2004 Republican National Convention Protest Activity - Monday, August 30

Monday, August 30

Still We Rise, a coalition of 52 NYC-based community organizations for the poor and people of color marched at noon from Union Square to Madison Square Garden, and held a rally by the Garden.

At 4 PM, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, a national campaign involving over sixty organizations held a rally by the United Nations on the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. Along with many homeless and poor people who have been marching with the PPEHRC through New Jersey and living in a "mobile Bushville" (which settled in Brooklyn a week before the Convention), thousands thronged the streets despite having been denied a permit and marched down Second Avenue and up Eighth Avenue to Madison Square Garden, the police having decided not to stop the protesters. A few troublemakers apparently acting alone disrupted the march towards the end by tearing open police barricades, with one person attacking a plainclothes police detective who had driven his scooter into the crowd (see note below), knocking him unconscious. Police made several arrests and deployed tear gas.

Note: There is considerable dispute involving this incident, as many eyewitnesses said they had no idea this was a policemen, who intentionally rammed his motorcycle straight into a dense crowd, hitting and injuring people, which started the altercation.

• Thousands From Poor People’s Campaign March From UN to Near Madison Square Garden "The divide and arrest tactics used by the police in the march have been seen in the past several days in New York here, and as have the use of undercover officers, mopeds and motorcycles."

• Peaceful Protests Erupt Into Violence Near Republican National Convention "Eyewitness reports confirmed that an undercover police officer in a scooter rammed his way into the throngs of protestors, driving as fast as 20 miles an hour, as the police were splitting the crowd, before being knocked off and beaten by an angry demonstrator. 'What kind of person would ram into dozens of people in a scooter with a line of police behind him?' asked protestor Gonzalo Hereda afterwards in disbelief."