[lbo-talk] RNC Protests: 5th Report

Paul paul_ at igc.org
Fri Sep 3 10:27:54 PDT 2004


1) Apologies for missing Wednesday...medical problems not an arrest :) I can only note the second-hand reports of Wednesday's labor and NOW rallies. They showed a quite respectable size but more in the regional than in the national range.

Likewise, on Thursday afternoon there was a Harlem area march/rally that was of significant size (1,500?) but not ground breaking. Lead by local leftish city council officials it was about half African-American; not many organized latino groups.

2) Thursday night did have some wider significance for future efforts. Of course, this was the last push by a much depleted group, so not too much could be expected. There were 2 separate rallies. One called by Answer for near the Convention was for the early evening. I can not give first hand reporting, but I understand it had perhaps 2,000 people, most of whom would not appear to be affiliated with Answer (or any other group). After several hours and a police dispersal order most of the crowd left but there were some arrests.

A second group coalesced around Union Square which earlier seemed to be relatively small UPJ event. As darkness came the UPJ leadership left (likely that they had a permit that had expired), but just then the crowd, apparently without ANY specific leadership, swelled to 2,000 - 3,000 at any one time during three hours. By around 10:00 pm a couple of thousand that were still in Union Square formed lines facing the riot police and demanded to be able to march on the Convention. Ultimately the police gave way (by then the ANSWER crowd had been swept out of the Convention area) and the crowd surged forward -- a couple of miles later to the same pens from which the ANSWER crowd had just been swept. (Obviously, 2 successive crowds had less of an impact than one crowd would have.)

By midnight, the second crowd was given the order to disperse. By 1:00 am all protestors did disperse except a group of 16 people - and about 200 sympathizers. From diverse racial background, and apparently not knowing each other, the 16 linked arms and sat down in the middle of 8th Avenue - all were young and apprehensive. Most seemed to face this arrest for the first time and for some reason chose to do it at this late stage -- even most barricades around the convention were gone. The police commanders on scene postponed and postponed this last arrest, shaking their heads at the determination of those who stepped forward at this late stage. A very senior NYPD commander was called to the scene and he was heard to say that he hated to do this last group of arrest, asking the protest-supporter's Legal Observers if there was some alternative. A police Chaplain (a Catholic priest) was called to the scene to attempt to dissuade the last 16 demonstrators. At 2:00 am the last protesters of the convention were arrested -- this time with great care. After the door to the police wagon was closed, the last 200 protestors, committed veterans of a long and difficult week of confrontation, gave one additional round of applause - this time recognizing the police -- who at this scene had shown them decency.

New York saw a very different breed of protestor.

Paul



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