No, they are DemocRATS.
Posted on 07/12/2004 6:32:39 AM PDT by M 91 u2 K
Fury at anarchist convention threat
'These hard-core groups are looking to take us on. They have increased their level of violence.' - Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly
By PATRICE O'SHAUGHNESSY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
The NYPD aims to keep things well in hand during the convention.
"Where is the legitimate protest in trying to endanger the public?" an angry Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told The News.
Fringe elements are hoping to spark major disruptions at the Republican National Convention with a series of sneaky tricks - including fooling bomb-sniffing dogs on trains bound for Penn Station, the Daily News has learned.
Internet-using anarchists are telling would-be troublemakers to decoy specially trained Labrador retrievers with gunpowder or ammonium nitrate-laced tablets in a bid to halt trains or even spur the evacuation of Madison Square Garden.
Top cops are girding against the attempt to foil strong anti-terrorist strategies aimed at protecting conventiongoers - including President Bush - as well as peaceful protesters during the Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 GOP fete.
"Where is the legitimate protest in trying to endanger the public?" an angry Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told The News.
"It is the height of irresponsibility," he added. "These hard-core groups are looking to take us on. ... They have increased their level of sophistication and violence."
So in addition to guarding against the most vile, organized and destructive of terrorists, Kelly and company have to combat a shadowy, loose-knit band of traveling troublemakers who spread their guides to disruption over the Internet.
The dog decoy ploy is the among most insidious in the fringe groups' bag of tricks - which includes throwing marbles under the hooves of police horses and using slingshots to pelt the animals.
"They're trying to use up our resources with false alarms. ... The sensitive dogs would become burned out with too many alerts," said a police source.
Preliminary plans call for state and city cops with the dogs and hand-held chemical detection devices to board commuter and subway trains one stop before they reach Penn Station, under the Garden.
The trains will be swept for suspicious packages and terror suspects before being allowed to continue into the station - the country's busiest, with about 600,000 passengers on a regular workday.
"We're going to make certain there is absolutely no disruption of the train," Kelly said in announcing the procedures on April 28.
Two days later, an Internet posting detailed how to stoke disorder by miscuing the bomb dogs.
The posting instructed people to "go to a rifle, pistol or skeet shooting range, spend an hour shooting to saturate clothing with smell of gunpowder, go directly to a New Jersey Transit, LIRR or subway train headed for Penn Station.
"Try to have at least two people on a train in different locations, sit or stand near the doors as the train approaches the station, try to get near police and dogs, loiter as long as possible around the dog, try to pet it if possible.
"If the dog alerts on your scent, do not leave or resist; the situation will cause a major disruption of the train schedule. ... If there is more than one person on the train that causes a dog to alert, you can bet that the train will not be going anywhere for a long time ... neither will any trains behind it."
The message instructs to "Play dumb for as long as possible" before telling the police you unwittingly got the gunpowder on your clothes at a shooting range. "It is important that the police call in all possible resources to investigate the situation. ... With any luck, Madison Square Garden will be evacuated."
"Rush hours are ideal, the final night of the convention, very good, too," the posting said.
After being alerted to the gunpowder posting, investigators uncovered Internet mentions of dispersing traces of ammonium nitrate on the trains.
Ammonium nitrate is one of the most common farm fertilizers in the world. The dogs are trained to detect the fertilizer because it has been used in major bombings, from the 1993 World Trade Center attack to Oklahoma City to Bali, Indonesia.
The NYPD also is preparing for possible "Black Bloc" tactics by small groups of anarchists, in which demonstrators wear black clothing and bandannas over their faces - and wield pipes, bottles and commit acts of vandalism against corporate "enemies" such as the Gap, Starbucks and McDonald's.
Cops have been trained to isolate violent individuals among peaceful protesters, and will employ an 1845 law that prohibits people from wearing masks in street gatherings, except for masquerades.
The NYPD has sent cops to Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Miami, sites of previous political conventions, and to Boston, which will host the Democratic convention this month, to collect intelligence.
"There is the same hard-core element that we have seen move from city to city where violence has marred protests," another police source said.
Trail of global mayhem
Here's a look at major events in recent years that were disrupted:
SEATTLE, December 1999: Tens of thousands of protesters storm into the usually laid-back city to protest global economic policies at meeting of the World Trade Organization. The ragtag group of anarchists, students and labor organizers takes cops by surprise, fights pitched battles with riot police and derails the opening ceremony.
QUEBEC CITY, April 2001: Riot police fire water cannons and rubber bullets to keep 25,000 demonstrators at bay during the Summit of the Americas aimed at creating the world's largest free trade area. The leaders of 34 nations meet behind a 2.3-mile fence as protesters besiege summit site, but fail to derail meeting.
GENOA, ITALY, July 2001: A protester is shot dead as more than 100,000 rock-throwing demonstrators battle cops at the G8 summit of wealthy nations. Heavily armed cops even mount predawn raids on the media center and protest organizers, arresting dozen of leaders.
MIAMI, November 2003: Cops use tear gas and overwhelming force to break up throngs of hundreds of labor activists gathered at a free-trade summit. The police keep a lid on protests with mass arrests, but critics say they fueled anger by overreacting.
The cost of security
The security tab for the Police Department is about $76 million, most of which will be reimbursed.
Nearly $50 million will go toward overtime for the 10,000 officers around Madison Square Garden, and the cops who fill in for them.
Almost $12 million is being spent on training in counterterrorism, as well as in First Amendment rights of protesters and media.
Some $17.5 million is being spent on equipment, such as the construction of Delta barriers - metal lift plates - around the Garden area to stop trucks for inspections.
The words on Web that incite hatred
Here are excerpts from an Internet posting advising how to trick bomb-sniffing dogs:
"Go to a rifle, pistol or skeet shooting range, spend an hour shooting to saturate clothing with smell of gunpowder, go directly to a New Jersey Transit, LIRR or subway train headed for Penn Station.
"Try to have at least two people on a train in different locations, sit or stand near the doors as the train approaches the station, try to get near police and dogs, loiter as long as possible around the dog, try to pet it if possible.
"If the dog alerts on your scent, do not leave or resist; the situation will cause a major disruption of the train schedule. ... If there is more than one person on the train that causes a dog to alert, you can bet that the train will not be going anywhere for a long time ... neither will any trains behind it.
"It is important that the police call in all possible resources to investigate the situation. ... This will result in the maximum disruption. ... With any luck, Madison Square Garden will be evacuated.
"Rush hours are ideal, the final night of the convention, very good, too."
The sensitive dogs would become burned out with too many alerts
Whatever happen to animal rights??? I hope these "Protestors" who are nothing but beasts get pummled by the brave men and women of the NYPD.
"ooooohh I second that emooootion"
I hope the city is prepared to throw the book at anyone caught using criminal tactics to disrupt the convention ... make as many arrests as possible and lodge as many criminal complaints as are necessary; then follow through, no matter how many perps are involved. Also, they should be ready to break heads in order to protect the lives and property of innocents.
Are these fringe groups American groups?
I wonder if liberals realize that these morons endanger us all, not just conservatives and republicans.
This idiocy will end up getting a landslide for GWB.
No, they are DemocRATS.
"This idiocy will end up getting a landslide for GWB."
Yep.
I'm sure the city and the NYPD will arrest hundreds if not thousands of these cretins.
Unfortunately, this being NYC, a democrat stronghold, the charges will ultimately be dismissed by a liberal judge listening to appeals from an ACLU lawyer.
Count on it!
Their thinking is a lot like the thinking of terrorists.
Isn't organized anarchy an oxymoron?
Can always count on a few to blow themselves up before the big event. Hopefully information from them will lead to the others.
Agree. Find some federal charges to lodge against the 'protesters' and send them before federal judges.
Most New Yorkers may be liberals but their police for not known for putting up with very much bulls**t. If they think Miami cops are tough wait until they get a load of NYC's Finest.
And then have the city pursue fines relating to the estimated amount of money it costs, for each transgression.
When is the DNC HateFest? ...and will John F'n Kerry cross the police union picket-line?
NYPD and NYFD are still reacting to the death of their brothers in the WTC attacks. I don't expect there will be much sympathy for the demonstrators who want to protest the administration which is going after the terrorists responsible.
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