Union Square Tuesday Night
Union Square Tuesday Night
Union Square Tuesday Night
After the street party was surrounded and the majority of participants were arrested, a number of people continued gathering in Union Square as part of decentralized protests against the Bush agenda. For most of the night a crowd of 150 to 200 people stayed in the park.
Around 9:30pm the police began massing on the streets around Union Square bringing in officers on horses and motorcycles in addition to vans full of police. As the police began to prepare to surround the park an impromptu gathering took place at the corner of 16th and Union Square East as a group distributed copies of the Bill of Rights and began leading the crowd in a loud reading. The police eventually moved in and gave a dispersal order announcing that the park was closed and that anyone who did not leave would be arrested. They made at least one arrest with witnesses reporting that the arrested person was one of the people leading the crowd in the reading of the Bill of Rights.
While there was no legal basis for closing the park before its 12:00am closing time, the police actions were part of a systematic repression of free speech and assembly rights during the Republican National Convention. Realizing that there was little legal basis for the order, many people moved to the corner of Broadway and 14th and gathered on the steps while having an impromptu discussion circle and soapbox session. The police remained for a while longer until leaving the park and surrounding streets around 11:15pm.
Photos:
- Photo 1 – People reading the Bill of Rights aloud on the corner of 16th and Union Sq E
- Photo 2 – Police massing to clear the park
- Photo 3 – After the police "closed" the park people stayed on the steps of the park and the police eventually left
http://www.mediamouse.org/gallery/rnc-union_square_night http://www.mediamouse.org/gallery/rnc_protests_2004
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