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New
York City Feb. 15
A victory for all
By Thomas
Free Palestine Now!
Account
Our
protest started late Friday night as 6 Free Palestine Now! Members drove
up to Washington DC to join buses going to New York City.
Early Saturday morning (5am) we drove to Union Station to meet up
with the buses and the other activists going to New York.
It was lightly snowing in DC and the atmosphere was electric as
peoples tiredness was beginning to be overcome by excitement.
The buses departed Union Station at about 6:30 am to begin the long
trip up to New York. 5 hours
of much needed sleep later and the buses arrived in New York.
The day of mistreatment by the NYPD started before we had even
arrived in NYC when we were informed that the NYPD had refused to give the
protestors a permit for port-a-potties at the demonstration. We were also informed that there were 70 feeder marches going
on around NYC in response to the NYPD refusing the protestors right to
march in front of the United Nations.
This was a big mistake on the part of the NYPD as I will soon
discuss. The original plan
was for the buses to drop us off at Shea Stadium and for us to take the 7
train to grand central station and progress onto the rally from there.
Free Palestine Now! Had decided to take part in a Palestinian
solidarity feeder march at the Israeli embassy which had begun at 11am.
As the buses crawled through Brooklyn we realized that not only had
we missed the beginning of the feeder march, but also the main rally
start. At this point a
collective decision was made to let the activists on our bus and another
bus off in Brooklyn so we could make our way to the subway and get to the
march as quick as possible. Phone
contact was made with the Palestinian activists at the Israeli embassy,
and they said that they would try and wait but they were being harassed by
the NYPD. We got on the 6
train from Brooklyn and made our way to grand central.
As soon as we got out of the station there were thousands of protestors
around us being ushered down towards 3rd avenue. As we arrived
on 3rd avenue tens of thousands of activist from both Grand
Central and 1st and 2nd avenue were spilling onto
the streets of 3rd avenue (NYPD had blocked 1st and 2nd with
barricades) many cars and trucks were stranded in the middle of a sea of
protestors demanding that we be allowed to march.
As we proceeded down 3rd avenue protestors were climbing
on top of trucks and vans waving flags and chanting.
I was able to climb on top of a Frito Lays truck to survey the
crowd. 3rd avenue
was a sea of protestors and the cops could do absolutely nothing to stop
them as we surged forward. The atmosphere was electric as the protestors realized that
they had seized the street by sheer people power defying the NYPD and
striking back at the curtailing of our rights.
People danced in the streets in between cars, climbed on top of
trucks, played drums, climbed street poles and generally defied the power
structure of NYC that had refused to give us a permit for a march past the
UN. Eventually the NYPD realized that they had hopelessly lost
control of the situation and went about with damage control.
They attempted to cut up the protestors on 3rd avenue
using the same methods they were using on 1st and 2nd
avenue to pen in demonstrators. They
would first dispatch more and more cops to an intersection gradually
reducing the way forward for demonstrators until they controlled the
entire intersection by mass then they would throw down metal barricades to
block the street. Eventually
3rd avenue was cut up by blocks just as 1st and 2nd
was and the NYPD started to force people to go west in the hopes that they
would dissipate. I overheard
cops yelling to the crowd that the demonstration was over and that
everyone should go home. Thousands
of people were forced west onto Lexington Avenue.
We arrived on Lexington Avenue and 52nd at about 2:30
and by that time activists had taken the sidewalk and one lane of traffic. People were singing and dancing around a drum circle on the
sidewalk. There were no
police present except a couple “arrest buses” from the NY Corrections
department parked on the side of the street. (They had probably thought
that they would transfer all the detainees from 1st and 2nd
up to Lexington) At this point as the crowd began to swell with more
people being forced up from 3rd avenue we decided to seize the
intersection of Lexington and 52nd.
At first 10-15 courageous activists stood in front of cars moving
up Lexington while others ran through the crowd asking activists to take
the street. The crowd on the
street grew and grew until by 2:45-3pm 1000 people were in the street and
Lexington was ours. The key
to taking the street was asking the drummers and musicians on the side
walk to move into the street, which they did, and with them came most of
the other activists. Around
this time a smaller group of 300 activists led by anarchists had taken the
intersection of Lexington and 51st and the whole block was
ours. From that point on all
activists that were pushed up from 3rd avenue went straight
into the “safe area” of Lexington from 51st to 52nd
which we controlled. The police presence steadily picked up and cops would
occasionally try and escort a car or two through the crowd which would
immediately close up the street behind them.
The activists were as diverse as any gathering I have ever seen.
Palestinian activists, peace protestors, anarchists, musicians,
veterans, and students arm in arm held the street for over an hour
chanting and singing. The
whole event was captured by News 4 who had a truck parked next to the
corrections buses with a camera man on top (I bet you wont see it on the
news though)
A little after 4pm the police presence had swelled to over 100 while there
was now between 2,000 and 3,000 people in Lexington Ave between 51st
and 52nd. At apx.
4:10 pm the police ran motor scooters through the crowd in an attempt to
clear the street for some VIP’s. (the NYPD was actually shouting
“clear the street, important people are coming through” as if they
thought this would make us move) Activists then proceeded to sit down in
front of the cars and scooters trying to force their way up Lexington, and
locked arms in front of the police on foot, all the while chanting and
singing. Shortly after this
10 or so horses moved down Lexington from the direction of 51st
(The anarchists holding the intersection had since left to go to Times
Square) With this direct provocation about 500 or so activists sat down in
the streets in front of the horses in defiance.
With this the NYPD ordered the horses to charge the crowd (One Cops
exact words were “Bring those horses into them NOW!” them meaning the
peaceful protestors sitting on the ground) The horses waded into the crowd
but we stayed firm, refusing to move and pushing the horses back as they
came at us. After a few
minutes of this, the horses pulled back down the street.
This is where we made our fatal mistake.
While the cops fled in front of us we all stood up and started
cheering and singing and dancing in the street.
As soon as we stood up, the NYPD charged us with horses from behind
(from the direction of 53rd) We all rushed to sit down again,
but the cops charged us down, they horses trampled numerous people on the
ground injuring several. We
stayed firm; trying to push back the horses and help the injured to
safety, but it was to no avail. NYPD
on foot followed the horses into the crowd hitting and dragging activists
who were still sitting on the ground.
I saw one journalist who was trying to take pictures of the horses
beaten to the ground by 4 cops and dragged off and arrested.
Four of five other activists were arrested and hit by police. With
this the cops had opened about 1 lane of Lexington Avenue and continued to
push and hit activists until they had about 2 lanes open, then stood guard
all up and down the sides of the street with batons and pepper spray at
the ready. At two points
activists who were being crushed against cars and buildings tried to surge
back and retake the street but they were beaten by police and arrested.
All in all 10-15 people were arrested and at least 10 hurt by
beatings and tramplings.
At this point we were seriously late for our buses, which we were supposed
to rejoin at 4:30pm (the battle of Lexington raged until about 4:20) we
managed to fight our way into the subway stop at the corner of Lexington
and 52nd and then took the 6 train to grand central and then
the 7 to Shea stadium. We were very late (about 40 mins or so) but luckily there was
still a bus destined for DC there)
Perspectives
NYC
February 15th will forever live in my memory as one of the
greatest demonstrations I have ever been to (and I have attended quite a
few). Not making it to the
main rally was one of the greatest strokes of luck for our group.
By going onto 3rd avenue instead of continuing on to 1st
and 2nd we avoided being trapped and penned like the majority
of the demonstrators. The
atmosphere of the demonstrations was incredible.
People seized the streets showing no fear in the face on vicious
NYPD attacks. 3rd avenue was alive with people jumping on top of
vehicles and signing and dancing. People
power reigned as where ever we were blocked by the NYPD we adapted and
seized other streets and intersections. The protestors were infected by a spirit of co-operation and
justice as well all worked together to navigate the police blockades and
successfully strike back at the NYC authorities. The NYPD thought that by
not issuing us a permit to march and use port-a-potties, and by penning in
and corralling people on 1st and 2nd avenue they
would be able to break the back of the demonstration.
They were seriously wrong. People
adapted and 70 feeder marches were organized.
Instead of having one large peaceful march, the NYPD had to contest
with hundreds of feeder marches and spontaneous actions. Protestors who were blocked from reaching the main rally
responded by seizing streets and intersections forcing the NYPD to deal
with hundreds of flair ups all over Manhattan. They didn’t giver us a
permit, so we shut down the city. Traffic
was stopped all over Manhattan, and the NYPD was powerless to do anything
about it. NYC February 15th
was a stunning success for both the anti-war movement and the fight for
the protection of our rights. We
responded to the NYPD’s disregard for the constitution with a show of
people power not seen since Seattle.
The NYPD’s violent and vicious response to the peaceful
protestors (I did not see one violent act by activists all day, even in
the face of beatings, arrests, tramplings, and pepper-sprayings) clearly
highlighted the point which we were trying to make.
That point was; the authorities do not represent the will of the
people. Not only do they not
represent the peoples will for peace, but they also do not represent the
will of the people to preserve civil rights and the Constitution.
The NYPD showed that they represent only the rich and powerful in
our society, the same people who are driving us towards war in which they
will sit in their homes and watch us die and become murderers for their
convenience. New York was a
victory. It was a victory for
all those who value the rights and freedoms of this country that are being
viciously attacked by Bush and his cronies.
It was a victory for all those who are determined to show the world
that we are not a nation of cowards who refuse to stand up to the forces
of evil that have occupied our government and civil structure.
It was a victory for all those who refuse to stand by and watch our
country become a violent hypocritical aggressor in world affairs.
It was a victory for people power and the will of the masses on the
street not to be led into a “sound proof protest box” by the
authorities who wish to keep us silent.
New York was a victory for peace.
New York was a victory for everyone.
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