Monday, August 30, 2004
THEY'RE HERE
News from the Street. I was one of the many NYC Police Officers monitoring the big protest march yesterday. I took up position at the corner of 34th and 7th Avenue next to Macy's. The point when the march passes Madison Square Garden and then turns the corner heading east down 34th. I found most the protestors to be mildly amusing and they took up a widely varying array of causes. The funniest sign award goes to a girl in an elephant costume holding a sign that read: Not in our name. Elephants against Bush.
Macy's has a giant outside TV hanging on the wall. It was showing FOX NEWS. The marchers were not happy. It caused a chorus of boos and anti-Fox News chants. I don't agree with many of the protestors and think the protest is pointless because the nation and the world already knows half of the country doesn't want Bush re-elected. On the most part I found them amusing, was indifferent or tolerable. Only a couple of signs pissed me off.
1. The end the Israeli occupation, palestine stuff.
2. Support of the "freedom fighters" in Iraq.
I of course kept my profesional presence and didn't give those boneheads a piece of my mind.
Some of the marchers carried signs that said, give the NYPD a raise, I could appreciate that. I had just finished commenting about how the protest was going smoothly and very peaceful, untill some dumb shits got stupid and all hell broke loose. I won't go into details but I got to use the baton on the achilles submission move twice.
All in all it wasn't nearly as bad as most cops thought it would be. Cop paranoia had many warnings about piss and shit being thrown at us. Razor blades, ect... Most cops pretty much thought the protestors would hate us and would be plotting and actively trying to injure us. I thought these fears might be exaggerated but I was prepared for anything and on guard the whole time.
Other than the overtime money I will be getting I think the RNC in NYC is a bad idea. It's caused a lot of inconvenience and traffic nightmares. It's costing a lot of money to host and it's costing cash strapped City a lot of money. The Feds are picking up part of the tab, but either way it's coming out of our taxes.
I'm sure it's huring the local economy as many residents have decided to leave the city during the convention and many tourist have decided to avoid visiting. This loss is definately not being made up by the people in town for the convention.
Tha't my 2 cents.
News from the Street. I was one of the many NYC Police Officers monitoring the big protest march yesterday. I took up position at the corner of 34th and 7th Avenue next to Macy's. The point when the march passes Madison Square Garden and then turns the corner heading east down 34th. I found most the protestors to be mildly amusing and they took up a widely varying array of causes. The funniest sign award goes to a girl in an elephant costume holding a sign that read: Not in our name. Elephants against Bush.
Macy's has a giant outside TV hanging on the wall. It was showing FOX NEWS. The marchers were not happy. It caused a chorus of boos and anti-Fox News chants. I don't agree with many of the protestors and think the protest is pointless because the nation and the world already knows half of the country doesn't want Bush re-elected. On the most part I found them amusing, was indifferent or tolerable. Only a couple of signs pissed me off.
1. The end the Israeli occupation, palestine stuff.
2. Support of the "freedom fighters" in Iraq.
I of course kept my profesional presence and didn't give those boneheads a piece of my mind.
Some of the marchers carried signs that said, give the NYPD a raise, I could appreciate that. I had just finished commenting about how the protest was going smoothly and very peaceful, untill some dumb shits got stupid and all hell broke loose. I won't go into details but I got to use the baton on the achilles submission move twice.
All in all it wasn't nearly as bad as most cops thought it would be. Cop paranoia had many warnings about piss and shit being thrown at us. Razor blades, ect... Most cops pretty much thought the protestors would hate us and would be plotting and actively trying to injure us. I thought these fears might be exaggerated but I was prepared for anything and on guard the whole time.
Other than the overtime money I will be getting I think the RNC in NYC is a bad idea. It's caused a lot of inconvenience and traffic nightmares. It's costing a lot of money to host and it's costing cash strapped City a lot of money. The Feds are picking up part of the tab, but either way it's coming out of our taxes.
I'm sure it's huring the local economy as many residents have decided to leave the city during the convention and many tourist have decided to avoid visiting. This loss is definately not being made up by the people in town for the convention.
Tha't my 2 cents.
