From Reuters:
nti-Bush Activists Launch NYC Convention Protests
Fri Aug 27, 2004 09:37 PM ET
By Mark Egan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thousands of cyclists brought traffic in midtown Manhattan to a virtual standstill on Friday in the first significant protest ahead of the Republican convention at which President Bush will be nominated to run for a second White House term.
Thousands of cyclists swarmed down Broadway from Central Park in a parade stretching more than a mile on Friday evening -- a time when the area is typically crowded with theatergoers and people out for dinner and drinks.
The protest lasted several hours, with many chanting "No more Bush," and was the first sizable demonstration ahead of the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 convention. Many locals in the mostly Democratic city stopped to applaud the cyclists as they passed through a bustling Times Square.
At least 30 cyclists were detained and handcuffed at various locations along the route after small altercations between riders and motorists who were irritated at the congestion, according to Reuters witnesses.
The New York Police Department said it had no immediate information about arrests.
The event was mounted by a group called Critical Mass, which wants to boost the rights of cyclists in traffic-clogged city streets and holds its rides in cities around the world on the last Friday of each month.
More demonstrations are expected in the coming days.
The biggest anti-Bush protest is set for Sunday, when more than 200,000 are expected to march to decry the Bush administration's economic policies, the war in Iraq and what they see as the erosion of civil liberties at home after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The group organizing Sunday's march was denied a permit to rally in Central Park on the grounds such a large crowd would damage the grass.
An unprecedented security effort has been put in place to protect the Republican convention after Washington said the event, and last month's Democratic convention in Boston, were possible terrorist targets.
Read More
