RNC Week -- aftermath
What a long week it was last week. Infernally hot, weirdly quiet. Business was way down at the cart. My collaborator, who is starting to settle in working the nights I don't, had lame buisiness Sunday and Monday, even though there was a big activist shindig at Pianos. Why? our regulars weren't around. Everybody who wasn't tied down left the city.
The regulars left, and a whole lot of people came. It was as though the field of battle was being cleared: the Republicans on the one side, protesters on the other, the police in the middle.
Given that build-up, it was hard for the actual show could live up. I mean, half a million protesters on Sunday wasn't bad (that's about 1/600 of the total population of the U.S. gathered in one mass, for those of you who like figures), but NYC is a bigger stage still.
But I did bump into Jimmylegs.
I started walking with the L.E.S. contingent
The fuji/NYPD blimp took some pictures of us
There was a small fire,
some police freaked out a little, shaking the barricades like gorillas and ineffectually flailing at a few miscreants (no photo available) -- not too many arrests -- about 250 i think
The more militant marches of Monday were pretty impressive. Groups ranging from 5 to 30 thousand in various locations. One group, the poor people's march i think, maybe joined by the economic justice march, pushed the police line way back through negotiation and overwhelming peaceful presence. I wish i'd been there.
Relatively few arrests
Tuesday started ugly. A group of 500 protesters marching from ground zero was arrested right off the bat, despite following all the orders of the police. "do these protesters look violent?" CBS news asked, showing footage of the sergent shouting "you're all under arrest!" at a crowd, the protesters and the cops looking equally bemused. "unpermitted" said the Bloomberg administration.
Meanwhile, the city stays dead, business is way off, even the shopkeepers who tried to stay open are closing down. "An economic boon" insists Bloomberg. Go Bloomberg!
I decide to venture out late, closing in on the 7 o'clock "convergence on the Garden." I dodge the mass arrests, following the fuji blimp to the center of the action.
Herald Square is packed, but they've blockaded the middle of it. Isn't it great how easily gated parks transform into DMZs?
Still following the blimp, I make my way through regulated intersections and I wander up onto 35th street, which is not blockaded. I walk right up to where the delagates are entering, close enough to shake their hands or spit on them. I refrain from either.
The fuji blimp heads south, looks like it's hovering over Union Square. I head back down, sample the gathering there -- mostly just hanging out, much as I gather Central Park has become -- and I venture home.
Wednesday my collaborator gets taken in a mass arrest sweep of the protest in Union Square. No-one is being released, nor will they be, in blatant defiance of the law, until after Big Chief Little George leaves town. It's like wolves taking down a buffalo, one snap after another as the beast loses energy and momentum. "It takes time to process all these people" Bloomberg lies, as the courts remain empty. Well over a thousand unlawfully detained.
Thursday, I watch Bush's speech and I don't have the heart to venture out with the cart. "Dead" report my friends at the Nightclub on the corner. Sentimental lies and slavering witchery from our dear leader.
Friday and Saturday I take the cart out. The crowd is spotty, almost mangy. The few regulars who stop by mostly sheepishly admit they ducked the protests.
NYC is a bigger stage still. I wish the city had stayed.
(Bloomberg has already offered to host the 2008 convention, so maybe we'll get another chance...)
Posted by Sam at September 9, 2004 06:28 AM
