WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE ...
Expecting the worst! NYPD manual on dealing with demonstrators at the
GOP convention tells them to watch out for dirty tricks and ignore
verbal abuse
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
STAFF WRITER; NEWSDAY
Staff writer Daryl Khan contributed to this report.
August 13, 2004
Water balloons. Sleeping dragons. A drummer really into the beat.
These are some of the tools of anarchy that police have been told to
watch for as they prepare for protests during the Republican National
Convention.
According to an NYPD guidebook printed for the convention and obtained
by Newsday, cops assigned to convention duty are likely to have their
hands full with strident protest groups that don't have permits to
march and generally don't play by the rules.
The 35-page booklet, "Legal guidelines for the Republican National
Convention," was printed to let cops know what to expect when the
protest groups that police generally call anarchists roll into town the
last week of August, police sources say.
The booklet deals in great detail with First Amendment issues, media
accessibility and what cops should and should not allow. It also lays
out the various tricks, tactics and methods that police say many
protest groups use to get their message out.
Rigged balloons and more
Seemingly innocent balloons may not be so harmless, the booklet says,
as protesters have been known to fill them with metal shavings and
launch them "toward electrical power lines" in hopes of causing a
blackout.
Cops are also told in the booklet to expect protesters to hurl objects
at them. Weapons of choice for the protesters, according to the
booklet, include frozen water balloons thrown off buildings, as well as
billiard and golf balls and hockey pucks hurled from street level,
often with slingshots.
The problem with the groups coming here with no permits and intent to
wreak havoc is that police do not know where or when some of them are
likely to act.
Hurling projectiles, on cue
Police sources say undercover cops have infiltrated at least some of
the groups they expect to cause trouble. That should help them nip some
of the problems in the bud, but there is still some concern, according
to the booklet, that protesters may hide items on the streets that they
intend to hurl at police. Often, the signal to start throwing or to
rush to a predetermined location is the faster beat of the drummer from
the band that accompanies many groups.
Eric Laursen of A31 Coalition, a group organizing civil disobedience on
Aug. 31, said the warnings in the NYPD booklet are "urban legends" that
only increase the likelihood of conflict.
"The unanswerable question is how conscious the top brass are that
these are basically urban legends," Laursen said. "If they aren't, they
need to be more responsible. If they are aware, then you have a really
reckless, nefarious effort to discredit people who haven't done
anything wrong."
The booklet also warns cops that protesters have been known to target
police horses by stringing wire at street level to trip them, tossing
marbles in their paths or slicking streets with vegetable oil.
Police expect to make hundreds of arrests, but even then, protesters
have plans, according to the booklet: faking police brutality, with
protesters impersonating cops and beating other protesters; falling
limp; securing themselves to others or to fixed objects with bicycle
locks or by inserting their arms into "sleeping dragons,"
concrete-enforced pipes often rigged with chicken wire.
A deaf ear to insults
The booklet also serves as a legal primer for cops. It explains the
First Amendment, warns cops against arresting someone if they don't
like what they are saying, and tells them they must have "thicker skins
and tolerate verbal abuse that would otherwise constitute harassment if
directed at an ordinary citizen."
"With few exceptions," the booklet notes, "a person may say anything he
or she wants, no matter how offensive."
Staff writer Daryl Khan contributed to this report.
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