publish.nyc.indymedia.org | Today's Marches: AP News + Photos

August 30, 2004 08:23PM EDT [general.addtranslation] Download Article (PDF) [ insert language bar ]

Today's Marches: AP News + Photos

By HammerHard

August 30th Still We Rise in NYC

Keywords: RNCWatch, News, local,

Today's Marches: AP News + Photos

Smaller Protests Hit Streets of New York By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK - A day after massive street demonstrations, smaller groups of protesters turned Monday to health care, civil rights and economics â€” areas where they say President Bush and the Republicans convening in Madison Square Garden have failed the country. A group called the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign massed a crowd of several thousand outside United Nations and negotiated with police to march to the convention site despite lacking a permit. Police proposed a route to a permitted protest area, and demonstration leaders eventually accepted. "They asked if they could march, and we said yes," police Assistant Deputy Commissioner Tom Doefner said. "We try to be nice." What resulted was an astonishing sight: Marchers trooped down city streets with no barricades, passing parked cars and inadvertently setting off some alarms as police â€” some on scooters â€” steered the restless, unwieldy crowd through midtown Manhattan rush-hour traffic. Cars were backed up 10 blocks in places. The protesters had planned to march anyway, said Mitchel Cohen, 55, of Brooklyn, who chanted "Racist, sexists, anti-gay, R-N-C go away" as he walked. "This just shows that we don't need the cops," he said. "We can patrol ourselves." The crowd sang protest songs, heard speakers read poetry and waved signs. Among them: "Billions for the war, still nothing for the poor." Earlier Monday, several thousand people from groups advocating better housing, AIDS funding, homeless services and a medley of other causes gathered at Manhattan's Union Square at midday and quickly filled up two blocks before beginning their march. In contrast with Sunday's huge demonstration, the mood seemed lighter and the crowd more diverse â€” and filled with recent immigrants. But the sentiment was similar. "We're trying to tell the (Republican National Convention) that they're not welcome in New York because they're not prioritizing the needs of poor and working people," said Steve Williams, 25, an AIDS and welfare activist from San Francisco. About 10,000 police officers have been deployed to Madison Square Garden, subways and other convention-related events. An 18-square-block area around the Garden is off-limits to most vehicles. On Monday morning, scattered protesters took aim at Republican visitors. Outside the Plaza Hotel, just south of Central Park, protesters in pink wigs stood at the door with plastic cups of champagne, toasting "to tax cuts and the rich" as the conventioneers walked out. Most of those confronted paid little attention. Sunday's demonstration, which filled the steamy streets around Madison Square Garden for more than six hours, was the largest convention-related protest in U.S. history. Police estimated that crowd at 120,000; organizers said it was more than 500,000.

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Re: Today's Marches: AP News + Photos

Aug 30, 2004 08:29PM EDT

lala

terrific pix--we're watching and cheering for you in l.a.

Re: Today's Marches: AP News + Photos

Aug 30, 2004 08:29PM EDT

Anthony Vicari

Seattle and Portland are monitoring events as they unfold...
Wish we could be there...Don't sweat the Secret Services' illegal demand for the names of visitors to this site. The posting the Delegates info on this website is not unlawfull. As a Delegate to the Washington State Democratic Convention, my info was used by both the DNC and the RNC as well as the individuals running for office....So, the Secret Service doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. Also,
1.) Why is the Secret Service monitoring this webpage?
2.) Why is it not the jurisdiction of the FBI?
3.) It is not illegal to post what hotel a delegation is staying at and it is not illegal to post the list of delegates.
4.) I urge all of you, as I have already done, to contact your legislators and inform them of the abuses by the U.S. Secret Service. This is political intimidation and it may work over there on the East Coast, but not out on the West Coast...

Reuters Article

Aug 30, 2004 08:43PM EDT

Poor, Homeless Rally Against Bush in New York
By Larry Fine

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Several thousand protesters staged demonstrations and marches against the Bush administration's economic policies on Monday as the Republican Party opened a four-day convention to nominate the president for a second term in office.

An estimated 1,000 people rallied on behalf of the homeless opposite the United Nations headquarters, and several thousand others marched to within two blocks of the Madison Square Garden convention arena in a demonstration accusing Republicans of ignoring the poor and those living with HIV and AIDS).

The protests came as Republicans began their convention to nominate President Bush for a second four-year term. He faces Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts in the Nov. 2 presidential election.

At the rally near U.N. headquarters, protesters watched by at least 100 police officers in riot gear carried signs with slogans saying "The Poor Will Be Heard" and "Housing is a Human Right."

"All we have is our voice and a deep commitment to ending poverty in this country. We hope to build a multiracial movement for poor people in America to help raise the standard of living for all of us," said Cheri Honkala, a formerly homeless mother who belongs to the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.

Honkala's group has been touring New Jersey and New York in recent weeks with a shanty town dubbed "Bushville" made of nylon tarps, wood and mattresses. The group dismantled the structure on Monday after completing their tour, which aimed to draw attention to America's poor, homeless and people without health care.

An estimated 850,000 people are homeless in the United States on any given night, according to advocates for the homeless.

About 45 million people were without health care insurance for part of 2003, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report published last week.

The report showed that since Bush took office in 2001, 4.3 million people have fallen below the poverty line. That brought the number of people living in poverty in 2003 to 35.9 million, or 12.5 percent of the population.

Several thousand protesters representing groups called Still We Rise and Housing Works marched to within two blocks of Madison Square Garden accusing Republicans of ignoring the plight of the poor and those living with HIV and AIDS.

"Today's march is about the reality of the Republicans' compassion agenda," said Michael Kink of Housing Works.

"They talk the talk but they do not walk the walk on AIDS, homelessness and poverty. We have more AIDS, more homelessness and more extreme poverty than we did four years ago."

There were no arrests of protesters on Monday. Police have arrested more than 500 people in scattered protests in the city since last Thursday. An anti-war march past the convention arena on Sunday drew about 500,000 people, according to organizers' estimates.

thanks - IMC needs to cover the March For Our Lives better

Aug 30, 2004 08:52PM EDT

and it's happening right now!
compare the really spotty coverage of what's happening now to the really inspiring coverage of the Critical Mass friday nite and ask yourself why.

anybody got pics of what's happening right now on 8th ave? i know KWRU intends to do a citizens arrest when they get to MSG

i'd post some articles but it seems like my ip is banned from posting articles or something. anybody have anything?

Re: Today's Marches: AP News + Photos

Aug 30, 2004 08:56PM EDT

ibvy

wow. the coverage on a-noise is getting really crappy.

there isn't even a single article and thread dedicated to this march - what's with that?

come on, IMC people! it's hard not to suspect that you are all less enthusiastic about this march because it is all about poor people and mostly non-white people! stop being so blase!

Getty Images

Aug 30, 2004 08:59PM EDT

From : www.gettyimages.com

#file_1#

#file_2# #file_3# #file_7#

#file_4# #file_5# #file_6#

very nice pic posting but.....

Aug 30, 2004 09:06PM EDT

ivy

what about pics from the unpermitted march that is approaching the RNC convention site right now?

anybody?

Aug 30, 2004 09:19PM EDT

here's my guess

Aug 30, 2004 09:32PM EDT

osugi

here's my guess as to what's happening at the March For Our Lives right now: the newcomers (mostly privileged white young people who don't know much about the March For Our Lives http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/30/1514233 ) are leaving the poor people behind to carry out their committment to civil disobedience in perfect isolation. listening to live web radio, it seems that the newcomers are perfectly content and even perhaps relieved to declare the evening over.

fair weather friendship. i guess it's better than nothing at all. anyways that's my guess. i guess i won't hear what really happened until tomorrow when the real committed activists will get the full and inspiring story out on other (non-IMC) alternative media channels.

Re: Today's Marches: AP News + Photos

Aug 30, 2004 09:50PM EDT

wow folks, lot of armchair complaining there. i don't understand how you can complain about not having pictures yet of something that is still going on. wait a little bit, maybe folks can't get to a computer until they actually leave the march.

point taken

Aug 30, 2004 09:53PM EDT

i apologize for complaining so impatiently. overall NYC-IMC and everybody has been so great and inspiring. but i get frustrated when i hear the energy just drain out of the voices of some activists as soon as real poor people need witnesses.

sorry if i'm over-reacting

Still We Rise - Getty Images

Aug 30, 2004 10:20PM EDT

.
#file_1# #file_2# #file_3#

looks like my guess was right

Aug 30, 2004 10:21PM EDT

osugi

thousand of frightened marchers did indeed abandon the poor people and the poor people stayed brave. that's all very understandable.

btw, there is now a thread dedicated to this action that is still going on:

http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/108184/index.php

thanks everybody! and stay on it!!

Still We Rise and March For Our Lives are two different actions in two different

Aug 30, 2004 10:47PM EDT

jave

just to be clear -
Still We Rise and March For Our Lives are two different actions in two different places at two different times.

Still We Rise is over. that is what this thread was started for.

March For Our Lives is a different event that is still going on as far as reports thus far. standoff with huge numbers of police right now on 8th avenue. most of the protesters left when the police used some scare tactics. unfortunately, reporting about what is happening right now are very thin. there is another thread about that action specifically but there isn't much info anywhere right now: http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/108184/index.php

listen to democracy now tomorrow. i think Amy Goodman will cover this action.