Roll the tanks in, Bitches.
Apparently,
bicyclists aren’t allowed to ride in large groups, peacefully in New York City.
Well, normally they would but apparently these days, anytime a gathering that
large convenes, and is politically motivated, tons of arrests are
made.
In the first major clampdown on protesters before the Republican National Convention, New York police arrested 264 people Friday night during a mass demonstration.
About 5,000 cyclists gathered in Union Square Park at 6 p.m. for “Critical Mass,” a monthly bike ride around Manhattan, sponsored by environmental group “Times Up!”
Police started making arrests at around 8:30 p.m. in several locations along the bike route, including Madison Square Garden — the venue for the Republican National Convention.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Paul Browne said in a statement
that the cyclists caused "massive disruptions including of people trying to
get to the hospital and so we took appropriate action". Nice call–
Everyone believes people should be able to get to the hospital,
but we have an equal right to have free speech. Stop trying to appeal to our
emotions.
What’s next? Are they going to roll tanks into town, like at Tiananmen Square.
Is our Republic turning into
something else?
In a slightly related story, "Bikes against Bush" creator, Joshua Kinberg,
was
busted for vandalism while giving an interview to MSNBC. Since when is using
water-soluble chalk considered "vandalism"? Free speech takes
another blow.
Here is an image of the arrested cyclists
August 29th, 2004 at 7:40 pm
My prediction–the media (except FOX) will spend more time this week covering the protesters in a sympathetic light (regardless of how much destruction they cause), and pay hardly any mind to what’s said inside the halls of Madison Square Garden.
Well…….let me correct that…..the partisan media will have to spend some time criticizing Republican “intolerance” of homosexual marriage, as well as abortion.
Slightly off subject, but when the Democrats were at Madison Square Garden for their convention in 1992, they forced all the local homeless people to relocate.
August 29th, 2004 at 10:15 pm
There were over 200,000 poeple in NYC to protest.
That’s pretty substantial.
August 29th, 2004 at 11:14 pm
i heart new york.
August 30th, 2004 at 8:33 am
There were 2 police officers who were injured yesterday. One was hit in the head by an object thrown at him, the other suffered burns when a group of poeple set off a smoke bomb to free a fellow protest from being arrested
I hate when people are protesting, start throwing crap, and get arrested; then they start bitching about “peacful protest”. Many of these protest told its people how to be violent without being arrested, and then how to get the people who do get arrested free. We simply werent there, and have no way of knowing what was peaceful. I would say that if there were 200,000 protestors, and only 264 got arrested. I would say the Police used restraint. I guess I dont feel my freedom of speech was attacked yesterday.
August 30th, 2004 at 8:38 am
The Police Also warned that it would not tolerate any violence. I dont blame them at all. They have to protect themselves. ALl these protestors come to protest Republicans, and hurt the police officers. ignorant. I guess they want to just “damn the man”, and police officers are the “man” holding them down. I wonder how many of the police officers believe the way those ppl do.
Ramdac, you should be ashamed comparing this to Tiananmen Square.
August 30th, 2004 at 12:11 pm
the mayor of new york said, overall, it was a peaceful protest. and you can’t really say that 200 arrests out of 200,000 people isn’t peaceful. that’s what, 0.001% of the protestors who did something stupid? the rest of them, according to the papers, anyway, just marched along holding their signs and chanting. what you’re saying is one bad apple - or in this case, barely even a fraction of an apple - spoils the entire orchard.
August 30th, 2004 at 12:18 pm
additionally, from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002019844_protest30 .html
New York police declined to provide a crowd estimate. Whatever the actual number, the huge crowd was orderly for the most part. “It went extremely well,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
August 30th, 2004 at 1:38 pm
I do believe it was a peaceful protest, I was just saying that a guy will throw a battery at a cop, and get arrested. Then he will scream bloody murder saying he doesnt have the right to have a peaceful protest.
I believe that if the protestors stay peaceful no one will get arrested, if they get stupid ppl will.
August 30th, 2004 at 1:47 pm
no, you said:
*ALL* these protestors come to protest Republicans, and hurt the police officers. ignorant. I guess they want to just “damn the man”, and police officers are the “man” holding them down.
now you’re trying to make it out like all you said was “they can protest as long as it’s peacefully” when earlier you stereotyped and made it sound like the hordes were descending with no more intent than to hurt police officers.
August 30th, 2004 at 3:02 pm
They can protest as long as it is peaceful. What are the odds that no one else is arrested.
What I was referring to were the people involved in the groups, where their goal isnt to be peaceful at all. These groups are coming to New York to be violent. I am absolutely stereotyping these people, but they actually did that themselves.
I think that a protest can be moving, for instance; the people who carried that caskets. I think that was a protest that had a clear msg, that was very peaceful.
My concern is people who choose to be violent and then start griping about their civil liberties. Which is proven a little bit here. 264 of 200,000 gets arrested, and we are already talking about the police “rolling the tanks is”.
I dont mean to lump all liberals as violent protestors. I like most liberals untill they vote.
August 30th, 2004 at 4:27 pm
Aren’t these protestors labeling themselves as “anarchists?”
Anarchy, as defined by Mr. Webster, means a state of disorder due to lack of control.
August 30th, 2004 at 5:05 pm
I didn’t hear about the bike folks, but if they weren’t part of the “main” gang of protesters, then they may actually have been doing something they weren’t permitted to do at that place & time.
I’ve participated in a few demonstrations/protests myself, and in those, I know that the organizers secured things with the city ahead of time with regard to location, duration, etc., specifically to avoid conflicts like those that happened with the bicyclists in New York.
But I agree that for the number of people who attended this event, the amount of arrests was incredibly low. Heck, it’s low for ANY event with that many people in one place at one time. Sounds like both the cops AND the protesters did a commendable job of keeping things within bounds.
August 30th, 2004 at 5:08 pm
then perhaps you should have been more specific instead of saying “all of the protestors are just coming to protest republicans and hurt police officers.” while the first part is true, there isn’t any evidence as of this moment that any group among the protestors is out to cause harm or damage. there were the 2 guys in the subway who were planning on setting off some kind of bomb, and 2 other men started a small fire at one point. that’s all i’ve heard of so far that was a case of them trying to hurt other people. i’m not sure what the other 260 were arrested for, but odds are it was something like the original article here - the group of bicyclers. it doesn’t say anything about them going apeshit and attacking the police and screaming “FIGHT THE MACHINE!” and burning down city hall. it says they caused disruptions and blocked access to the hospital. now i can understand the police intervening because of their being in the way of hospital access. and that counts as a disturbance, so they were arrested. but it’s hardly the violent masses you keep talking about that, as of yet, haven’t shown up.
and, unless i’m mistaken, ramdac said “roll in the tanks” as a sarcastic remark in this article. no one’s actually talking about rolling in anything, because nothing bad has happened at this protest.
August 30th, 2004 at 5:41 pm
Ramdac: “Nice call– Everyone believes people should be able to get to the hospital, but we have an equal right to have free speech. Stop trying to appeal to our emotions”. So a cop creating paths to the hospital is blocking free speech.
If the protest continue with the amount of people as yesterday, and only 264 ppl get arrested per day then i would think this was a very peaceful protest. However, what would be your reaction if those 2 guys set off their bomb. I dont think we would be blowing off the incident so easily. I there was alot on internet talk about violent forms of protest against the RNC. These are the incidents I am refering to, I know they havent happened and I am only speculating, but it seems unfair to force the Police to even prepare for such incidents. IF stuff does start blowing up, we are going to see the tanks roll in.
August 30th, 2004 at 6:29 pm
i would say those two guys are a couple of radical assholes. they would be captured, i’m sure, and they would get their just desserts. they weren’t part of a protest, as far as anyone knows, they were just a couple of rogue nutbags.
additionally, you re-word yourself a lot. you’ll talk like it’s concrete fact one minute, then turn around and say you’re “only speculating.” maybe you should wait to post until you’re certain you know what you mean to say.
August 30th, 2004 at 10:16 pm
I am sorry, I thought that is what we all do. We speculate and pretend it is fact. I just wanted to point out that I was speculating.
August 31st, 2004 at 4:11 pm
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called it “a blatant, vicious attack.”
The plainclothes detective who was attacked, William Sample, was hospitalized Tuesday with serious facial trauma. FoxNews.com
There is no speculation on this attack
August 31st, 2004 at 6:53 pm
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,131020,00.html
August 31st, 2004 at 8:55 pm
once again, one apple does not spoil the entire orchard. it is terrible that someone is ignorant enough to do that, don’t get me wrong, and i hope that lawyer does come forward and identify the person, but one out of 200,000+ doesn’t bring any truth to the second half of “all these protestors come to NY to do is oppose republicans and hurt cops.”
August 31st, 2004 at 9:04 pm
additionally, this is a total crock of shit:
The demonstrators in New York hate George W. Bush (search) so much that they feel entitled to do things, or to witness others doing things and remain silent, that ordinarily they would not do.
once again, there have been hundreds of thousands of protestors coming into and going out of new york in the past 72 hours. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS, k? the article revolves around ONE PERSON who got stupid and attacked a police officer. but fox doesn’t say it in a truthful manner such as “dozens of people stood horrified as a police officer was kicked down and assaulted by a lone protestor in a vicious attack. we are asking for any witnesses on the attack to please come forward with any information you might have.”
no, it says “The demonstrators” implying that they all think and act exactly the same, and that the streets were filled with people cheering on this person attacking the police officer. it also assumes to know their emotions - that they all *hate* george bush. i’m voting against bush 100%, but i don’t and i will never hate the man. no one i know has ever said “i hate george bush.” they simply say “george bush has got to go, he’s been a horrible president.” i’m not saying that none of those people hate bush, because i’m sure some of them do feel that strongly about it, but to project what you assume to be the mass emotions of 200,000 people you’ve never in your life met is just stupid.
September 1st, 2004 at 8:32 am
I know that alot of poeple saw what the man did, and he got away. I would think it is safe to assume that the crowd that let him go, probably feels the same way. Maybe I am wrong.
I dont assume to know what is in the minds of all the protestors. I know I used to words “ALL these Protestors”. I feel I was making a strong point to get a reaction. I also feel that I have been fair, I do feel these people have the right to protest. I think it is wrong to be violent, and I think it was wrong to promote or use the threat of violence, because that may prevent the police officers from stopping some nut job trying to blow up the subway.
THere were alot of liberal based groups that threaten violence. This is not an assumption of peoples behavior. So even though the violence has been keep to a minimum, There were serious threats made that have to the minds of police officers.
If the whole process continues as it has the last few days, then I would consider it a great success by both the protestors and police officers.
September 1st, 2004 at 9:19 am
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,131018,00.html
September 1st, 2004 at 10:28 am
well, think of it like this, joey:
you’re walking along, holding up your sign, doing the protestor thing. suddenly, you look over and see this person jump a cop and beat the crap out of him. you have NO idea who this person is or why they’re doing it, but what you do know is that they managed to take down a police officer, who is TRAINED to deal with that kind of aggression. are YOU going to want to pick a fight with that person? i wouldn’t. i’d stand back and give their insane self plenty of space, because i’m not too fond of getting attacked, myself. i would take note of what they looked like and report that information to the proper authorities asap, though.
fox also talks as if the crowd knew who it was and decided to just keep their traps shut, the lawyer included. ooh, it’s a lawyer, does that automatically mean that that lawyer knows that person’s name and home address? no.
it’s also possible that the person who did the attacking wasn’t even a protestor. i notice that he’s since been arrested, but nothing says whether or not he was actually a protestor who had just flipped out - it just says “a 19 year old man was arrested.” so based on how open-ended this is, for all we know, he had an agenda against that particular cop for some reason. but, i’ll grant you it’s just as realistic that he was a protestor gone loopy. you can thank fox for not clearing up that matter and just leaving everyone to “speculate.”
as far as the 1,000 arrests go, you might notice that fox does not go into ANY detail on any of those. they were probably just people in the wrong place at the wrong time, like the bicyclers who were arrested for blocking access to the hospital. the only one they bring up is the absolute cream of the crop as far as the bad’uns go - the 19 year old who assaulted the police officer. why? cause they probably want you to believe that all of the 1,000 people arrested were charged with similar violence, thus giving their devoted viewers a chance to say “All of those people are just there to protest republicans and hurt cops.”
September 1st, 2004 at 10:35 am
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/09/01/convention.protests/index.ht ml
“Charges range from disorderly conduct, obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest, authorities said.
Meanwhile, police said they have arrested a man in connection with the beating of a detective in a protest Monday night.”
there, see? just like i assumed - most of the arrests were simply people standing in places where they shouldn’t have been standing. and yes, there’s that group who whines about their right to protest in the group who resisted arrest, but don’t get it in your head that ALL of the people arrested resisted arrest. the charges cover a spectrum - some disorderly conduct here, some resisting arrest there.
September 1st, 2004 at 10:40 am
you paint a good picture, one protestors sees some guy beating up a cop, and doesnt know what he will do next.
I imagine there was a large group of poeple, and like the cops said, no one said anything. I didnt realize that part was speculation.
I dont think they other protestors should have made a citizens arrest, but maybe be helpful to the cops.
I still think speculation is a part of politics. Many democrats pretend to know that Bush lied, when in reality they dont know what he was thinking.
September 1st, 2004 at 10:47 am
I have already agreed with you that it has been a fairly peaceful protest.
The picture I painted of the situation, is the picture that some groups said they were going to do. I really said at first, “I hate when people are protesting, start throwing crap, and get arrested; then they start bitching about peacful protest”. I would imagine that the ACLU will defend alot of these people anyway. Again that is speculation because it hasnt happened yet. As a matter of fact, if it doesnt happen i will apologize.
September 2nd, 2004 at 12:10 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/09/02/textmessaging.protest.ap/inde x.html
September 5th, 2004 at 10:28 am
i agree with joey
September 6th, 2004 at 7:10 pm
http://www.actupny.org/reports/rnc_nyc-kicking.mov
September 7th, 2004 at 10:33 am
http://www.aclu.org/FreeSpeech/FreeSpeech.cfm?ID=16352&c=86
I knew I could count on the ACLU
October 27th, 2004 at 11:02 pm
I may post a video a friend of mine produced regarding this matter. He interviewed some of these riders, and has some interesting information.