Arrests of Critical Mass
Police find new target: bicyclists
By Deirdre Griswold
New York
New York City police have again used mass arrests to break
up a ride of bicyclists. On Oct. 29, they arrested 33 people
taking part in the monthly Critical Mass bike ride, which
promotes environmentally friendly forms of transportation.
More than 1,000 bicyclists were on the ride, many dressed in
Halloween costumes. They had started out at Union Square and
headed north on Park Avenue. Police turned out in force.
The city had gone to court trying to stop the ride, but just
the day before the mass arrests, a federal judge ruled that the
Critical Mass event did not need a permit and that the city
could not seize bicycles unless riders were charged with a
crime or violated the law. This didn't stop the police.
Matthew Roth, an organizer and one of those arrested, said
riders were targeted from the start.
"There was an air of intimidation," he told Newsday. "There
was a van projecting a recorded voice saying that riders must
follow a certain route and if they deviated, they would be
arrested."
The cyclists have been a target of police attack before.
Some 264 Critical Mass bicyclists were arrested in August just
days before huge demonstrations against the Republican National
Con ven tion. A number were brutally beaten. The arrests were
seen as an attempt by police and city authorities, including
billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to create an atmosphere of
intimidation and fear before the protests.
Critical Mass, which describes itself as an "event" rather
than an organization, inspires bike tours on the last Friday of
each month in 250 cities across the globe.
In San Francisco, Critical Mass cyclists showed up Oct. 29
to support locked-out hotel workers.
KCBS reported that the riders chose a route that took them
to several hotels affected by the lockout. "'It makes me feel
great. I'm loving it. It's encouraging,' said one locked-out
union worker. Richard McLean used to work as a bartender at the
Hilton. He watched as bikes did to cars what strikers sometimes
did to guests. 'They're stopping traffic.'"
In another example of outrageous police behavior,
facilitated by beefed-up repression allowed under the "Patriot
Act," Boston cops recently fatally wounded a young woman
celebrating the Red Sox victory over the Yankees. She was
struck in the eye with a pepper-gas pellet during "crowd
control."
In a time of unpopular war, drastic climate change and
growing economic problems and uncertainty for millions of
workers, it is not surprising that the police see gatherings of
young people as threatening to "order." It is their job to
protect a capitalist order that is increasingly destructive,
degrading, oppressive and hated. The more they do their odious
job, the more they antagonize the youth and propel them into
struggle to uproot the system.
Reprinted from the Nov. 11, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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