Thousands of Demonstrators Hit NYC Streets

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/cvn_convention_rdp

<snip>

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the fortified streets of Manhattan on Sunday to protest President Bush (news - web sites)'s foreign and domestic policies as Republican delegates gathered to nominate the president for a second term.

Latest headlines:
· Thousands of Demonstrators Hit NYC Streets
AP - 9 minutes ago


A day ahead of the start of the Republican National Convention, protesters gathered 20 blocks south of the convention site. "The majority of this country wants the Bush administration out of office," filmmaker and Bush critic Michael Moore told the crowd.


Meanwhile, Bush suggested in an interview with Time magazine that he still would have gone into Iraq (news - web sites) but with different tactics if he had known "that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day."


He called the swift military offensive that led to the fall of Baghdad in April 2003 "a catastrophic success" in light of the fact that fighting continues to this day despite the overthrow of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government.

<snip>

[Catch22Dem]

1. A catastrophic success?

WTF is that?

By the way, looks like more than "10s of thousands" to me.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

4. I thought the same thing when I saw the headline. Typical of the press

to downplay the numbers.

[Politicub]

34. The spin by each network is interesting

"Thousands" seems to be used more than hundreds-of-thousands. MSNBC is using hundreds-of-thousands.

Still - my eyes have been filled with tears while watch people who are protesting Bush pass by for hours.

[donheld]

35. tens of thousands

i think they must mean ten's of thousands on each block


:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:
:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:
:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:

[DeepModem Mom]

2. CNN (!) just said up to 250,000 --

[annabanana]

32. way too low..........

Crowd estimates START at 250k

[struggle4progress]

71. Some papers are quoting 400K:

... "It was a massive protest against the Bush agenda," said Bill Dobbs, spokesman from United for Peace and Justice, the umbrella protest organisation that staged the rally. He said more than 400,000 people turned out for the march, a figure which could not be verified, while police refused to give an estimate ...
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=25866

... Shonna Carter, a group spokeswoman, said the estimate of 400,000 participants was based on 80 full blocks of marchers who lined up to participate ...
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aThv8vqWQeOs&refer=top_world_news

... Police did not give a crowd estimate for the demonstration, which snaked in a circular route around midtown Manhattan, shutting down dozens of blocks and bringing out hordes of police in a city already girded against terrorist attacks. Organizers had claimed up to 250,000 people would participate in what was expected to be the largest protest of the week. At its height, the march filled much of the route, forming an enormous horseshoe of dissent in the heart of an overwhelmingly Democratic city ...
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040829_1304.html

But most are simply saying "thousands and thousands," "tens of thousands," or "hundreds of thousands."

[calimary]

3. "A catastropic success"? "A catastrophic success"????!?!?!?!??!?

Words fail me.

Almost as much as he fails them.

[Downtown Hound]

9. Look on the bright side

At least he didn't say "catastrophicic success."

[July]

20. I think he meant "a successful catastrophe." nt

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Check out this webcam shot!

See it at:
http://tinyurl.com/68eau

The webcam is from this site:
http://tinyurl.com/48ps3

[calimary]

7. Whoa. That is a mighty river of people! As far as the eye can see!

Wall-to-wall.

HELLO, media!!!! Wake UP!!!! Does this give you ANY CLUE AT ALL as to how "popular" this regime is? ANY at ALL??????? Does this give you ANY NOTION AT ALL about how large the potential audience is for ANYTHING that's not pure wrong-wing crapaganda? ANY at ALL??????? Hey, CNN - if you started pandering to THIS audience, you'd probably notice something rawther odd - your numbers would start going up. Probably WAY up.

[realFedUp]

18. justice flowing like a river

and they keep on coming.....

[mia]

24. Earth is in the balance

[HereSince1628]

59. Whoa, nearly 3 hours later and still people protesting?

Are these live shots or what?

[kohodog]

91. It took us over two hours to go from 19th St. to MSG (15 blocks)!

And people were still passing MSG at 4:30. We started at noon and cut out before getting to Union Square, opting instead to go to Central Park where several thousand gathered on the Great Lawn.

One of my favorites: A 70 something woman wti a neatly printed sign reading: Four more months!

[Misskittycat]

6. It's currently on C-Span live (eom)

[warrior1]

8. Our brothers and sisters

[Occulus]

10. They're chanting now

NANA NAA NA, NANA NAA NA, GEORGE BUUUSH... GOODBYE

heheheh

[wildflower]

23. Did you hear the guy who just yelled,

"O'Reilly: Shut up!"

LOL

-wildflower

[realFedUp]

19. great pics...keep on posting them.

[seventhson]

22. Just spoke with my wife and daughter(14)carrying flag draped coffins

I am home with the 9 year old watching on CSPAN.

But got my sister in law's cel and she said they were blocked for a long time at 15th street unable to move.

It got too hot to carry the coffin in the hot sun so they handed it off to others.

Seems they are getting blocked in bunches way downtown so when they pass the garden they are smaller groups only a few getting let through at a time_.

People are hot and tired and the crowds are moving slowly -

The coffins were stuck around 15th street for almost an hour (CSpan camera is at 33rd street)

Look for a blonde with dreadlocks and a blondey teenager with mile-long legs when they pass.

[GHOSTDANCER]

26. When I saw the Coffins, It made me break down and cry. N/T

[seventhson]

84. it was very touching - and that was only about 100 coffins

imagine if there had really been a thousand

[ignatius 2]

28. Awesome pictures. I am touched in particular by the young man wo is

holding the call your mother..eat your vegetables..vote sign wondering if 4 more years of Bush will find him holding a rifle instead somewhere in the mideast.

Bush and his bs line who would have thought there would be so much resistance? Most of his generals of whom he and Rumsfeld were too f'in arrogant to listen to knew. Many wanted no part of the war but told him to send 200m plus soldiers to protect the infrastructure, control the borders and above all not to disband the army except the leadership because there would be only unemployed armed men.

Arrogant bastards, the only frick'in thing they protected was the ministry of oil and the oil fields. Meanwhile chaos, death and destrution everywhere. This. like everything that arrogant prick has ever touched, is one big pile of oozing dog shit.

And yet 47% think he is doing a fine job..ignorant people with their heads in the sand...

[Lothar]

38. The young man in the poster doesn't know my mother...

Or even my dad. They're both fringe right-wingers who will never, ever listen to reason when it comes to religion or politics. My Dad even said yesterday, "They're gonna cause a bunch of havoc at the convention. Well, that's Democrats for you; they're all a bunch of freaks."

If I'm going to call my mother from an anti-Bush protest, I had better look forward to World War III. Better that the sign says, "Call your S.O." instead. At least she supports my leftist politics.

[lazarus]

39. confront him

My dad used to be a winger. His wife grew up in Midland, knows W and Laura and Karl Rove personally.

And, after several years of patient discussion with him, I was floored when he told me he "really likes this Howard Dean guy" during the primaries. Then he really liked Edwards. He's not so keen on Kerry, but I'm fairly sure he's voting Dem this year.

Just the fact that he's not a big supporter of Bush is, in my mind, a victory.

And I did it through intelligent, patient, informed discussion. It would have been easy to score points, but instead I just tried to show him the truth in a way that let him find it himself.

[Lothar]

48. Forget it

To confront my dad would be to go against 4+ hours a day of Limbaugh and Hannity, not to mention R.B. Thieme, his ultra-fundy pastor he listens to on tape practically every day. He is beyond reasoned discussion and will be die-hard stubborn until the day he dies; to ever disagree with him is to go against his God when he can't come up with a response. Fear, paranoia, ignorance, and self-righteous arrogance are embedded in his soul - there is no hope for him, I'm sad to say.

My mother on the other hand...if she could get away from him for a few years, stop relying on Limbaugh and Hannity as the "true" source of news as opposed to the "liberal" Tom Brokaw, ditch Thieme, and take a college course or two on philosophy, sociology, and/or anthropology with an open mind, then she might crawl out of hers and Dad's psychological hell. For her, it would take a long time of deprogramming, but it could conceivably be done. My Dad, no way. His brain would respond to any sort of change as trauma, as an incoming death, because his identity is so intertwined with these things. I blame his own horribly abusive father for limiting his capacities for experience.

[wackywill]

82. This does make me think

it's time to divide the US into 3 or 4 seperate countries. Everyone would...er I mean should, be content or at least they wouldn't have "the other side" to blame.

[ignatius 2]

51. Sometimes there is no reasoning with people. None is as blind as he

who refuses to see. I am sorry that your parents are so close-minded, but I am happy that you have a significant other to share your thoughts with.

peace to you all..even your paranoid papa.

[IndianaGreen]

41. It brings back memories of the antiwar protests against Vietnam war

sniff, sniff...

BTW, who set fire to the mock statue of Saddam?

[ilovenicepeople]

44. Thankyou Misskittycat

I forgot about C-Span,I'm going to watch all week long.Got it cranked up in surround sound right now,those drummers sound great.:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :party: :party: :party: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :hi:

[GingerSnaps]

11. Bush is ahead in the polls....yeah right!

How many protesters were at the Democratic Convention?

I think that the protest that is going on right now will be the largest in history.

[calimary]

13. Yeah... see, they don't come out, like that, in crowds that large, if they

love you. Get it? Wonder if ANY of that is going to get through to the network knuckleheads.

[wishlist]

14. On CSpan "Thank you New York" on marque- My feeling too!

Thank you NYC! Fantastic coverage of the joyous parade

[realFedUp]

12. Cspan images are great! n/t

[spooked]

15. This is bringing tears of joy to my eyes

THANK YOU C-SPAN!!

[realFedUp]

16. freeper interviewed by Cspan...

North Carolina....more interviews...

[Coventina]

17. That's one mighty big focus group! n/t

[leesa]

21. C-Span is doing a great job of covering it. The questions are very

appropriate. God bless the protestors and NYC for hosting them.

[jcappy]

25. Boycott Fuji

The NYPD's Eye in the Sky (observing some 250,000 of us)today is a Fuji Blimp. It was given them by a far too cooperative Fuji Company. Please boycott.

I am just back, having completed the loop... others are still waiting to begin the march... Most others who have completed the march are headed for the GREAT LAWN, but the heat and humidity is terrific--so home for some air cond. A wonderful day.

[Francine Frensky]

27. Wow. C-Span ROCKS right now.

Showing street marchers in NYC. Way cool.

[Honor Where Are You]

29. Freepers got to.....

the yahoo rating. Guys/Gals/People let's give this a 5.

[Digit]

30. Watching C-Span!

This is HUGE!!!!!
I am loving it!!!!
Keep sending the message, people!!!!!

[stewert]

31. Tens of Thousands ?????

FOX news reporter Laurie Dhue just said tens of thousands too, what a joke, looks more like a million to me.

They said the crowds have been marching for 2 and a half hours and you still can not see the end of the crowd. That's a hell of a lot more than tens of thousands.

Just by watching on C-SPAN I would guess 1 million.

In the last hour FOX has only mentioned the protests one time, and that was a 2 minute report to say there are twns of thousands of protestors.

[Whoa_Nelly]

33. I especially liked

the C-SPAN images of the street where it was chalked several places on the pavement: FUCK FOX!
The camera panned pretty close up over these :-)

[wildflower]

36. Yes, I checked a number of different sources listed at Google news, and

"tens of thousands" seems to the meme, whether the stories say tens of thousands are "expected," "have descended," etc. Listening to AAR I'm hearing it's probably closer to a million.

-wildflower

[TeeYiYi]

40. WOW. That's alot of people.

I wish I was there.

TYY:wow:

[donheld]

37. the whole thing is Beautiful

i hope by "catastropic" they mean catastropic for the Bushies

:bounce:

[Ras_Nesta]

42. Who are the idiots that set the cart on fire?

Fucking morons. I hope they got them on tape and throw their asses in jail.

That's what'll lead on the news. Some stupid cart on fire.

[Francine Frensky]

43. They were scary looking

black umbrellas and bandannas.

cops were really watching closely, firemen right on it.

[Ras_Nesta]

46. Fucking analarchists...

I'm ashamed I ever was one.

[leftchick]

49. I believe they were....

I was watching them for a wile thinking they weren't planning on taking their drqgon float home with them. They were pretty cowardly for running off.

[seventhson]

83. Agent Provocateurs (NOT anarchists, I'll bet)

[allalone]

88. must not have been weathermen

they would be too old to run.

[prodigal_green]

87. Fox News interns no doubt.

I guess they did that right after I left the march. I was about a half block from them and they did look kinda shady.

How fucking stupid do you have to be to endanger people's lives like that! The smoke and flames could have made things a LOT worse for a whole lot of people. I do not think these folks are on our side.

Fortunately, it was the only incident during the entire march (bicyclists went above the march where the streets were blocked off).

I was amazed by the turnout. They spent a full two weeks trying to scare the life out of us with tales of police/paramilitary tactics, supposed anarchists and terrorist attacks. I think if more people had been convinced it would be as peaceful as it turned out to be, we would've seen twice as many marchers.

[leftchick]

45. omg! Faux News is now reporting about the protest because of the FIRE!

I flipped from c-span when I heard someone in the crowd say faux was now reporting about the protest because 9of the fire. I went to faux, whose newsreader is safely ensconced in MSG, far from the action. She said it was mathem on the street... :eyes:

OMG... there is reality and then ther is faux... I flipped back to c-span, protesters are singing and dancing PEACEFULY and the fire is fucking out!

[minkyboodle]

50. completely true

I'm so pissed at those assholes who started the fire. Now fox and all the other bullshit reporters have their easy out story. Meanwhile the truth is some morons did something stupid and irresponsible, and the NYPD, Fire Dept, and the protesters handled it calmly and peacefully.... some how I don't think that is what is going to lead in the press :(

[Occulus]

57. did you notice though

NOTHING resulted from it. The disruption to the march was nearly nonexistent.

Bravo to the police and FD for cleaning up the area quickly and hurrying the march along on its route. That was handled very, very well.

[minkyboodle]

61. definitely

It was wonderful to watch the police and FD do such a great job and the protesters did their part by being patient and peaceful. :cheers:

[leftchick]

63. agreed... very well done...

"fox news sucks!"... :)

[Kenergy]

47. What a beautiful sight!

I think the founding fathers and mothers of this country
would be damned proud to see that this kind of spirit
still lives after they told King George to go fuck himself!

[pfitz59]

Easily a million people....

Bush* has sure united the US! Lovely sight...

[pfitz59]

53. Easily a million people....

Bush* has sure united the US! Lovely sight...

[BobMorr]

52. Thank You C-Span!

Live broadcast of the protests in N.Y. I feel like I'm there while watching it. Thank you C-Span!!

[tXr]

54. What a beautiful sight!

Tears of hope and joy fill my eyes as I watch our brothers and sisters in New York. Oh, how I wish I was there! Thank you, C-SPAN!

NA NA NA NA
NA NA NA NA
HEY HEY
BUSH LIED!

[found object]

55. good pics at this link

http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/106133/index.php

[annabanana]

56. 3 1/2 hours and counting............

Hundreds of thousands of free people marching in the streets.
beautiful!

[Piperay]

58. Seems like chimp

should have taken in all the possibilites BEFORE he went into Iraq. It was idiotic to think that they wouldn't 'live to fight another day', only a morAn would assume that.

[realFedUp]

60. coffins now

That's something to see...

[lovuian]

62. So Sad!!! These Protestors are Awesome

God Bless them all

:bounce:

[jcappy]

64. organizers: 400,000 demonstrate

Peace and Justice has just announced that 400,000 marched up Seventh Ave and past the Convention Centere this afternoon.

Reuters unofficially is saying around 200,000. No matter how you cut it, it's a huge success despite the endless intimidation, the police state type presence, the no rally permit, closed subway lines, hovering helicopters and Blimps... and to boot very torrid weather and a long wait to get started.

[liberalcanuck]

65. Alright! The figures are incredible. n/t

[demoman123]

68. 7,000 ppl per block x 20 blocks = 140,000 ppl

NYPD over the years has said that about 7,000 people can fit in the street in a city block. CSPAN says the march occupied 20 blocks. That makes 140,000 or somewhat more if you throw in the intersections.

[stewert]

73. It was 40 Blocks or 2 Miles !

Where did you get 20 blocks ?

Early on I heard 35 blocks, then later they said 40 blocks, and they also said the crowd was 2 miles long.

Whoever said 20 blocks was wrong.

[seventhson]

85. 14th street & Union square to 7th ave (3 blocks(THEN 20 blocks uptown Then

2 blocks over to Broadway and ANOTHER 20 blocks back to 14th and Union square (Used to be neighborhood) Broadway is on an angle and the blocks are therefore longer too).

That makes a total of about 45 blocks PLUS all the marchers had not even left the square when the front line got there (plus there were feeder marches coming in from side streets.

7000 X 45 = 325,000 PLUS additional from the feeder marches and stragglers at the end.


I think 400,000 is a good estimate. 500,000 is possible, but if 1/5 of the people got off onto sidestreets or into shops for shade, food, etc. you can guess more than 600,000

But having been in a crowd about this size, I would say 450,000 is a fair estimate.

Info comes from radio estimates and reports: the radio reported that the organizers substantially underestimated the actual number and their estimate was 250,000

[demoman123]

90. CSPAN said 20 blocks.

I cited CSPAN in my post.

[dave123williams]

74. Remember, they were forming and walking north...

People were moving up 7th Avenue for 4 hours. You do the math. I'd be suprised if it was less than half a million.

[Pallas180]

70. are you saying they didnt have a permit to march up 7th Ave????

.

[prodigal_green]

89. actually, the helicopters were a relief...

they provided a nice downdraft breeze for us. People in my area cheered when they went overhead.

It was really fricken hot, but when I started to get tired I just thought of all the kids in Iraq who are dealing with 110 degree weather in full battle armor. Oh wait, they weren't given armor. Well, fatigues are still pretty hot.

[jackieforthedems]

66. You Sure Didn't See This At The Democratic Convention

If Bush gets in for another 4, I'm going to hang my American flag at half staff!!!

[Whoa_Nelly]

72. and upside down!

to show our nation in distress

[jackieforthedems]

76. I Agree

We'll really have a "nation in mourning" after another 4 years of Bush.:cry:

[young_at_heart]

67. CNN (Headline News) at 2:30pm slanted it to the Republicans

They used stock footage of demonstrators using violence and said that "if" this happens today it could be to the Republicans' advantage. I watched C-Span for a long time and saw only orderly, well-mannered people marching with great signs. I am so disgusted with CNN right now.....they were just like Faux!

[AP]

79. My local fox statition, a couple weeks ago, did a show about the

convention and did the same thing. They showed stock footage of violent protestors during a story about the convention, clearly trying to give the impression that that was a real violent protest of the, yet to be had, convention.

It was shameless.

[aaronbees]

69. beautiful!

Freakin' right on! This is gorgeous to see! Democracy in action! :party: :toast: :party: :toast: :party: :bounce:

[nodehopper]

75. post/view pics here

http://rnc.freespeech.org/

[allalone]

77. msnbc must have watched a different rally than I did

I stopped on their channel for a minute and they were talking about all the arrests and a cop being hit by a bottle and the burning of whatever that was and to top it off they pulled the only guy I saw there with a nader sign and interviewed him. She was saying with all the anti-bush stuff, it was nice to have him there. Hunh? I watched for a couple of hours. I saw crowds of people in a cheerful, non confrontational mood. It was awesome. BTW, anybody see any weather underground guys?

[allalone]

78. bully

Meanwhile, Bush suggested in an interview with Time magazine that he still would have gone into Iraq (news - web sites) but with different tactics if he had known "that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day."


this is such a schoolyard bully thing to say. Oh mommy, I hit the fat kid and he hit me back. No fair.

[allalone]

80. it struck me funny

the big sign on the garden flashing Thank you New York. nyah ha ha

[ElsewheresDaughter]

81. over a million!

[bvar22]

86. Ignorant, IGNORANT ASSHOLE*

bush* admitting internationally that he is unfamiliar with the tactics that won the American Revolution!

The same tactics used by Saddam (the Iraqis) were also successfully used by the Vietnamese in their war against the United States.

I am ashamed of our president*.