New York lockdown: "There's a showdown coming to Manhattan. Backed by the most intense security the city has ever seen, the Republicans are about to turn the blue-state bastion of New York City into the backdrop for George Bush's coronation. The RNC chose New York because it was the site of the September 11 terror attacks, which to Bush's opponents and even some ordinary New Yorkers seems a brazen provocation.
... the NYPD has received $50m in federal money to prepare for the convention, and $18m is being used 'for the latest in crowd-control devices,' including nonlethal weaponry and 'high-tech video surveillance devices.'
Overseeing it all will be the Secret Service, which is in charge of the convention site. Under Bush, the Secret Service has proved particularly hostile to protest. They often set up 'free-speech zones' to corral demonstrators far from the president, and they ask local police to arrest anyone who strays from the designated areas.
In October 2002, South Carolina activist Brett Bursey was arrested for trespassing when he waded into a crowd of Bush supporters waiting to greet the president and held up a 'no war for oil' sign. On July 4 this year, police say, the Secret Service directed them to arrest a couple for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts at a presidential speech in West Virginia - despite the fact that the speech was open to the public.
... as protesters themselves feel squeezed, their urge to rampage grows greater. "I think people will fight back if they're provoked," Moran says. "Usually a riot is an explosion of energy and anger at a situation. The cops create a situation where peoples' desires are completely foiled, so they lash out. I don't think that's unhealthy."
... Most activists believe that if violence does break out, the city is to blame. Mayor Bloomberg and the cops, says Bill Dobbs, spokesman for United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), are "flirting with or inviting chaos".
... 'The Republicans are coming,' she began. 'In a shameless effort to exploit the tragedy of 9/11, they will craft an agenda that erodes the very freedoms they claim to fight for.
'This is where we step in,' she continued. 'On Tuesday, Aug. 31, a day of nonviolent civil disobedience and direct action will commence.' It will start, she says, with a shout. 'As clocks strike 11 a.m., two days before the renomination of George W. Bush, the people of the world will shout 'no' with one voice. From Brooklyn to Baghdad to London to Lisbon, from Selma to Sao Paulo, we'll raise our voices in this global expression of outrage ... Here in New York we will converge on Madison Square Garden. We will sit down in the streets and refuse to move ... We want more than speeches and protest pens. We want change!'"
- posted by geoff @ #