Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Los Angeles Times - September 1, 2004
David Zucchino, Times Staff Writer
Protest groups held noisy but nonviolent rallies throughout Manhattan, promoting labor and women's rights and criticizing the war in Iraq. They were watched warily by throngs of police, who kept sidewalks cleared of protesters while making 19 arrests by nightfall.
At one rally, lawyers and civil rights groups accused police of indiscriminate arrests during Tuesday's demonstrations, alleging that officers had not given protesters opportunities to disperse. The lawyers also described what they said were dirty and dangerous conditions at temporary detention facilities.
More than 1,150 people were arrested Tuesday, police said, most for blocking sidewalks or for disorderly conduct. Police have made at least 1,700 arrests since the protests began last week. By comparison, 589 people were arrested during the violent 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago.
For the third consecutive day, protesters managed to pierce the police cordon around Madison Square Garden, site of the convention. A dozen AIDS activists inside the hall interrupted a noontime speech by White House chief of staff Andrew Card to young Republicans -- including President Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara.
The activists stood on chairs and hoisted signs that urged U.S. officials to relieve the debt burdens of African nations to help pay for AIDS prevention and treatment. The group ACT UP said it was behind the protest.
Police said a cameraman and a young Republican convention-goer were slightly injured. Twelve demonstrators were arrested on assault and disorderly conduct charges.
On Monday night, an anti-war protester had come within a few feet of Vice President Dick Cheney before being arrested. Tuesday night, two anti-war activists were arrested inside Madison Square Garden after raising signs protesting the war in Iraq.
One of the convention's most violent incidents occurred late Monday, when a plainclothes officer was punched and kicked by a young man outside the convention site. Detective William Sample, was released from a hospital Wednesday, police said.
Jamal Holiday, 19, was arrested Tuesday as he attended a demonstration and charged with second-degree assault.
Bruce Bentley, a member of the National Lawyers Guild, accused police of beating some protesters Tuesday and roughly forcing many others to the ground. Among those caught up in the wave of arrests were four legal observers from the guild, bringing the total of arrested guild observers to 15, Bentley said.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said police duped protesters by first negotiating approved marching routes, then intercepting marchers and trapping them in makeshift pens.
"Not only is it a problem when people are wrongly arrested for peaceful protest, but it's also important for protesters to be able to count on police to keep their word," Lieberman said.
Lieberman said protesters were forced to sleep on oily concrete floors smeared with chemicals at a former bus repair facility on Pier 57. She said the city has promised to cover the floors with carpeting. Officials in the deputy commissioner for public information's office would not comment on the detention facilities.
Police spokesman Paul Browne denied that police acted improperly in arresting protesters. "There was very disciplined restraint throughout the ranks," Browne said.
Tom Hayden -- a former California state senator and one of the Chicago Seven activists arrested at the 1968 Democratic convention -- and Leonard Weinglass, a lawyer for the seven, said police have developed more subtle means of punishing peaceful protest since 1968.
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