description of Minden NV (pop. 2900, county 45k) protest: http://www.stpaulssparks.org/COMMUNITYEVENTS/PEACERALLYMINDEN/VigilRpt.html
Der Spiegel has a story about how Shrub is a misappropriating religious metaphors. He's being analyzed as a religious psycho: <http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fpolitik%2Fdeutschland%2F0%2C1518%2C234547%2C00.html&lp=de_en&tt=url>
BTW, that idiot who claimed a Starbucks was smashed got caught out for the lie! kewl!
Comments re: the embarrassment of NYC and the way the sizzlean prevented access to the demo:
------ Forwarded Message From: Heather Green <heather_green at businessweek.com> Organization: Business Week Magazine Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 15:19:51 -0500 To: dave at 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 demea ning 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?