>Carrol Cox wrote:
>>I just don't see the point to "minor martyrdoms."
>>....
>>Casualties (from small fines to death) are acceptable, but martyrdom
>>(trivial or big) just isn't worth it.
Chuck O wrote:
>>These arrests don't even constitute risks and are a long way from
>>martydom. Most likely the arrested people will get a "desk appearnce
>>ticket," which is like a "post and show hearing." You are just told to
>>show back up at a future hearing and then released. ....
Having just got back from helping with the legal support, I can confirm that we expect most of the protestors to be out this evening. There was a call for the more roving type blockages Carol refers to (in fact Doug posted one such call to this list) but they mostly did not materialize. Manhattan does not seem to lend itself to this approach - perhaps it is the grid layout or the ability of the police to immediately draw on very large numbers.
I did observe one disturbing possible trend. A tiny number of VERY aggressive counter demonstrators showed up to midtown and to an NYU demonstration. They had clearly been pre-organized as a group and the police finessed the logistics so that they remained in the very middle of the demonstrations, even though the counter-demonstrators were thus blocking the sidewalks (protestors were quickly arrested if they did this). Aside from trying to provoke fights, the counter-demonstrators were then assured almost equal time in the press reports. And many of the visual shots appeared to show two equal sized groups arguing. Never mind that the numbers were 50 to 1. Later, I personally observed one counter demonstrator exchanging phone numbers with a police supervisor.