riding a bike is not a crime!

[kaydeefalls]

I live in downtown Manhattan, in New York City, right across the street from St. Vincent's Hospital. The windows of my apartment overlook 7th Ave. Tonight, around 8:30, I heard a loud commotion coming from the street, and went to the window to see hundreds of bikers going down the avenue, shouting and whooping and occasionally yelling slogans like "Whose streets? OUR streets!" I could tell they were protesting something (the next slogan of choice, "No Bush!", was a helpful clue), but it didn't seem like much of a protest to me. Just a hell of a lot of people on bikes. After a bit, the crowd of bikers thinned out, until only a few stragglers remained. Then I noticed cops and cop cars starting to line up on the intersection of 7th Ave. and 13th St., and a few more at 12th St. as well. There were maybe twenty odd bikers left on this 7th Ave. block -- right in front of my apartment building.

And then the cops moved in. I didn't realize what was happening at first -- it looked like someone had fallen off their bike, and a St. Vincent's security guard was helping them up. I recognized the St. Vincent's logo on the guard's white shirt immediately (that's what happens when you live across the street from a major hospital, I guess) and at first, I thought maybe the biker had been injured falling of his or her bike, and the St. Vincent's guy was helping them to the conveniently located hospital. Then I realized that the guard was pushing the biker, shoving them, grabbing their arms, not helping.

And then all hell broke loose. More security guards and a few cops starting pulling the bikers off their bikes, knocking them over, dragging them over to the paddy wagon (which came out of nowhere, I swear -- one minute the street only had bikers, the next minute there were cop cars and vans pulling up everywhere). I saw a biker and a security guard literally fighting over a bike -- one pulling the handlebars, the other pulling the back wheel. Some of the protestors got away, with or without their bikes; about eight were arrested on the spot. The St. Vincent's guards eventually disappeared, until only the cops were left, and damn, there were a lot of them.

In the meantime, I was scrambling around the apartment trying to find new batteries for my camera. I didn't get any pictures of the actual arrests, since I was just sort of watching, dumbfounded. But I got a few shots a few minutes later.


Looking down from the seventh floor. The police have about six bikers up against the cop van. The bikes are strewn on the pavement.


The guys in the very visible white shirts are St. Vincent's security guards. Why were they involved? They aren't NYPD.


A crowd gathers on the sidewalk. The people in neon green hats are lawyers, of a sort -- "legal observers" who have no great love of the police, and work to get all the information they can as soon as possible when something like this happens. With the Republican convention coming to NYC in a few days, and all the protests that entails, these guys are just getting started on a very long week.


The police gathered at the intersection of 7th Ave. and 13th St.


A passing tour bus gets a real taste of the city. Welcome to New York!

At this point, I threw on some shoes and ran downstairs and outside, because the shots I was getting from seven floors up were kinda shitty.


The cops practice their rock impressions, keeping the concerned citizens on the sidewalk and away from the arrested protestors.


The criminal lineup -- wait, no, sorry, my mistake. I tried to get the nice officers to smile, but apparently they were having a bad day.


The usual suspects. I mean, look at those two bikers. Dangerous criminals if I ever saw them. Especially the skinny kid in the brown T-shirt.


The arrested protestors up against the van, with the obvious evidence of crime on the street in front of them: their bikes.


Land of the brave, and home of the free. God, I love irony.

According to the trusty 11 o'clock news, these bikers were part of a 5,000 bike rally that meets ONCE A MONTH, and has never had problems before. More than forty protestors were arrested in the streets of lower Manhattan tonight. So what makes this night different than all other nights? One has to wonder...

I've never been much of an activist, but I think I might pop in at a few protests this week. Thank you, NYPD, for giving me a cause to fight for.



All photos ©Phoebe Duncan

Comments

[rynalwyn.livejournal.com]

Is it possible the hospital complained that they would be blocking the path of ambulances or anything? Because it does seem odd that hospital guards were involved.

Not that that makes it make any more sense.

That kid in the brown tshirt looks like Justin from QAF in the first season.

[msilverstar]

it is scary when you see arbitrary use of power. Good for you for paying attention. AlterNet is a good source for finding out who to report this to.