Groups Accuse City of Trying to Stifle Protest By MICHAEL WILSON Published: March 13, 2004 New York City civil liberties groups accused city and police officials yesterday of trying to stifle protests during the Republican National Convention by publicly predicting that officers would arrest more than 1,000 people each day of the event. "Given the long history of peaceful protests in this city, suggestions of this sort seem irresponsible and do nothing more than create a wholly unnecessary atmosphere of tension surrounding Convention protests," read a letter from the New York Civil Liberties Union to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The convention will be held in New York City from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2. Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected. "The police department simply does not seem to understand that it has the responsibility to uphold and ensure the free speech rights of those protesting on an equal footing with those inside the convention," Jeffrey Fogel, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said in a statement yesterday. The group called on the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, to investigate "the N.Y.P.D.'s hostility to protests in the city," Mr. Fogel said. Mr. Morgenthau presented the estimate of 1,000 daily arrests on Tuesday while testifying before the City Council's Committee on Public Safety during a budget hearing. "We also know that the Republican National Convention will bring significantly increased arrests in the weeks before and during the convention," he said. "N.Y.P.D. anticipates that we could have up to 1,000 arrests a day, three times our normal volume.'' A police spokesman declined to comment on whether the department had projected the number of arrests. "We are urging people to demonstrate peaceably," said Chief Michael Collins, the spokesman. "Our job is to ensure that's done safely within the framework of the law." "We are in no way discouraging people from demonstrating," Chief Collins said.