Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc dared me with his strong suspicion: >Without knowing anything about your detention, I strongly suspect that you >are being more than a bit coy by claiming that the reasons for your >detention were "inexplicable". >If you dare, give us your version of just what occurred which led to your >detention. So here it is. I'd been hired by Silicon Alley, to photograph the Republican National Convention. Silicon Alley is primarily focused on technology so they were interested in what the Republicans are going to do for the technology industry. I was on "radio row" on the third floor of Madison Square Garden -- Imagine a bunch of booths lined up along walls, each with a talk radio host in it screaming into a microphone. It's sort of like that. (I was between Sean Hannity and G. Gordon Liddy) Now, drop into this room a random list of political celeberties who walk from booth to booth being interviewed. Radio producers wander down the halls, looking for people who will add life to their show, then drag them over to their booth. I ran around with a camera and photographed this. Here's a photo of Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott: http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_4279.jpg The delegates arrive around 6:00 and I trundle out to the floor to photograph people in silly hats and the speakers, most of the crew from Silicon Alley took that time to edit interviews and file stories. Between the morning when everybody shows up and the evening when the convention starts, there's a lot of dead time, it was dead on Tuesday so Susan, the reporter I was working with, and I decided to go find some delegates on the street and interview them. We figured the place to find them would be Ground Zero. So we jumped on a train. Down at the WTC site we didn't find any delegates, at least none wearing their credentials, but we found a few anti-bush people milling about. So Susan interviewed the Iraqi Veterans Against The War and a few other people. http://www.siliconalley.net/rnc/831/vets1.jpg We spotted a guy carrying a big sign that said "VOTE FOR RALPH NADER" we weren't sure if he was a Republican or a Nader supporter. So we went over and started talking to him. He told us he was about to start marching, but we could walk along and talk with him. http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3745.jpg There were about two hundred people, about twice as many more turned out not to be marchers, but rather simply tourists milling about ground zero. As the group I was in crossed Church street (the first 50 steps of the march), a policeman with a bull horn announced "This march does not have a permit. If you break any New York traffic laws, you will be subject to arrest." My take on this was "do not j-walk, do not stand in the street, do not block traffic, don't do any hippy-civil-disobedience-type stuff." We crossed with the light and Susan was still talking to the Nader guy and I'm still taking pictures of him. The time from us meeting him up to this point was probably about 45 seconds. We were about 1/2 way down the block when bicycle cops pulled up along side us and blocked our way. An officer in a white shirt ran past in the street shouting "Everybody on this block is under arrest, they're all under arrest!" I walk away from where Susan and the Nader guy are still talking to see what's going on in front of us. One of the marchers tried to work out a solution with the police, but it was clear they were having none of it. "I don't know what we're being arrested for. Tell us what you want us to do, and we'll do it," he said. The police didn't say anything. http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3751.jpg It was at this point I realized things were getting serious and they weren't going to just let people go. I asked the policeman immediately in front of me if I could leave, since I was press. He shook his head and said "no". Note baffled Reuters photographer trying to figure out why we're under arrest: http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3750.jpg And baffled dude with a Leica wondering the same thing: http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3748.jpg Also note not-very-blocked sidewalk. Great. I'd been in New York eight hours and was already being detained. I figured I was going to spend the next week in jail in nyc, which is not what I wanted. As far as I could tell, nobody had done anything illegal. Susan came up to where I was standing and I asked another cop the same question. Susan waved our press credentials, he looked around for someone to ask, apparently there was nobody. Finally after about 10 minutes, he let us go, moving his bike back about a foot he said "go ahead." We hurried across the street where the rest of the media was gathered. http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3866.jpg Police warned the media not to step out in the street or we could be arrested. We stayed on the sidewalk and watched as the protesters were surrounded by orange portable fencing and one by one flex-cuffed and taken away. Photos of the dangerous protesters being taken away: http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3977.jpg http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3986.jpg http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3997.jpg http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3901.jpg http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/pix/2004/rnc/aDSC_3930.jpg Word later that night was that the arrests were for walking more than two abreast on a sidewalk. However, delegates, press, and various others were walking more than two abreast with impunity right outside madison square garden when I got back: http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/temp/2004/crowd.jpg So ... Having been there, I think the detentions and arrests were inexplicable. > The NYPD were on guard: one of their >members was put into the hospital in critical condition by a battering from >one of the "peaceful protestors", after all, and that, alone, would put >every officer on the beat on guard. And, on this, I am on their side: the >right to protest does NOT include the right to violence, a minor factoid >generally ignored by the US media. I thought you were a libertarian! (and for the record, "peaceful protesters" don't batter anyone. Thugs do and they should be arrested, charged, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Keep pushing that shutter button, but don't walk in groups, kc -------------- ripped from CBS.COM -------------------- (CBS/AP) A judge ordered the immediate release of nearly 500 protesters Thursday - just hours before President Bush's speech at the Republican National Convention - and then fined the city for refusing to comply with his order. State Supreme Court Justice John Cataldo fined the city $1,000 for every protester held past a 5 p.m. deadline that he had set for their release. It was unclear how many detainees were still in custody, but Cataldo had ordered the release of 470 people. "These people have already been the victims of a process," state Supreme Court Justice John Cataldo told the city's top lawyer. "I can no longer accept your statement that you are trying to comply." The detainees had been in custody for anywhere from 36 to 66 hours. The decision was immediately hailed by attorneys for the demonstrators. Kyle