Thousands of activists marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and demonstrators rang handbells at the World Trade Center site, the latest in a growing procession of protests leading up to the Republican National Convention.
Thousands of marchers, forming a line 10 people wide and a kilometer long at times, crossed the bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan in a march organized by Planned Parenthood.
PHOTO: AFP
Later in the day, several hundred demonstrators formed a loose ring around ground zero in lower Manhattan and rang handbells in a protest against the Bush administration.
PHOTO: AFP
Their plan was to ring the bells 2,749 times -- one for each victim killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the trade center -- but the demonstration quickly turned into almost continuous ringing.
"I'm affected personally, in terms of birth control. I demand and cherish that right," said Sara Breman, a 22-year-old student from Austin, Texas, in the bridge march.
"Under Bush, that right is being threatened through sex education that teaches only abstinence," said Breman before rolling her bicycle onto the bridge.
Some of the marchers chanted: "What does democracy look like?" While others answered, "This is what democracy looks like!"
Once the protesters crossed the bridge, they headed for a rally at City Hall. Actress Kathleen Turner, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi and Planned Parenthood President Gloria Feldt were among the marchers.
New York police said 25 people were arrested in convention-related incidents Saturday, bringing the total for the three days to 311.
Police said Saturday's arrests were scattered around the city, including some Starbucks employees who protested in midtown Manhattan, accusing the Bush administration of opposing their attempt to form a union.
On Friday night, 264 people were arrested for disorderly conduct in a protest bicycle ride that snaked through the city and passed by Madison Square Garden, where the convention opens Monday.
The bike ride represented the first major clash between police and demonstrators converging on the city for the convention.
Later Saturday, an anti-war group called the ANSWER coalition was encouraging people to gather in Central Park. But the park was peaceful early, with its usual assortment of sunbathers and softball players.
And a group called Ring Out planned to encircle Ground Zero in lower Manhattan and ring bells to honor those who died at the World Trade Center. The group said it intended to show Bush does not speak for attack victims or New Yorkers.
Saturday's protests were expected to be a mere prelude to yesterday, when a huge anti-war march was to pass by the convention site and end at Union Square Park in Manhattan.
Organizers of that march have said it could draw 250,000 people. The city refused to allow a rally in Central Park, but organizers suggested protesters could spontaneously gather there anyway after the march.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS