NYPD brutality at Anti-Iraq War Protest 2003.mpg

Prior to the Iraq War in spring 2003, Feb. 15, 2003 was to be a worldwide protest to prevent the war from happening. In NYC the rally was to be in Central Park, but the NYPD refused to grant a permit for there, so the rally was at the U.N. (at the east river near 47th St). The capacity of that location was very small. People started approaching the rally location from many locations. My feeder group started at the Library (41st and 5th ave.), headed north on the sidewalk, east on 53rd until the group became to big, spilled into the street, and headed north again on 3rd Avenue. At 57th Street, there was a barrier of cops and barricades. I tried to exit the pen at 56th going east, but that was barricaded as well. Those in the cattle pen were calm, waving their signs - generally a calm situation on a brutally cold day. There was another barricade at 53rd across 3rd Avenue. Standing on the sidewalk at the NW corner of 53rd and 3rd avenue I shot these 4 clips. The clips show: 1. Cops and protesters talking calmly. 2. Entry onto the scene from the east of a team of roughly a dozen police on horses and some (I count 3) police supervisors (white shirts). These started going over to demonstrators and pushing them, and then started harrassing those standing on the SW corner sidewalk. This upset the calm, and caused people to chant against the police. 3. Before I knew it, the team of horses, led by a white shirt, was pushing us back on our sidewalk. People started screaming, yelling, frightened and angry. One horse pushed someone into my camera and I was shoved into a parked car. I wish I hadn't turned off the camera momentarily there, but it was my first time shooting video of this type. 4. Shows the last of the team of horses heading north on the west sidewalk of 3rd Ave with dazed protesters following behind.

A few weeks after this I showed the video to the New York City Council hearing on the topic of the police conduct at this demonstration.

More information, photographs I took of the action, are on the following website:
http://geography.hunter.cuny.edu/~mclarke/AntiwarProtest.htm

Category:

Music

Tags:

• cops
• NYPD
• NYC New York City
• horses
• Iraq war
• police brutality

[kellylbarron]

Wouldn't it be healing if just one public official had the courage to stand up and say,

"we're sorry" ?

[kellylbarron]

But they started the war anyway. So much for freedom of speech.

[kellylbarron]

It was one of the scarriest days of my life. Thanks for posting, but it doesn't begin to capture the gloom of the city that day or show the million people who were crowding the streets. You couldn't even move because so many people were there protesting.