2004 Republican National Convention protest activity
2004 Republican National Convention protest activity includes the broad range of marches, rallies, performances, demonstrations, exhibits, and acts of civil disobedience in New York City to protest the 2004 Republican National Convention and the nomination of President George W. Bush for the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
Hundreds of groups organized protests, including United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 800 anti-war and social justice groups, and International ANSWER. So far, over 1800 individuals have been arrested by the authorities, a record for a political convention in the U.S.
Friday, August 27
Between 5,000 and 6,000 participants took part in the Critical Mass bicycle ride. The monthly NYC Critical Mass ride sponsored by environmental group Times Up! occurs on the last Friday of each month and usually attracts about 1,500 riders. Police eventually blockaded roads and arrested 264 people in relation to that event. This was the first time the NYPD had made any significant arrests of Critical Mass participants. [1][2]
Sunday, August 29
United for Peace and Justice organized the main march of the week, in which protesters marched past Madison Square Garden, the site of the convention. The march included hundreds of separate contingents as well as individual marchers. One group of people carried flag-draped cardboard coffins. Several hundred members of Billionaires for Bush held a mock countermarch. Estimates of crowd size ranged from 120,000 to over 500,000.
Organizers held a pre-march press conference in front of thousands on 7th Avenue. Several people spoke in opposition to the war in Iraq and Bush administration policies including Michael Moore, Jesse Jackson, Congressman Charles Rangel, and a father who had lost his son in Iraq. [3] The whole event lasted six hours, with the lead contingent finishing the march long before thousands of people could even move from the starting point. [4][5] The City had earlier denied the protesters a permit to hold a rally in Central Park following the march, citing concern for the park's grass. The West Side Highway was offered instead, but organizers refused, citing exorbitant costs for the extra sound equipment and problems for the location. [6] Organizers encouraged people to go to Central Park following the march's conclusion in Union Square. Disturbances were minor. New York Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly reported about 200 arrests with 9 felonies — most of them occurring after the march had concluded.
Monday, August 30
Still We Rise, a coalition of 52 NYC-based community organizations for the poor and people of color marched at noon from Union Square to Madison Square Garden, and held a rally by the Garden. [7]
At 4 PM, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, a national campaign involving over sixty organizations and coordinated by Cheri Honkala of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union held a rally at by the United Nations on the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. Along with many homeless and poor people have been marching with the PPEHRC through New Jersey and living in a "mobile Bushville" (which settled in Brooklyn a week before the Convention), thousands thronged the streets despite having been denied a permit and marched down Second Avenue and up Eighth Avenue to Madison Square Garden, the police having decided not to stop the protesters. A few troublemakers apparently acting alone disrupted the march towards the end by tearing open police barricades, with one person attacking a plainclothes police detective who had driven his scooter into the crowd, knocking him unconscious. Police made several arrests and deployed tear gas.
Tuesday, August 31
Members of CODEPINK and others gathered in front of Fox News Channel's headquarters in New York City and held a "Fox News Shut-Up-A-Thon." About 1,000 people protested the network complaining about lack of balance and deriding it as a propaganda arm of the Republican Party. [8][9]
A group called the A31 Action Coalition [10] has called for massive civil disobedience on Tuesday, August 31. It is expected that this will be the most volatile day of the week.
Protest from within the Convention
Throughout the convention, there were several protestors who were able to sneak into Madison Square Garden and disrupt the speakers at the podium. Some even described it as surprisingly easy.[11]
Anti-war activists from CODEPINK disrupted primetime addresses three nights in a row and twice during George W. Bush's acceptance speech. [12][13][14]
The father of one of the first U.S. servicemen killed in Iraq was ejected after holding up a sign that read "Bush Lied. My Son Died." [15][16]
Eleven AIDS activists from ACT UP infiltrated the Republican Youth Convention. [17]
Police tactics and Pier 57
Concerns have been raised about police tactics in arresting nonviolent protestors with many apperently innocent people being swept up in mass arrests. [18]
Once arrested, poeple are taken to Pier 57, a three-story, block-long pier that has been converted into a temporary holding facility. Arrested protestors have complained about extremely poor conditions describing it as overcrowded, dirty, and contaminated with oil and asbestos. Some people have even developed rashes. [19][20][21][22][23]
Other complaints have included ecessively long stays past 24 hours in what are supposed to be mere desk tickets. [24][25]
General information
The Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues, and Ideas is the primary arts festival.
NYC & Company, New York's tourism board, initiated the Peaceful Political Activists visitor program, which gives protest event information on its website and enables wearers of a "Peaceful Political Activist" button discounts at selected stores and restaurants.
RNC Mass Defense in conjunction with the New York Civil Liberties Union, National Lawyers Guild, and others, worked to provide pro bono legal advice for all protestors.
Scenes from the protests and convention are available online at CSPAN.com.
External links
- CounterConvention.org and RNC Not Welcome are the primary online information clearinghouses.
- NYC IndyMedia is the primary protest activity news organization.
- Poor People's Campaign for Economic Human Rights organized the rally and massive peaceful, permitless march on A30.
- Kensington Welfare Rights Union is a Philadelphia-based group that campaigns for poor people's rights. They organized a successful, unpermitted march on the 2000 RNC in Philadelphia and were heavily involved in 2004's march.
- Still We Rise is the website for the noon A30 march for NYC-based community groups.
- Peaceful Political Activists visitor program
- The Battle for New York: A Roundup of the RNC Protests Plans