Opening Weekend Of RNC-Related Protests Are Peaceful

Hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully in United for Peace and Justice’s anti-war demonstration today in New York, in what organizers call “a glorious day.” UFPJ’s march joins the success of Saturday’s March for Women’s Lives, a pro-choice event co-sponsored by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“We are pleased that the United for Peace and Justice march went off with few incidents,” said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the NYCLU. “The march was a fine example of democracy in action. We were pleased at the level of cooperation from the NYPD who largely cooperated to resolve the logistical problems that are inevitable at any demonstration.”

There were occasional problems. The NYCLU is concerned about reports of numerous arrests of mostly bicyclists riding to join the UFPJ march. A number of them were cordoned off and handcuffed at 37th Street and Seventh Avenue, three blocks uptown from the UFPJ march. There were isolated incidents of other arrests, but none appeared to be connected to the organized efforts by UFPJ.

The NYCLU is also concerned about police harrassment of one of its legal monitors who was observing the protest march and we plan to file a complaint about the incident