Posted on 08/30/2004 10:11:41 PM PDT by whatexit
A protest outside the convention hall at Madison Square Garden got rough Monday night. Eyewitness News' Jim Dolan has more on what happened and why.
They came here, a couple of thousand strong, to protest GOP policies. It started at the United Nations and ended on Eighth avenue. It was quiet for the most part, until the marchers wanted to go past the garden and the convention, and the police couldn't let that happen. The protestors were stopped at 30th Street and one block south of that the trouble started.
A plain clothes policeman was kicked and beaten by protestors. But there were hundreds of uniformed police officers who moved in quickly and in force to make arrests and get the police officer out to safety and calm things down.
It didn't end there, though. There were other scuffles at 30th Street when marchers were denied access to roads leading past the garden. No one knew exactly what they were hoping to get from the police.
Officer: "What do you want to do?" Protestor: "I don't know where I want to go."
Most of the protest was peaceful. It was a march that started at the United Nations, protesting GOP policies that protestors say affect the nation's poor. It ended in a sit down on Eighth Avenue just a couple of blocks from the garden.
Jim Dolan: "What do you really hope happens out there?" Protestor: "I don't really know. I don't think we can stop the convention. But I think it is great so many people are getting together to express outrage at this.. regime."
We still don't have a final number of arrests. But there were definitely some in the crowd who knew how to diffuse tension. Just as things started to heat up, some in the crowd started chanting, "The police deserve a pay raise, the police deserve a pay raise.." More people joined in, and pretty soon things started to quiet down. I'm pretty sure no one from that group got arrested.
I guess these protesters in NYC did NOT see the UN arresting protesters elsewhere in world today, which should have been a red flag about faith in UN's allowing such Freedom should they be calling the shots...hmmmm guess they never thought about that!
Man, I just hope the left weenies try it on. I want to see the NYPD to kick their tails...
Time for the billy clubs and some head thunking.
Notice the person in the green hat not looking? That is one of the volunteer "legal" observers, making sure the cops treat these "protesters" nice.
Notice another green hat "observing" very closely in the upper left?
Ah, I was wondering who those green-cappers were. I guess the black shirt guys are there to make sure the cops are beaten and kicked peacefully.
I believe he said 30 or 40% of the protesters were socialist/communist. Let's not get carried away... this isn't DU. ;-)
That may be exactly what they are hoping for. Did you see this article from Frontpage Mag?
A Peace Group’s War Plans
By Michael P. Tremoglie
FrontPageMagazine.com | August 30, 2004
As “peace” activists are wont to do, they advocate peace by initiating war and engaging in hate.
Not In Our Name (NION) - one of the major players in the “peace” coalition opposing the war in Iraq - is no different. They plan a confrontational demonstration near the location for the Republican Party convention in New York City, the night President Bush is to accept the party’s nomination for president.
This is what I have been told by a source within the organization. A few months ago, I received an email from someone who read my exposes about Not In Our Name. He told me that he was a NION administrator, “…. because I have volunteered for that group and been a member since it started. I would like to talk to you about what I know, and am willing to talk…. I have worked with all three major groups, ANSWER, UFPJ, and NION and know how they work together. “He then requested, “ Please be in touch.”
He answered several of my questions about his relationship with NION. He wrote he was disillusioned with NION, because they are a "vanguard group” whose objective is to lead people to their ideology and not do anything for peace. The “communists who run the show” particularly embittered this individual.
What he told me was astounding. Last fall, communicating via email he said, “ I have been critical (about) the upcoming RNC (Republican National Convention scheduled for this August in New York City) protests and really dislike the method by which the leaders of UFPJ (United For Peace and Justice, another major player in the anti-war coalition), ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, also a peace coalition founder) and NION have insured that violence will take place. This is one of the strongest reasons for which I am writing this email. The upcoming protests for next September will be awful.”
According to my source, NION plans to disrupt the convention by having a group of people as march leaders who have memorized a march route different from the one given provided to the police. The march is to begin at Union Square with a small stage and some speakers. They will march north on Broadway to as close as possible to Madison Square Gardens the site of the convention.
The marchers will proceed west towards the river, after which, “ The plan is to attempt to turn north again as soon as we can and then turn east again as soon as we are allowed. You can see how this pattern will soon result in a circle being formed around the Garden... They are telling the police that then they will turn north again on Broadway and move away from the Garden to some "spill out" location, such as a nearby park or pier... This moving away from the Garden will, of course, never happen. They plan to move south again and join up with the marchers still coming up Broadway. This will probably work, and the police will probably shut out the people from moving around in a circle only after they realize what is going on, leaving a group of protestors cut off from the pack... That will turn into a violent confrontation... This is a planned provocation that will surely end in violence. The route and method of police negotiation will make this an absolute certainty.”
This concept - to stage a march and disrupt the convention - was developed at a national NION meeting at the offices of the Asian American Writer's Forum. This meeting was attended by – among others - Mary Lou Greenberg, a Director of NION and a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), with which NION is affiliated, Peter Laarman (a founder of NION), and Joe Urgo, who is an RCP representative. Urgo and Greenberg developed the idea for the march.
Urgo has some experience in negotiations with police. Laarman, whose role in the day to day working of the organization is extremely small, is also assisting with the application of the march and rally permits. He is coordinating this with the lawyers for United for Peace and Justice who are applying for permits as well. This particular march the night of Bush’s nomination is being sponsored by NION.
NION believes, as do the other anti-war groups, that Republicans are more of a threat than Al-Qaeda or the Baathists. Whether they are just inveterate haters of Republicans or they are treasonous is uncertain. What is certain is that peace is not even a tertiary consideration for them - destabilizing the United States is. NION, and the other “peace” groups are linked to communist, Islamist, and anti-capitalist groups.
However, the ultimate irony of this plan was that it was designed, in part, by a former Vietnam Veteran Against the War (VVAW) colleague of John Kerry. Joe Urgo – now a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party – was one of John Kerry’s VVAW executive members. It has been alleged that Kerry was part of the committee that authorized Urgo’s trip to North Vietnam, “to produce propaganda audio tapes to be broadcast over Radio Hanoi for the purpose of attempting to convince American troops to desert their duty and units in South Vietnam. ” [1]
NION is linked to the RCP, which is an affiliate of the Revolutionary International. Other members of the Revolutionary International, are the murderous, Shining Path, narco-terrorists of Peru, and the equally murderous, narco-terrorist, Communist Party of Nepal.
How successful NION will be at disrupting the convention will be a function of how much Mayor Bloomberg permits. The more chaos, the greater the chance of terrorism –Bloomberg knows this. What he will do with this knowledge is another matter.
How closely Kerry and /or members of his staff are with NION, his former collaborator Joe Urgo, and the Revolutionary Communist Party needs to be examined.
Notes:
[1] http://www.xasa.com/grupos/alt/article/172213/alt.news-media
Thanks for that info!
You don't let punks assault cops. That is Rule Number One.
I watched the video and it sure looks like the guy in the black and white hat was doing the kicking (at least some of it). A uniformed office is right there--he pulls him back, then lets him go. What's up with that?
That's what I see in the video and I have the same question. Could it be that he didn't realize that it was a cop getting kicked?
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