The "burning of the dragon" reminds me of the old Donald Segretti tricks..

[kentuck]

I think he was the one that did stupid stuff to make it look like the Democrats did it and Nixon used to eat that shit up with a spoon. He loved playing dirty tricks - hence Tricky Dicky...

I would not be surrised if this was one of those types of "tricks". After all, Karl Rove worked with Segretti when they were both working for Nixon. I don't know if they were the ones that recruited Lucianne Goldberg as a spy on the McGovern bus??

But something just seemed a little fishy about the whole story....as FOX TV ran down to cover it. Wonder who called FOX??

[lapfog_1]

1. Nothing like some good old ratfucking - EOM

[ngGale]

2. Funny thing, dragon is burning and FOX is there to cover it. n/t

[oasis]

3. The Fox announcer was also calling attention to the protesters who had

gathered at Central Park. "They're illegally assembling there" he said as a helicopter got a shot of a few hundred protesters milling around on the lawn.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. What a memory, kentuck! And remarkable perception -- I'll bet...

you've nailed it --

[Junkdrawer]

5. According to the DU Protest Thread...

The Dragon was lit in front of Fox News HQ.

There were also lots of "protesters" on hand (covering their faces) to scream "police brutality".

The Dragon (a Chinese symbol???) also seemed designed to create LOTS of smoke.

All in all, although a pretty obvious provocation, if that was all they had, they failed miserably at discrediting the protests.

[Sydnie]

6. I remember from reading this site yesterday

http://www.nynewsday.com/entertainment/localguide/nyc-protest-gop.story that the Green Dragon people had a protest planned for later in the week. Now that listing is missing from the events there. It seems to me that the people displaying that dragon didn't do that to their own prop. What would be the purpose if they planned to use it later in the week?

I also remember hearing someone screaming something to the effect of "Bush liar liar pants on fire" AND "Cheney liar liar pants on fire" just before the fire yesterday. Can't say whether it was the people that started it or just someone responding to it, but it was spoken so clearly that it attracted my attention when I heard it.

Anybody else remember hearing that? I was watching it on C-Span, and it appeared that it took a minute or two for the cameras to lock in on the fire with the confusion of the crowd.

[Junkdrawer]

8. It's still in the Google cache...

It was Greene Dragon and the event was last Tuesday...

August 24, 2004

Greene Dragon and Time's Up! will host Paul Revere's Ride at 7 p.m. beginning at the Sherman Statue in the southeast corner of Central Park. Participants will then ride their "horse-cycles" down Lexington Avenue, warning New Yorkers that "The Republicans are coming!" and terminate at Madison Square Garden.

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:OFXK7KF3dqAJ:www.nynewsday.com/news/politics/rnc/nyc-protest-gop,0,3271394.story%3Fcoll%3Dnyc-protests-headlines+Green+Dragon+site:www.nynewsday.com&hl=en

[Sydnie]

10. thanks for checking that

I didn't make note of the date yesterday for sure.

[TeeYiYi]

17. I wonder if it's the same group . . .

. . . they have a website and talk about their 'Paul Revere's Ride' plans openly. They even have pictures and I didn't see one of the paper dragon. (Of course not.) www.greenedragon.org

I guess the answer lies in who was arrested. (9 arrests?)

TYY:shrug:

[Junkdrawer]

18. Anarchists with a group called Black Bloc(k) set it on fire...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x693299

Now, I don't know who owned the dragon.

[TeeYiYi]

19. I just checked out their website . . .

. . . if they did it (Black Bloc) they'll take credit for it — complete with pictures. If they were set up they'll point that out as well.

"Anarchists from around the world organized and participated in black blocs at the 2001 G8 protests in Genoa, Italy. However, the Italian police also organized a fake black bloc using undercover police officers and neo-fascists from around Europe. These fake black blocs attacked other protesters, set cars on fire, and vandalized small businesses. It is suspected that the police organized these fake blocs to drive a wedge between moderate and militant protesters. Another goal may have been to demonize anarchists as "terrorists" in the eyes of the general public." http://www.infoshop.org/blackbloc_faq.html

TYY

[Junkdrawer]

20. I with you. Bloomberg was warning about "anarchists"....

and, right on schedule, "anarchists" set fire to a float right in front of the Fox News cameras - providing the Fox/CNN spin for the day.

[TeeYiYi]

22. Detectives monitoring 35 anarchists

Posted on Tue, Aug. 31, 2004

Detectives monitoring 35 anarchists

BY MICHELE MCPHEE

New York Daily News

NEW YORK - (KRT) - NYPD detectives will be carrying photographs of 35 anarchists to try to squelch protesters hellbent on disrupting the city Tuesday, the New York Daily News has learned.

During the past 18 months, undercover detectives from the NYPD's elite intelligence division have infiltrated the meetings of anarchist groups such as Greene Dragon and Black Bloc.

That investigation led cops to identify 35 men and women who have made direct threats of violence against the city or participated in extreme civil disobedience in other parts of the country, several NYPD sources said.

<snip>

On Sunday, 240 protesters were arrested, including 10 Black Bloc members busted for setting fire to a papier-mache dragon along the march route, injuring a cop. The woman who set the blaze is still at large.

More: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/special_packages/election2004/9541892.htm

TYY

[blondeatlast]

13. Welcome to DU.

I'm not buying beers anymore, I've been burned a lot lately.

[nostamj]

7. Fox News is not located near MSG

there WAS a huge Fox billboard there which prompted the continuous chants of FOX NEWS SUCK, FOX NEWS LIES, etc.

their studios are closer to mid town and east of broadway.

[Junkdrawer]

9. Thanks. Also, someone posted that "Fox News started the fire"...

was chanted during the incident. Did anyone hear that on any tape?

[nostamj]

11. it was reported here but I did not hear it on the c-span feed

BUT, I could easily have missed it as I surfed the local news stations when the fire started.

[blondeatlast]

12. I heard it CLEARLY on C-Span. No doubt about it. nt

[GingerSnaps]

25. So did I and it was more then one person shouting it out

They said that Fox started the fire.

[starroute]

21. There seem to have been two different anarchist groups involved

According to a story at http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/30spec2.htm, the dragon was originally escorted by a group of cheerful, friendly anarchists. But they were gradually replaced by the black bloc people, who had bandannas wrapped around their faces and were holding umbrellas over their heads to avoid scrutiny, and they were the ones who started the fire.

That's what I'd noticed on C-SPAN. Five or ten minutes before the fire started, when the dragon first appeared on tv, the black bloc could be clearly seen on camera. And they looked really weird compared with all the ordinary protestors -- like someone's caricature of a terrorist group.

What I'm wondering now is, if I could see this so clearly and realize something looked fishy, why couldn't the police? Is it just that the cops weren't watching C-SPAN? Or was something else involved?

It might be useful if some of the original dragon group would surface and explain how they got shoved out of their own float.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. When anarchist show up with faces covered photograph them.

Is there a thread for pics of people ashamed to show their faces?

Democracy is an open process. Free speech does not require a bandana. Of course I respect things like the anonymity of assumed names in internet forums, but out on the street it is a different matter.

[Junkdrawer]

14. NPR said there were 15 arrests. Is it possible to get the names...

of who was arrested and check into their creds? :shrug:

[blondeatlast]

15. Boston Mayor said on ToTN that they had 6 arrests during the entire DNC.

I found that a rather interesting statistic.

It may be possible, there is a website that lists such info. My husband may know what it is, but he's snoozing right now.

PM me if you don't hear from me by tomorrow morning. I'll post it here if I remember.

[Junkdrawer]

16. Will Pitt is reporting that a protest float was hit by a smoke bomb...

There were a few arrests today, and a protest float burned to the pavement after getting hit with a smoke bomb. Overall, however, the confrontations many feared would happen today between the protesters and the police did not happen. If the GOP was hoping for a Chicago '68-style debacle, they are having themselves a very disappointed night.



http://www.truthout.org/rnc04.shtml

[GingerSnaps]

24. Someone in the crowd shouted Fox set the fire

If you have a way of watching c-span over you will hear it unless they edited it out.

There was more then one person shouting that Fox started the fire.