| Thanks for the post. I was there too! for the latter part of the protest, it was tough getting in.
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Rowdies kept blocks from the Garden |
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"Stay back! Stay back!" cops yelled from behind barricades at the throngs massed on Eighth Ave. near W. 30th St. When it became clear they would not get near the Garden, the demonstrators turned their backs on Bush - at the exact moment when the President began speaking - and began banging on drums, chanting, "No more war!" It was their last hurrah after a week of convention upheaval that began when AIDS activists stripped near the Garden and United for Peace and Justice staged a massive march up Seventh Ave. "It's been a long week," said demonstrator Sam Nolan, 37, of Queens, as he walked away from the protest. "The cops really wore us down. I guess people got intimidated." Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly dispatched thousands of cops last night to make sure there was no repeat of Tuesday's mayhem, when nearly 1,200 demonstrators were arrested around Manhattan. While 29 rowdies were arrested yesterday,, the GOP delegates were not completely insulated from the rage in the streets. At least two protesters managed to get into the Garden and were dragged out during the President's speech. Bush's arrival at the Garden was heralded by a pair of city garbage trucks, which blocked Seventh Ave. while the President's motorcade of Secret Service sedans and armored limousines raced down W. 34th St. Clad in riot gear, packs of cops zoomed around on bikes and scooters and on horseback, while other officers searched people emerging from Penn Station, confiscating sticks and spray-paint cans and other potentially dangerous items. "You're not going anywhere with that," an officer barked as he removed a ruler from one man's backpack. Contained on Eighth Ave. between W. 30th and 28th Sts., several thousand protesters mustered by the group A.N.S.W.E.R. chanted, "No more years!" At one point, police charged through the crowd when 50 members of a pro-Bush group called Protest Warrior waded into enemy territory. Cops quickly penned up the interlopers - for their safety. "Go home! Go home!" the anti-Bush crowd chanted. "It's only fascism," said pro-Bush activist Michael Austin, 41, a New York actor. "I'm here for self-preservation." Later, cops sent the anti-Bush demonstrators south down Eighth Ave., and another group of about 5,000 that had held a candlelight vigil in Union Square marching north toward the Garden - apparently tuckering both groups out.v Mayor Bloomberg, who has praised the peaceful protesters, lashed out against the troublemakers and denied that the city mistreated any of the more than 1,825 people arrested since Sunday. "A handful of people have tried to destroy our city by going up and yelling at visitors here because they don't agree with their views," he said. Just before Bush spoke, a state judge ordered the city to release more than 500 protesters, and fined the city $1,000 for every demonstrator held past 5 p.m. Some had been held for as long as 67 hours. City officials denied any wrongdoing. Bush began his big day with multifaith prayers at the Catholic Church of Our Savior on Park Ave. While his parents braved hecklers, Bush was whisked in through the side - disappointing the hundreds who came to cheer or boo. "Shame! Shame! Shame!" the Bush-bashers cried. "On you! On you! On you!" the Bush-backers shouted back. Bush foes also poured red dye symbolizing the blood of U.S. soldiers slain in Iraq into the fountains around the city. Early this morning, some demonstrators started clearing Eighth Ave. of protest debris. Sixteen others later sat down in the street and were arrested. Center, the Brooklyn Museum and City Hall. |
