 minutes later, a
> crowd of 50 people had gathered to listen. And of course there were
> another 50 down with her in the bathroom. At that point, the radio
> announced that a local newstation had estimated the crowds on 1st, 2nd and
> 3rd as over a million -- and a cheer went up in every corner of the
> Citicorp center, which was draped with protestors who'd gotten frustrated
> and cold but still felt very much part of it. And we all suddenly realizd
> that none of us were counted even in the larger figure.
I keep hearing these anecdotes, but where are the pictures? The odd thing about yesterday is that it was easy to sit on the Internet and find about protests everywhere but in NYC. The New York protests existed in a kind of news black hole.
> After my friend went home and I went back out, the confrontations only
> picked up. The disbanding of the rally took over the streets even more
> than the attempt to get there. There was a mini demonstration on every
> street corner. The cops had a fairly organized plan to keep pushing
> people West (away from the rally along the East River), but it just meant
> streets farther west got even more swamped. On Lexington Avenue -- half a
> mile west of the rally -- I saw cars and buses get completely swallowed up
> and for the first time ever, I saw the cops just give up. We marched for
> 20 blocks down the center of the street, for the first time not crushed
> together but spread out like a normal march, and when we came towards
> knots of cops I expected the ritual would start again, where they push
> 1000s of people onto sidewalks that won't hold them and we would all chant
> Whose Streets? Our Streets! Then I realized, they were just letting us
> past. They had thrown in the towel. It was like their overtime clock had
> just expired.
>
> At 6pm I saw a local news traffic report. Lexington Avenue was still
> closed at 23rd Street, another mile below where I had been marching. And
> Times square, site of the "official :o)" unauthorized street blockage was
> listed as closed in its entirety, from 42nd to 47th, both Broadway and 7th
> Aves. And this was 7 hours after the feeder marching began on a day
> that was freezing cold.
Any grafitti or property destruction? I imagine there were lots of cool signs?
I spent over 12 hours yesterday updating my website with pictures and news from around the world. The turnout was nothing short of amazing, but I doubt that it will do much. I'm wondering if the size of the protests will provide some cognitive dissonance for people who support the war but are uneasy about what they are being told. In a sign that these protests do have some effect, some guy called me at home yesterday from Germany to talk about politics. Turns out that he supports Bush and is an American pastor at some Baptist missionary church over there. These protests got under his skin enough to prompt him to call me!
Chuck0
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"The state can't give you free speech, and the state can't take it away. You're born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free..." ---Utah Phillips