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2 Hour Special Program
The
Battle for New York: 500,000 March Against Bush in Historic
Antiwar Protest
Antiwar Voices Address March: Michael Moore, Jesse Jackson,
Fernando Suarez, Charles Barron and More
Critical Mass: Over 260 Arrested in First Major Protest of
RNC
Gov. Pataki Dodges Question on Saddam-9/11 Claims
Veteran White House Correspondent Helen Thomas on Iraq: "We've
really Damaged Our Psyche, Our Soul, Our Image"
Crackdown: 400 Arrests as NYPD Unveil New Policing Tactics
& Surveillance Methods
Activists Face 25 Years for Hanging Anti-Bush Banner At Plaza
Hotel
Poor People's Campaign To March Without Permit From UN to
Madison Square Garden
The Battle for New York: 500,000 March Against Bush
in Historic Antiwar Protest
More than half a million people take to the streets in New
York City to protest the Bush agenda on the eve of the Republican
National Convention in a historic march organized by the nation's
largest anti-war organization.
Welcome to Democracy Now!'s special coverage of the RNC here
in New York City, Breaking With Convention: The Battle For
New York. I'm Amy Goodman With Juan Gonzalez.
Well, yesterday was a historic day. More than half a million
people took to the streets of New York in a march organized
by the nation's largest anti-war organization, United for
Peace and Justice. March organizers said the numbers far exceeded
their expectations. In fact, it was so massive that the lead
contingent had finished marching long before thousands of
people could even move from the starting point at Union Square.
UFPJ organizers said the procession was a victory of courage
over fear and a rejection of what they said was a concerted
effort by law enforcement agencies and several powerful media
outlets to scare people out of taking to the streets to protest.
Here is United for Peace and Justice National Coordinator
Leslie Cagan.
Antiwar Voices Address March: Michael Moore, Jesse
Jackson, Fernando Suarez, Charles Barron and More
United for Peace and Justice was denied a permit to hold
a rally in Central Park. But before the march kicked off,
the leaders of the procession held a press conference standing
in front of the hundreds of thousands of people gathering
on 7th Avenue.
The march was a massive, slow moving circle around central
Manhattan-going up New York's 7th Avenue past Madison Square
Garden and back to Union Square. The march was overwhelmingly
a peaceful protest, though there were some 200 or so arrests
made yesterday throughout Manhattan-most of them after the
march had concluded. This weekend, more than 400 people were
arrested at various demonstrations and direct actions-and
a small number of activists are facing serious felony charges.
There have been multiple cases of significant police violence
against demonstrators and there have been police officers
injured, at least one suffered 3rd degree burns in a fire
set outside of Madison Square Garden.
But the major story of the day was the sheer size and non-violence
of the march, which was titled "Say No to the Bush Agenda."
At the front of the march were actor Danny Glover, filmmaker
Michael Moore, families who lost loved ones in Iraq, several
Democratic Congressmembers and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Here
is a snapshot of yesterday's march as captured by the Democracy
Now! teams who spread out across the crowd.
- Sounds and voices of the United for Peace and Justice
march.
Those just some of the sights and sounds of yesterday's massive
march. UFPJ was denied a permit to hold a rally in Central
Park yesterday. But before the march kicked off, the leaders
of the procession held a press conference standing in front
of the hundreds of thousands of people gathering on 7th Avenue.
We begin with Michael Moore.
That was Michael Moore speaking yesterday. Another person
who addressed the crowd was Fernando Suarez del Solar, who
lost his son Jesus in Iraq.
- Fernando Suarez del Solar
Fernando Suarez del Solar. A number of Democratic elected
officials also spoke. Here is New York City Councilmember
Charles Barron.
Another of those who led the procession was the Rev. Jesse
Jackson. But he almost didn't make it. In fact he had probably
traveled the furthest of anyone to be there. Just a day earlier,
he was in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Here is what Jackson
had to say when he arrived.
Critical Mass: Over 260 Arrested in First Major Protest
of RNC
Some 5,000 cyclists gathered in Union Square Park for "Critical
Mass," a monthly bike ride around Manhattan, sponsored
by environmental group "Times Up!" New York police
arrested 264 people - many of them were held for 24 hours.
More than half a million people took to the streets yesterday
to protest the Republican agenda in New York. The march was
largely peaceful, but the day was hardly without incident.
After the six-hour long march, protesters did not just pack
up their signs and go home. Various groups spread out across
the city holding demonstrations and actions into the late
hours of the night and many of them were met with violence
at the hands of the NYPD.
In the Theatre District, a massive police presence greeted
protesters who had launched a peaceful yet relentless verbal
assault campaign on Republican delegates attending Broadway
theaters as guests of The New York Times.
Police conducted indiscriminate arrests without warning,
catching protestors, bystanders, legal observers and some
members of the press using plastic fencing and netting material
to fence them in.
Plainclothes officers riding unidentified mopeds, were deployed
on the streets of Times Square where they rushed dangerously
onto pedestrian sidewalks to block protesters" movements,
and pen them in for arrest. Protesters chanting at delegates
coming out of theaters were forced away by police who often
followed them for several blocks. National guild lawyers said
police ordered protesters to disperse, then arrested them
before they were able to leave. While bearing down on one
group, a senior police official ordered told officers "If
they stop. If they ask a question. They get cuffed."
During the parade earlier in the day, 15 people were arrested,
including nine charged with felony assault on police officers.
The arrests occurred after a paper-mache and wood dragon was
set on fire outside Madison Square Garden. In a separate incident,
one police officer sustained third-degree burns.
Some 200 arrests were made yesterday, most of them for disorderly
conduct. Over 400 have been arrested since Friday when protests
surrounding the Republican convention began.
The first major demonstration came on Friday night when some
5,000 cyclists gathered in Union Square Park for "Critical
Mass," a monthly bike ride around Manhattan, sponsored
by environmental group "Times Up!"
New York police made over 264 arrests that night in several
locations along the bike route. Cyclists said the bike ride
was peaceful and the police acted unreasonably. Most of those
arrested were charged with disorderly conduct and held for
24-hours at Pier 57, a three-story, block-long pier that has
been converted to a holding pen for those protesting the convention.
- Sights and sounds of the Critical Mass ride.
Gov. Pataki Dodges Question on Saddam-9/11 Claims
Top Republican Party officials and journalists attended
a media party for delegates and journalists over the weekend.
Inside the party, Mayor Michael Bloomberg evades Democracy
Now!'s questions about his support for the invasion of Iraq,
Gov. George Pataki discusses security and 9/11 and Helen Thomas
reminds people to remember the dead in Iraq. Hundreds of companies,
trade associations and other lobbying groups are spending
millions of dollars this week around New York City to entertain
top members of the Republican Party in town for the convention.
Campaign finance and ethics rules allow special interests
almost unlimited spending at conventions. This provide corporations
the opportunity to wine and dine delegates and Party officials.
Over two hundred parties are planned this week alone.
The first big party was for delegates and journalists. It
was thrown by media conglomerate Time Warner on Saturday.
Democracy Now! was there.
I tried to ask Mayor Michael Bloomberg whether he supported
the invasion of Iraq. He refused to answer the question and
his aides escorted him away. Over the course of the night,
I tried asking him the same question four times. Each time
I was denied an answer. An aide to Bloomberg eventually approached
me.
- Aide to Mayor Bloomberg argues with Amy Goodman at the
Time Warner media party.
That was an aide to mayor Michael Bloomberg on Saturday at
the Time Warner media party.
Later in the evening I saw New York Gov. George Pataki. Pataki
is among those politicians who have suggested links between
the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq. At a rally at Ground
Zero in April of last year, he suggested that the statue of
Saddam Hussein that was toppled in Baghdad should be melted
down and then forged into a girder for the new buildings to
be erected where the Twin Towers once stood.
- Gov. George Pataki, at the Time Warner Media Party 8/28/04.
That was Gov. George Pataki at Saturday's media party sponsored
by Time Warner. I then bumped into veteran White House correspondent
Helen Thomas.
- Helen Thomas, Veteran White House correspondent at the
Time Warner Media Party 8/28/04.
Veteran White House Correspondent Helen Thomas on
Iraq: "We've really Damaged Our Psyche, Our Soul, Our
Image"
Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas joins us
in our firehouse studio to talk about the convention, the
media and the war in Iraq. Thomas has served as White House
correspondent for some 57 years and has covered every President
since Kennedy. [includes rush
transcript]
We are now joined by veteran White House correspondent Helen
Thomas. Commonly referred to as "The First Lady of the
Press," Helen Thomas is the most senior member of the
White House press corps. She has served as White House correspondent
for United Press International for some 57 years and has covered
every President since Kennedy.
President Gerald Ford once remarked, "If God created
the Earth in six days, he couldn't have rested on the seventh
- he would have had to explain it Helen Thomas."
- Helen Thomas, veteran White House correspondent.
Crackdown: 400 Arrests as NYPD Unveil New Policing
Tactics & Surveillance Methods
Democracy Now!'s Jeremy Scahill reports on how police cracked
down on protesters and made mass arrests at Critical Mass,
near Madison Square Garden and in Times Square. [includes
rush
transcript]
- Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! producer and correspondent.
Activists Face 25 Years for Hanging Anti-Bush Banner
At Plaza Hotel
The New York police have charged four activists with two
felonies for hanging a banner last week because a police officer
was injured while reporting to the scene. Their attorney has
accused the police of trumping up the charge in order to scare
off future demonstrators.
On Thursday, in one of the first protests against the Republican
National Convention, four activists dropped a huge anti-Bush
banner from the Plaza Hotel.
The banner featured two arrows facing opposite ways. The
arrow pointing forward read Truth. The arrow pointing backward
read Bush.
The banner drop went off without a hitch.
The four activists were arrested. They expected to face minor
charges.
But the four now face two Class D felony counts and up to
25 years in jail. The police charged them with assault because
a police officer stepped in a skylight and cut his leg while
responding to the crime.
The New York Times reports that in March the Police Department
instructed officers under certain circumstances to consider
charging protesters during the convention with second-degree
assault if any are injured while trying to make arrests.
Their attorney Gerald Lefcourt said he had been defending
protesters since the Vietnam era and had never seen an assault
charge applied in a similar situation.
He told the New York Times "It is really a bogus charge,
probably to try to scare off future demonstrators….
Assault requires an intent to cause injury and taking steps
to cause that injury”
We are joined now in our studio with Terra Lawson-Rember,
one of the four activists involved in the banner drop action.
Poor People's Campaign To March Without Permit From
UN to Madison Square Garden
Cheri Honkala discusses the Poor People's Economic Human
Rights Campaign's “March for Our Lives: Stop the War
at Home” rally.
The Poor People"s Economic Human Rights Campaign will
hold their “March for Our Lives: Stop the War at Home”
rally and march at the United Nations at 4pm. They are marching
without a permit.
The group brought their traveling Bushville caravan to New
York through to the end of the convention. The tent city is
located on Myrtle Ave in Brooklyn.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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