Part 1: The Protest
Well Gardeners, it just HAD to happen to one
of us
Given that so far heart, Algorythm, zeno, jan,
zz, maggijo, yours truly and Cowtippa have all marched in
anti-war demonstrations in our respective cities in the past
weeks and months, it had to happen
CowTippa is our first
arrestee dejour
Cow being the youngest of this elite
club didn't quite know the ropes on how to AVOID such a happen
stance
We'll teach him for next time though <wink>
And
we'll teach him to let one of us hold his bail money NEXT
time...
Alllie and I sat down very early Sunday morning
with Cow to get this exclusive scoop for you
Cow hadn't
recovered from his 16 hr ordeal with New York's finest when
he first joined #news_garden around 11 am EST Sunday morning
He
was cold, tired and hungry but just had to tell us and was
too energized and pumping too much adrenaline to sleep. Later
that night he gave Alllie and I a rough outline what it was
like
Here in part is our take on what he experienced
and in his words, too
According to the weather channel, Saturday in
downtown New York City was clear but exceptionally cold, with
a high well below 20 degrees and light winds
Not terribly
cold, but definitely uncomfortable if one is out for any prolonged
amount of time
One of the first things Cow mentioned
was that after awhile he couldn't feel his hands, feet, nose
or chin
Otherwise he was bundled up really well
Shows
you how COLD it was that day
(Protesters learn early
on that they're going to be inconvenienced somehow, but you
learn to deal with it because of your "passion")
Cow started his protest track at "42nd
street on the east side a couple of blocks from the UN"
Along
with his friend who was carrying a sign they began their long
trek down to the stage area where various speakers and protest
musicians were going to be on a large stage
Where he eventually ended up being "detained"
by the police was in his own words "39th between 7th
and 8th Avenues
Cow estimated that he had walked a good
7 or 8 miles that day trying desperately to get into some
group of people along the route
Every side street was
blocked from 42nd St and 2nd Ave up to 67th St (writer's note,
I don't remember if a city block is an 8th or a 10th of a
mile long been some years, but they are very long in between)
Cow explained that all along this route, people
were barricaded into "boxes" with barricades on
all 4 sides and police manning each side
To me it sounded
as theses were points of containment, possibly with the hope
of a riot breaking out and justification for police intervention...In
fact it sounds suspiciously like a "set up"
But
more about that
later
Cow told Alllie and I that the crowd of protesters
were a mixed bag
There were tiny babies in cuddly baby
slings under their parents' coats, to families with children
in strollers and up through some of elder senior citizens
What
a powerful message that SHOULD have sent to the Bush White
House, but is being totally ignored
There were some protesters there in costumes
and many wore "anti-war" lapel pins...Those who
had either homemade signs or printed signs were stopped and
the handles holding the signs were removed and those who used
card board tubing were looked through by the police for possible
weapons
In all of this, Cow was trying to get closer
to the stage that was set up around 50th or 51st Street which
is about 1.25 miles from where Cow started
Cow wanted
to hear and see many of the speakers assembled there such
as Rep. Barbara Lee of CA (who interestingly enough spoke
at the March I marched in on MLK day), Angela Davis and Desmond
TuTu
Fortunately several in the crowd were carrying portable
radios and a well known local radio station (WBAI) was simul-casting
the speeches and the musical guests
At some point during all his wandering around
town just trying to get into position, Cow and his friend
got separated from each other
Cow told us that he went
west at some point, a few blocks from where the people were
being herded behind barricades at the main route and started
to hang out with the others who could not break into the police
barricades
Fights and scuffles were breaking out
There
were NY Police on horse back (folks, NYC Police horses are
breed to be a huge, a stallion
their backs alone stand
approximately 6 feet off the ground
These aren't western
style smaller horses
If you've ever seen them, they are
VERY intimidating looking)
At one point the police began
to scuffle with one of what was apparently a young protester
and Cow saw the police shove the young man down into the pavement
When
he was brought back upright Cow noted his nose was bloody
and tried to see what happened to him but lost him in the
crowd
There seemed to have been some intimidation of
the protesters who were being withheld from joining the main
crowd and this brought about all kinds of havoc
Cow milled
around and watched much of the scuffling and the police using
night sticks on several of the people on that corner
At
one point he was trapped between 2 of the huge Police horses
At this point Cow tried to make his way towards
Broadway, but he once again met a Wall of Blue who were protecting
the theatre district
Cowtippa's
snapshots of the day
Videos
of the police action
Organizers
accuse NYPD of misconduct at peace rally
Account
of Rally from BethanyYarrow.com
Walking
from 3rd to 1st Avenue: A True New York Horror Story
To be Continued...
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