There are time, place and manner restrictions on protesting. Riding your bike down the middle of the street in Times Square is an illegal form of protest. The reasons for this are obvious.
But, at the risk of stating the obvious, if folks ride their bicycles down the middle of the street in Times Square, it is likely that somebody is going to get hurt or killed, either the cyclist or some pedestrian standing on the sidewalk when a taxicab swerves to avoid hitting the cyclist.
I agree.
The threat of death or injury for an “illegal protest” should never come from a COP.
In that case, the cyclist posed a threat to no one until a dirty cop decided to lineback him onto the sidewalk.