(The Big) GOP Convention Protest
	Date:		August 29, 2004
	Synopsis:		The GOP is having their 2004 convention in New York City, beginning Monday, August 30, 2004. New York not exactly being a Republican stronghold, dozens of groups have scheduled hundreds of protests throughout the convention. United for Peace and Justice organized the largest one today: a march starting at 7th Avenue and 14th St that went past Madison Square Garden (the convention site), across 34th St, and down 5th Avenue to Union Square (see map). Protest organizers estimated an attendance of 400,000 people. The police declined to give an estimate. I couldn't hope to guess myself how many people were there. But I can say that I made it to Union Square with the front of the crowd around 1:30 pm and the back of the crowd didn't arrive until 5:00 pm. So it was certainly substantial. The protest was extremely peaceful. Both sides (protestors and authorities) took pains to not antagonize each other and to keep everything running smoothly. But Times Square, where I went next, was not so easy-going. It was a strange and intensely concentrated mixture of protestors, GOP delegates, police, and the media (and tourists getting the tourist experience of a lifetime, I suppose). The Republicans stuck out like sore thumbs. The police showed off basically everything they had: foot soldiers lining every block in complete riot gear, hourse-mounted cavalry waiting on the side streets, cars and vans all but choking off the roads, helicopters flying above, teams of bicyclists and motorcyclists scurrying about, camera men surveying the scene, and lieutenants and other officials running around trying to keep everything in order. Nothing got out of hand when I was there, but it got pretty close a few times. You definitely wanted to take care what street corner you were standing on lest you get surrounded by unhappy police. I finally saw a group of people get arrested while walking down 8th avenue back to the subway. Legal observers were everywhere making sure people were treated properly.
	Pictures: (slideshow)
	Videos:		Walking north up 7th Ave. (25 MB) Crowds telling convention-goers to go home. (15 MB)