From: Michael_E_Jackson-AT-brown.edu
Subject: Re: AUT: Trapped Inside the NYC "Satellite Rally"
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 0:41:45 -0500


(Sorry for the late response; I've been snowed in up in 
Monty N's neck of the woods (JP)...)

Richard, thanks for noting this. We started at the 
Library, were at 53d + 3rd for a while, then escaped 
(just in time) and ended up on that intense block on 
Lexington (51-52 or 52-53??) for quite some time. 

My impression was that there were more than a "few 
thousand" people in this predicament. Apparently there 
were also people trapped all along 2nd for a couple 
hours at least--barricades on both sides, like on 3rd.

It certainly was successful in getting some "bad 
protestors" pent up in one place, as well as a large 
proportion of non-"activist" types who seemed just as 
angry and willing to escalate, especially after the cops 
debuted their "trampling with war horsies" technique. I 
have a feeling a few thousand folks at least were 
radicalized on Lexington. 

The other interesting development was the cop 
dynamic. All day, a lot of officers were chatty and openly 
sympathetic--complaining about the cold, that they 
should be on day off, that 1.5*time wasn't enough for 
OT, that they were getting paid "not to think", that they 
also opposed US invasion of Iraq. I was blown away to 
think that this was the same NYPD that represents  
mute US nationalism elsewhere in the States and 
beyond. 

As events unfolded and people got more sick of the 
oppression, a lot of protesters seemed to recognize 
this internal tension and appeal to it (or at least push it 
as far as it would go). Chants of "you have a choice," 
"take off your badge and join us," and (my favorite) 
"who's giving the orders?" were at least as common as 
"fuck the police," up to the point where they really 
started with the little horse stampedes and the sending 
old people to the emergency room. 

Just addending,

MJ


> As news comes in about the big peaceful rally along 
First Avenue, people
> should be aware that there was a "Satellite Rally" (as 
a friend called it)
> created by the police along Third Avenue and 
Lexington Avenue, between 50th
> and 53rd Streets.  Basically, the police used cars, 
horses, saw horeses,
> barricades and borrowed public buses to pen in a 
few thousand
> people trying to get to the big rally.  The pushed the 
crowd until it was
> tight enough that everyone was shoved up against 
each other with nowhere to
> go, and they made some arrests and did some 
pepper spraying too.
> 
> The excuse for all of this, I think, was that we had 
been marching without a
> permit (since NY City hasn't been granting anyone a 
permit to march for
> quite a while).  However, whether or not a march was 
planned, it's hard to
> imagine how this large number of people heading to 
a rally and packing the
> streets could do anything but fall into an illegal march 
(in fact, I would
> guess that many simply fell into this march on their 
way over with no
> original intention of defying any permit laws).
> 
> Another theory, as a friend related to me, is that much 
of this was a tactic
> designed to contain the "Bad Protestors."  Much of 
this march had originated
> from the NYC Public Library, which had been the 
meeting place for the
> Carnival Block, the Anti-Capitalist Bloc, and other 
more radical factions.
> (There'd also been some radical and anarchist 
factions gathering at 59th
> St./Columbus Circle.  I don't know at this point, 
however, whether any of
> those groups were also penned in -- but I would 
guess that they were.)
> 
> So, anyway, that's my report from NYC...  Being 
trapped, penned in, and
> harassed by the police.  That's my experience of the 
glorious anti-war
> rally...kind of like my experiences of many other 
protests as well.  (In
> fact, this was eerily reminiscent to me of  the 
anti-WEF protests one year
> ago, where we got penned in in exactly the same 
places.  Only difference is
> there, the police actually attacked some of the actually 
permitted marchers
> much more enthusiastically, and protestors seemed 
to be better trained and
> more coordinated at protecting themselves (linking 
arms, wearing goggles,
> etc.).)
> 
> Now the question is whether this kind of police 
bullying and suppression of
> the right to assemply will be further tolerated if huge 
such numbers of
> people continue to turn out against the war.  The 
anti-war movement is
> pretty passive by nature and easily contained, but you 
never know what might
> happen...
> 
> 
> Richard




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