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Funny thing is: I read that things got really blocked when the Police shut down a street.

From the TV shots, some cyclysts were blocking traffic *BUT* what was the context? That is, were they holding it so people could catch up or holding it up as a "protest"? The trouble with sound bite's you Never know the context.

I was in it, and equally puzzled about the actions of the police. Does anybody have a clue what point they were trying to make by arresting 250 non-violent cyclists?

I don't know how its really possible to spin this story. I saw the bikers go up 6th ave. They blocked traffic for at least 10-15 minutes.

Cars blow.

demonsurfer,

I think the poster was talking about a person trying to cross the street, not a protester.

That said, I completely disagree with you. I think it's a great lesson in civics to bring your child to a demonstration. Obviously parents need to use their judgement as to what types of demos are appropriate for their kids (threats of violence, police brutality, etc).

demonsurfer,

Do you even know what demonstration that picture was from? It was from a peaceful march of parents and children across the Brooklyn Bridge on Thursday, not from Critical Mass. The whole point of the march was to raise the point about what W's policies are doing to the next generation. There were no arrests and no incidents. Could it have ended differently? Possibly. But I still disagree with you. Of course, I don't have a child, so perhaps you think I am not qualified to speak on this manner.

However, I'm glad that people aren't being silenced by the fear coming from Kelly, Bush, et al.

Former New York that I am, I'm thinking this is the week you want to be somewhere other than New York, unless, of course, you love traffic disruptions and protest.

Up here in Putney, Vermont -- where nobody needed an explanantion on town meeting day about the link between unfunded mandates, property taxes and the town's school budget -- protest means driving people to the polls on election day.

Up here in Putney, cyclists get a clear shot on unpaved roads almost to the top of Putney Mountain, where the only thing to protest would be the presence of eagles, hawks, and kestrels -- but why would you?

The sounds they make are like a swooshing in the wind -- with no rhetoric.

Well, Demonsurfer, maybe they didn't have any baby sitters? Or from a different Angle, May be they wanted to make the point (right or wrong) that the current administration's Policies affect Children. As a kid, I joined my Mom on a Protest in the mid 70's (they were protesting a drastic increase in Meat prices) and had no idea what was going on. Year's later, I look at the photo and understand

While I disagree with your assesment (the child abuse coment) I certainly reespect your point of view.

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/cmassarrests.mov

Cops have known about this Critical Mass for months. You'd think they would have a better contingency plan. They're just pissed because the demonstration was so big. Shit, they escorted us down the West Side Highway and the FDR last month, when it was only a few hundred people. And wasn't the city encouraging people to ride bicycles during the convention? Also, props to the guy with the illuminated DUMMER wagon behind his bike, that shit was hot.

Have fun in Putney, I'm sure it's swell.

wynardo, bikers ARE traffic. they have just as much right to the street as a car. if they're moving, they're not blocking traffic, now are they? perhaps slowing it temporarily, but is that illegal? or even a bad thing? cyclists get the most unfair treatment on the street every day.

Hijiki: I agree with you under normal circumstances. But these people were there with the intent to disrupt. The NYPD usually stand back and allow it during other months, but this time with all the extra security, etc, was not the time to tempt them. And no, they weren't moving the entire time, and yes they were causing a disruption. Think of all the time and resources that were spent by our officals that could've been spent in places that really mattered. These people give cycling enthusiasts a bad rap - and being one myself, I'd like to be distanced from them.

I honestly don't see how any reasonable person can make the argument that what these people did was justified. It seems hypocritical and anarchistic (is that a word?)

Drew -- It is true that there are some dangerous cyclists out there, but it is also true that if you start talking about them "nearly killing" pedestrians, it's hard to take you seriously. Pedestrians get killed and injured in traffic accidents the whole time, and substantially 100% of those incidents are with cars, not bikes. Let's get things in perspective here. Hijiki is right: pedestrians, many of whom seem to think that bikes are somehow invisible or immaterial, are more dangerous to cyclists than the other way around. If I was involved in a ped-cyclist collision, I'd much rather be the ped, with my stability, ability to react and lower center of gravity, than a cyclist who's likely to simply get thrown into the road, possibly into traffic. It's easy for a pedestrian to start getting holier-than-thou about obeying all traffic laws -- but are you aware that traffic laws apply to pedestrians, too, and that the people most harmed by jaywalking, waiting to cross the street in the middle of the road, ducking out from between parked cars, etc, are cyclists?

This happened to me yesterday: I'm biking down Worth between East Broadway and Pearl. There's a line of parked cars on the side of the street, and barely-moving traffic going west. Riding a bike between traffic and parked cars is extremely dangerous, what with the ability to be doored from two different directions, so I ride down the center line instead, towards oncoming traffic. This is smarter, since the cars I'm now worried about can see me, and I can see them, and I can see potholes etc much further in advance. As a car is approaching, a woman and her elderly father suddenly step out from behind the truck on my right, in the middle of the road, in ostensibly moving traffic! I can't swerve right: the truck's there. I can't swerve left: a car's coming. And I can't go straight, because I'm going to run into a pensioner. I've done nothing wrong at all, but I came thisclose to a pedestrian-cyclist bangup which I'm sure you'd present as a prime example of how pedestrians are a danger to cyclists.

Wynardo: Are you seriously suggesting that after four years of having a critical mass ride on the last friday of the month, they should have cancelled, this month, just as the rest of the world was really paying attention? It wouldn't have worked, anyway: Critical Mass doesn't really have a leadership, and most of us would have turned up anyway, with similar, if not even more chaotic, results. As I say in my blog post, I took Bloomberg at face value when he said he welcomed peaceful protests, and this was certainly a peaceful protest. Besides, if anything there were too few police, not too many. The problem in the East Village, I think, was that the police became insecure and frightened when they were surrounded by the protestors. My guess is that the NYPD underestimated the number of cyclists, and then reacted badly, by trying to break up the group into smaller chunks and arresting people at random when that didn't work. We have a fundamental right to protest in this country, and I get very afraid when people start telling me that I shouldn't protest because it's a waste of police time. Quite the contrary: keeping the peace during a protest is a very good use of police time. And if the NYPD had used half the number of police on Friday that they're going to use on the big march today, none of this would probably have happened.

And Hijiki, are you really sure that some of the cyclists "were being dangerous and deserved arrest"? The worst I heard of anybody doing was what most of us did at some point: block traffic which had a green light so that the peloton could stay together. If the police had done that instead -- as they have done during previous Critical Mass rides -- there would have been no "dangerous" activity at all.

hijki - You are totally right and I agree that it goes both ways.

Felix - I agree with you too, but all I am saying is that if bicyclists want to be taken seriously as "traffic," then they need to obey laws. I'm not being "holier than thou," so please don't take an attitude. I've simply experienced multiple occasions where I was crossing the street after the light turned red and a bike whizzed by at very high speeds (which, incidentally, could indeed nearly kill you). And I wasn't saying that no one else (people or cars) need to follow laws, nor that they always do. It does go both ways, and I am speaking towards the bicyclists on this one. Hell, I'd be a bicyclist if I could muster the strength to carry my bike up 4 floors every day!

Drew

lots of bike protest, and other protest pictures
HERE

good website