"We the people say no to Bush"

Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the New York streets Sunday. Clash songs blasted, anarchists taunted "Aida"-goers, and moms, queers and Wall Street bankers told the Bush administration it must go.

By Michelle Goldberg

Aug 30, 2004 | New York's East Village looked like a police state. By 10 p.m. Friday night, cops in riot gear lined Second Avenue. A police helicopter flew overhead, strafing the neighborhood with its spotlight. Inside Saint Marks Church, a sanctuary for anti-Republican National Convention protesters, the mood was electric. The first big protest of the convention had been larger than almost anyone expected. The week that activists have anticipated for months had finally and brilliantly begun.

Earlier that evening, about 5,000 people staged a big Critical Mass bike ride in Manhattan. Surging up 6th Avenue, then across town and down to the East Village, they'd taken over the streets, blocking traffic, infuriating commuters and taxi drivers, and reveling in their own numbers. More than 250 people were arrested, but the thousands who weren't were soaring on adrenaline.

"I fucking love this shit, man! That's what this is about!" gushed 26-year-old Brandon Neubauer, an organizer with Time's UP!, a pro-bicycle environmental group. "The police tried to instill so much fear, and people came out in the largest critical mass in New York City history. For a good half hour, they had to sit back and watch us. People are fired up. This is for real."

It was just the beginning. Friday's protest was big. Sunday's was enormous. Many things conspired to depress turnout at United For Peace and Justice's massive march. There was confusion over permits and march routes, tabloid-stoked hysteria about rampaging anarchists and the traditional August exodus from Manhattan to the mountains and sea. But in the end, people poured into the sweltering streets to demonstrate against George Bush and the Republican National Convention. Definitive numbers, as always, are hard to come by, but Seventh Avenue's streets and sidewalks were packed for hours from 14th Street to Midtown. By Sunday evening, the New York Times was reporting that hundreds of thousands marched. United for Peace and Justice claimed half a million, and according to the Times, a police officer surveying the scene also estimated the crowd at 500,000. For UFPJ, it was an enormous success.

It remains to be seen whether the Republicans felt all the fury being directed at them. Throngs roared with disapproval as they marched by Madison Square Garden, where the convention begins today. They chanted, "You're Not Welcome!" and "Fascists!" but it was unclear whether there were any Republicans around to hear them. Several groups of direct-action protesters went to Times Square to taunt the delegates on their way to and from Broadway matinees, but an overwhelming police presence insured that there were only a few confrontations. At around 4 p.m., a weathered, elderly Texas delegate wearing a gold "W" pin and a cowboy hat walked through Times Square completely unmolested. "I've not seen any protests," he said. "But I just saw a buncha queers trying to have a weddin'."

A little later, Mayor Michael Bloomberg walked uptown on Broadway, surrounded by Secret Service agents, with only a single protester -- a guy dressed as a missile -- in sight. Asked what he thought of the demonstrators, he said, "Everything's peaceful and people are having a good time and expressing themselves. This is a fantastic city."

That was before the mass arrests began.

Next Page: "It sends a message that we are not all pro-war and pro-empire."

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