This is a bit gratutious as there is
another diary sort of on the same subject, but I thought I should put up a new since this is kind of a "story". And to add to the gratutity a little, this was orginally post about six hours ago at
the Yankee Rag
According to a source inside the city government, emergency renovations are being conducted on the Brooklyn House of Detention which are to be completed in two weeks, just in time for the Republicans to arrive. In my dreams this would be to make for all of the Republicans who should be in jail, but it's pretty obvious that this is for the protesters. The Brooklyn Detention House was operational up until last year when it was closed for budgetary reasons. It has a full capacity of 815, according to the NY Correction History Society.
To editorialize a bit, this move stirs up some concern as to what Ray Kelly's tactics are going to be for the protests. I attended two large marches here in the city during the lead up to the war (F15 and M20) and just happened to be at the epicenter of the action on Feb 15. I was luckily standing across the street from much of the ruckus, but I did witness five mounted officers crash through a completely full sidewalk which was penned in to boot. No one was trampled, but it could have been lovely.
My concern mounts because there is nearly universal agreement that the Feb 15 protests were a success all around in that they were huge and peaceful. Now if near tramplings and mass arrests occured for a largely peaceful rally, I can't imagine what the officers are training for now. I have a creeping feeling the random demonstrations of force that have been occuring around the city will be omnipresent. Sadly this will just intimidate those who want to be peaceful and bait those who are looking for a fight.