200 anti-Bush protesters arrested

[Nambe]

BBC

About 200 people have been arrested during a day of protest against President George W Bush in the city of New York.

Police say most of the arrests were for disorderly conduct and occurred away from the march. ..

Ten thousand police lined the route.

The marchers were from all walks of life, including Vietnam Veterans, women's rights activists, gay and lesbian groups, unemployed steel workers and parents of soldiers killed in Iraq.

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[yardwork]

1. 200 out of 10,000 is a very small number

It sounds like these protests have been remarkably peaceful.

[shraby]

2. It was more like 400,000, not

10,000. Big difference but very small number arrested.

[MidwestTransplant]

3. That's 10K police. There were hundreds of thousands of protesters

so we are talking about 200 out of a few hundred thousand. Less than 0.1%. Got to figure most of them weren't really doing much wrong anyway.

[Dover]

4. From what I've read, a lot of those arrested were the bicylcists

Not sure if that's true, but that was the impression I got from various reports.

[drdtroit]

5. That was on Friday night

the reason that the arrests are low is because, and the Bushies won't hear of it, the police and firefighters hate this POS. He never has delivered on the funds he promised when he stood like moses on the pile of rubble downtown. Firehouses have been closed all through the 5 boroughs and police are working stupid shifts with no contract because there is no frickin' money!

I was in Time Square on Friday night and other parts of the city and the NYPD that I saw and talked to were pretty relaxed. I think they are going to acquiesce to the majority of the protesters and not just blindly stumble into the GOP's trap. We'll have to see.

[sleipnir]

7. A firetruck drove by the protest today in Chelsea and they all cheered!

It was great to see a FDNYC truck full of firemen waving and hollering in support of the protest. I'm not sure where they were going, but it wasn't in much of hurry and going crosstown.

Nonetheless, the FD is totally on our side with this one. I wish more firefighters would come out and protest, but I guess they're not allowed to do so in uniform. Wouldn't that be a thorn in Bush's side, the FDNYC who he is trying to whore off of for his re-selection protesting him on the streets!

[drdtroit]

9. They are not allowed to protest

in uniform. But I'll bet you a bunch there was a whole lot of them in the protest crowd.

I heard the crowd was estimated at over 500,000 and more than three miles long! So bummed that I was unable to make it because I worked a double today.

[LauraK]

6. I've talked to three friends/co-workers from NY.

The main group was doing their own policing of rowdy protesters. They didn't think there were any arrests in the main group. Even the article says the arrests were away from the march.

Way to go Marchers. We owe you!

[aaronbees]

8. fantastic it's such a small number

With such a peaceful, creative, positive demonstration ... this plays right into the Dem hands. Great news and big kudos to all in NYC protesting today!

[drdtroit]

10. It was the GOPs "worst nightmare!" n/t

[Princess Turandot]

11. ABC's local news called it the largest protest ever seen..

at a political convention. They reported that several of the people arrested were self-proclaimed anarchists who set some sort of large paper dragon on fire in the midst of the demonstration.

Nothing seemed to happen in Central Park. They showed a helicopter-taken image of people laying down to make a peace symbol in the middle of Central Park's Great Lawn.

The Police Commissioner pronounced it to be a very peaceful & orderly march all and all. One station said that it filled 40 city blocks moving up seventh avenue, which is 2 miles here.