the cops in L.A. messed with the Critical Mass at the opening of the DNC in 2000. they arrested almost the whole ride. but in the end they paid for - a succesful civil suit by the riders led to substantial payments of damages to arrestees.

the cops are just wasting resources acting tough fighting a losing battle on behalf of their stupid masters.

something about some riders being anally probed during inspection for drug paraphenalia

I was there. Unbelieveable site. 250 wow. They were just using us for practice for things to come.

Can anyone say "class action lawsuit"?

That footage is disturbing and upsetting. Thanks for getting it up so quick.

I was there also. They didn't probe me but they did a search for drugs. One of the pigs spent more time than required. It's just another example of the fascist police state

yeah thanks.

it is really disturbing and upsetting.
the cops are sure acting macho but they're wasting resources fighting a losing battle for their stupid masters. they're gonna wind up having to pay out a lot of money to these same people they are roughing up. just like they had to after the successful class action lawsuit when the same thing happened to Critical Mass riders at the DNC in LA back in 2000.

it's almost certain that this kind of brutality only deepens public skepticism about the role of the police.

thanks for the quick vid.
Watching this made me think... if this scene were in europe, there wouldnt have been as many arrests.. becasue the crowd outnumbered the cops. and the crowd should have been fighting back. try to unnarrest the kids getting nabbed. i feel that were are at a stage where we should be on the offensive with the cops. they push, we push back 10 fold.

i'm really fucking sick of all the "let them go" and "the whole world is wqatching" chants that always happen in these situations. the whole world isn't watching, but you are, from 10 feet away. fucking do something if you're so concerned.

I stepped back once the black cop throwing club around. Then I found this homeless man sitting calmly right next at the bench slightly shaking his head at the whole commotion behind him... I found it kind'a humane presence.

ANARCHY TIP OF THE DAY

Here's how someone could free people who are being bound with plastic ribbons;

Every protestor could be supplied with electrical side cutters(pliers) that can cut through wire. They're inexpensive and can be found at any hardware or tool store in New York City or neighboring states(if a person wishes to avoid a NYPD sweep of hardware stores).

If the police try to stop or arrest people who own or sell electrical side cutters, they would have to arrest nearly everyone who lives in New York City.

When the police aren't looking, a person could cut the plastic cuffs on the detainees so they could get away.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT use sissors, knives or any type of box cutter(razor, X-acto, etc). These types of implements would be considered lethal weapons by the police and possibly be considred "terrorist weapons" in the wake of 9/11 and the Patriot Act. They could also badly injure people, especially if there's a lot of pushing and shoving taking place. So stick to using electrical side cutters.

> i'm really fucking sick of all the "let them go"
> and "the whole world is wqatching" chants that
> always happen in these situations. the whole world
> isn't watching, but you are, from 10 feet away.
> fucking do something if you're so concerned.

It's up to the locals to judge what mix of tactics
are effective. Unarresting people is a good
tactic if it works and if it's consistent with
long-term strategy. And long-term strategy
includes people being in good health and not
being distracted by long legal cases.

Sometimes unarrests are a good tactic, sometimes
not.

But the whole world *is* watching. Activism
in Italy jumped up by a huge factor after Genoa
in July 2001, and people being shocked by the
violence so similar to that of Mussolini was
probably a big factor angering people.

Bush II is an international pariah - the photos
from Abu Ghraib were a powerful factor in
converting plain text reports (Amnesty International, etc.)
into media "reality".

Videos of police violence against bicycle riders
(i'm downloading now...) is going to add one
more nail to Bush II's coffin.

BTW, personally i'm in favour of unarresting
activists...

Hmmm... the chants of "Let him go!"
were pretty impressive to me (from the video)
- those cops are going to become demoralised.
Morale is low among US soldiers in Iraq - get
the morale low among NY cops and *they* might
start doing the equivalent of US soldiers
sending out Abu Ghraib torture photos.

When it's 10 activists to 1 cop with a gun
and pepper spray, the cop is already frightened.
When it's 100 activists to 1 cop with a gun
and pepper spray, then unarresting definitely
becomes a good tactic...

The protesters shouting "the whole world is watching" where right!
Solidarity from Vienna / Austria.
The system of repression is the same worldwide! But 4900 protersters where not arrested. "el pueblo unido" and so on,…

socialist greetings

Its no surprise and yet disturbing nonetheless that police are violently arresting people commiting acts of non-violent civil disobediance. I just want to thank the people there filming. I hope we all work to draw eyes away from corporate media channels and to democratic forums like the imc.

FROM:  http://p066.ezboard.com/fnypdrant64609frm1

Low manpower...
-------------------------------------------------
It seems a lot of the commands are running VERY low manning. a friend told me the 3rd platoon in the 28 pct tonite had FIVE (5!!!) cops at roll call. very dangerous and sad............oh yeah, there has also been 4 savages shot in the 28 within the last 24 hours. do you think the animals are aware we are running thin??

Freedom! Freedom !Freedom! Freedom! somtimes I feel Like a motherless child sometimes I feel like a motherless child sometimes I feel like a motherless child a long long way from my home!!! I shout Freedom Freedom! I Cryed watching this vedio what a shame to watch a peaceful protest like this be so bullyed up by a bunch of thug cops. If this was not a peacful protest those cop could have been over run by those protesters. Thug cops who's masters are tyrants that call themselfs our leader's wake up people a tyrant is in our house and his name is BUSH!!

World Police State! Why do we defend our country? For this? What is so important that the police need to terrorize peaceful citizens? Abandon NYC! Leave it a shell! Turn it into the prison they want it to be. I wonder which slave master the NYPD serves?!? We are all witnesses to a crime. Who will police the police?

Okay. So I watched this video posted to this website last nite. It was one of the critical mass arrests. After watching it, I'm very skeptical about even coming to new york, not for fear of being arrested but fear of the tactics of my own team!

Okay, so when people are getting arrested and WE clearly outnumber THEM, what's the best thing to do? Chant to the police "let them go, let them go" or "shame shame shame" or "the whole world is watching" or any of the other popular chants these days?

IS THIS REALLY THE BEST STRATEGY?! WHAT WILL THIS ACCOMPLISH?!

At best (!) a chant can be a sound cover for communication among individuals who are not getting arrested and give us some privacy if certain groups want to begin unarresting folks and engage in more confrontational actions.

But this is precisely what must be done during an arrest situation, we must communicate and strategize. We must ask ourselves things like:

"What are our numbers, what are their numbers?"

"What resources do they have accessible that we cannot see visually right now (tear gas, rubber bullets, ak47s, attack dogs, reinforcements) and are we prepared to deal with those resources?"

In the particular video i saw, there seemed to be about 20 cops in the center of a critical mass rider circle of a significantly larger number. Now how many of us would it take to "group hug" each of them? 3 at most? 4 for a big one? And use the same tactics they use in arresting, because they effectively demobilize individuals. This means putting a lot of your bodyweight onto a part of their body, like your knee to their neck, just the same as they do to us. Hell, if you can steal their plastic-zipcuffs and demobilize them that way, go for it.

Every move you make must be a strategic, not an emotional one. It feels good to yell and chant, but it drains us physically and emotionally. Would you rather be out of breath from chanting and in jail or able to run down the street and come back a few minutes later to continue the fight?! Would you rather link arms at the frontline between you and the police and risk getting cracked in the head with a baton, your hairpulled, and arrested? Or would you like to have your arms free to defend yourself.

not to say this author hasn't done so in the past, but i am quite tired of our martyrdom and the fatalist mentatlity that permeates this movement.

Remember always that we are not fighting just to fight, but we are fighting to win.

Did anyone else witness a bunch of cops physically assaulting a man at the intersection of 2nd Ave. and 10th Street last night (in front of the grocery store - northeast corner)?

A whole group of police had him down on the ground and it looked like they were beating him. The man who had been assaulted spat in the face of one the cops.

The NYPD are very worried about getting hauled into court again for police brutality... last night they made sure people with cameras didn't get too close.

the video posted at the top looks pretty clear and close up to me. good job Critical Mass and IMC!!

Many of the new york papers reported up to 264 total arrests. What a waste of peoples time and resources! Why would you arrest bikers at a peaceful demonstration?

-sigh- gentrification has brought so many cop lovers to live on the lower east side. and now they pretend they have more right to be there then others. yuck

There are only 2 things to do when people start getting arrested...

Rule 1:
KEEP MOVING!!! DON'T STAND AROUND. Keep the Protest Alive.

When everyone starts standing around balking at the arrests, the Police have already won; they have stopped the protest. When you have numbers of 2000+ people, they can't stop you, ONLY YOU CAN STOP YOURSELVES.

Attacking the cops is the LAST THING you should do. Doing that gives permission to the cops to escalate their tactics and employ anti-riot weapons. After all, your group is there to protest, not fight, and not stand around. Keep moving together, stick together.

Rule 2: IF COPS ESCALATE and GET VIOLENT, SCATTER. THE PROTEST HAS WON!

When the cops get violent - it will get documented - the protest has acheived it's goal of revealing the Police's criminal intents. If you strike back, the police can use that one act as an excuse to the media for escalation. The clumsy cop that stepped is foot through the sky light at the Plaza Hotel used his injury as cause to press ASSAULT CHARGES.

Of course, if your group is there to riot - then don't pay attention to the above rules. If you are their to riot - bring your stun guns and go to town. No amount of body armor, helmets and shields are going protect those cops from a stun gun. If all the protesters have stun guns - the cops will become a non-factor in a matter of minutes.

Of course - I would never condone such behavior - but I would praise the tactic as an efficient one.

I can't get the link to the video to work. Is this video posted somewhere else?

I don't know who the videographer was, but whoever you are,

THANKS!

Carrie Lybecker
Olympia, WA

My father and I do civil rights and police brutality work. I have the week off to be a Legal Observer for the National Lawyers' Guild, and witnessed arrests at 34th and 7th Avenue (I am the guy in the green hat in the small clip that CNN has been running since this afternoon showing the scene well after the first round of arrests had started), 39th and Dyer (where the cops, decked out in riot gear, apparently FORCED Critical Massers onto a block before penning them in and arresting them), and down by St. Mark's Church (I live a block away). I just wanted to remind folks who are here to bring along the Guild arrest hotline number, which is (212) 679-6018, and please, please, please call us if you see any confrontations brewing, actual arrests, incidents of brutality, etc., so that we can quickly dispatch legal observers to collect names and attempt to negotiate for the release of arrestees. That's also the number to call if you have pictures or video documenting arrests and/or incidents of brutality. Additionally, if you know someone who is arrested and/or brutalized this week, and they want a legal consultation from civil rights lawyers, my father and I would be happy to provide one free of charge.

the tape was kinda dark, and could use some lights, if you are video team, make sure your buddy is carrying around a wide-beam flashlight to use as portable light if you are shooting in the night.

thanks for the tape.

Sarah,
Great job. I hope more people will see this. The lack of narrative
is really powerful. Sometime just letting the images tell the story
and then hearing the chants from the crowd is best way to connect another person thousands of miles away. I feel like I cwas there.
Steve

you still here?
stick around resident. don't just move to the next cleaned up gentrified neighborhood and then complain about the politics.

if you don't run away crying you might learn something here

here.. i'll even give you a +2 rating just so you don't get too upset.

have all the Critical Mass arresstees been released yet?

The young man in the video is my son. His father and I just watched the video, tears streaming down our faces saddened that we couldn't be there to somehow stop what was happening to him, to stop the pain. No one deserves to be treated like that by, least of all him. He is such a good hearted person with a warm smile and giving heart, always caring about others. Although so painful to watch, I thank the person who took it so that this brutality was documented.

My nephew is the last person shown in this video and as you can imagine this whole incident was very disturbing to my family. My nephew is only 16 years old and the only thing this kid likes to do is ride his bike. The police apparently threw someone into his bike which knocked it to the ground. When he went to pick it up, the police jumped him. He's been charged with resisting arrest, obstruction of justice, and assault. After the arrested him, he was crying so hard for over an hour in the cell they put him in he started to hypo-ventilate. They put him in metal handcuffs and took him to a hospital and chained him to a bed where he never received treatment and they told him he was gong to prison for 6 months. They never called his parents until 4:30 Saturday morning and he was never arraigned until 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. If ANYONE has any photo's or video that shows what happened before he was thrown to the ground it would be greatly appreciated. Or if you were there and saw the incident and could provide us ANY information that would be helpful.
He's a REALLY great kid who just wanted to ride his bike.....signed, broken-hearted-family-who-desperately-needs-help