Bike Blocs have been a staple of NYC’s major protests since February 15th of last year. We always try to create a space for people looking to be in the streets during a major action, while respecting the need to stay outside of the police pens and be free. During the RNC, Time’s UP! sought to create an incentive for bike activists to gather in New York from across the country, to enjoy this wonderful town from the vantage point of a bike, flowing from one neighborhood to the next. Our bike space become a gathering spot for folks to borrow bikes and pitch-in to make bikes for Legal observers, Street Medics, Food distribution and the Bike-less. We wanted as many bikes on the streets for the RNC as possible and we have succeeded in achieving that goal. In the days leading up to August’s Critical Mass, it became clear the NYPD was making moves to target peaceful, non-violent bike riders especially when they rode as a group. This campaign of harassment including a veiled threat to Transportation Alternatives, encouraging that organization to discourage its membership from participating in any form of bike riding the NYPD considered “illegal.†The police also threatened the owners of the Frying Pan who were slated to host the after-party for August’s Mass. Despite this intimidation and targeted-bullying the progressive community won a huge victory that night and the streets were ours for more than two hours. We forced the police to sit passively as more than 5,000 peaceful riders transformed Manhattan’s normal car-clogged streets into a moving revolution, if only for a single evening. There were 280 arrests that night. There were no orders to disperse as cyclists were pulled off of their bikes as some were violently arrested. On A29, our Bike Bloc was attacked ten minutes after it left Union square with more than 250 participants. Plainclothes cops, riding unmarked scooters, rode dangerously in the crowd, ramming into peaceful cyclists on their way towards the front where they made multiple attempts to disrupt the ride before we effectively had to scatter to avoid further violence. Fifteen minutes later 80 people had been arrested. With 360 cyclists arrested in three days, the police were sending a clear message that they had no problem making extra-legal arrests if only to keep us from disrupting the status-quo to draw the clear connection between car-culture and oil wars. Later on Sunday a frozen zone was put in place barring cyclists from the a wide swath of midtown stretching from 34th street to 59th, west of 6th Avenue, conveniently enclosing Time’s Square and the Mouse Bloc actions. Cyclists were being arrested for running red lights. In some ways we are honored for being considered such a threat to the NYPD’s need to violently control public space and I believe their tactics will blow-up in their face over time. But for right now they have cooled the excitement surrounding the Bike National Convention as it draws to a close. Our final event is a Bike Bloc in solidarity with the A31 day of direct action and civil disobedience and we will be meeting 4pm, Union Square South. Because we will clearly face the un-relenting wrath of the police if we ride as a group we are encouraging all bike activists to form buddy groups (3-7) and be prepared to serve a communication role to actions planned on foot. If the cops create another frozen zone to bikes we are strongly encouraging documentation of any such illegal tactics to be later used in any potential lawsuits. If you were arrested while riding your bike and are interested in any legal action email fuegos59@hotmail.com Also Time’s UP! will be hosting an information sharing session with legal updates on Thursday, September 2, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the temporary space at 49 East Houston Street (between Mott and Mulberry). Additional sessions will be scheduled in the coming weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Bicycling is an integral part of the many solutions we are all working towards as we struggle to shift the current paradigm and cycle of violence inherent in the global system of exploitation known as neo-liberalism, global capitalism and corporate globalization. The Bike National Convention was a huge success and I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the healthy functioning of the Bike Space, the success of our many rides and the many workshops and film screenings. Props to Black Label Bike Club for their awesome welding workshop and bike mechanic expertise throughout. Later today, bikes will be in the streets in force, only you won’t see us as a single mass, instead you will see us in smaller groups delivering food, providing information and steering roving street actions to more open space and further opportunities to experience a bit of the world as WE would like it to be. The spirit of the global justice movement is in the canyons of Manhattan this week, protected in the hearts of all that have converged on our city to send a clear message to the world. You can attack the masses of bikes in the streets and beat back those wishing to have their voices heard, but our time has come and our movement is growing more resilient everyday. Working together, we can not be stopped! http://www.times-up.org