From The Observer, 8/15/04:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1283404,00.html

New York ready to unleash fury on Republicans

Sit-down protests and traditional dances as Democrats use every weapon
to beat Bush

Paul Harris in New York
Sunday August 15, 2004
The Observer

The smiling face of former New York mayor Ed Koch beams down from
posters all over the city.

'The Republicans are coming,' it says underneath. 'Make nice.'

Fat chance.

New York is bracing for one of the biggest showdowns in its political
history as the Republican national convention comes to town at the end
of the month.

Meeting the army of delegates, politicians and lobbyists will be a
vast array of protest groups that intend to make the Republicans' Big
Apple stay as unpleasant as possible.

Trying to keep order on the streets will be 20,000 police, secret
servicemen and National Guard units.

A quiet week seems out of the question.

Jamie Moran certainly hopes so.

He is one of the main driving forces behind the protest movement which
has sprung up since the Republicans announced they would gather in New
York.

He and others have been collecting information on all aspects of the
convention.

They run a 'snitch line' where people involved in the convention can
leak details of events and where delegates have been staying.

The protesters are widely believed to have infiltrated several people
into working at the convention who will smuggle information out.

Moran's plan is to send out teams of activists to disrupt as many
events as possible.

'It's all coming along well,' he told The Observer at a meeting of
protest groups in a city church.

Moran, 30, son of a local cop, has become a minor media star in New
York, but he is far from alone in plotting to make the city a place
the Republican party will be reluctant to return to.

In all, more than 250,000 protesters from all over the US and the rest
of the world are expected to converge on the city during the four-day
event.

Maps of where Republican events are being held have been distributed.

They contain details of where delegates are staying, lobbyists'
parties are being held and major corporate headquarters are located.

Streets will be shut down, impromptu marches held, meetings disrupted
and parties invaded.

Sit-down demonstrations will block traffic, protesters will chain
themselves together and delegates' hotels will be infiltrated.

There will be organised protests and marches, with City Hall permits,
that are expected to attract hundreds of thousands of demonstrators.

John Flanigan and Tim Doody are two other protest co-ordinators aiming
to make 31 August a day of direct action.

They said they would shun the idea of applying for any form of permit.

'We already have a permit. It is called the American constitution. The
idea that I have to ask for permission to protest my own government is
ridiculous,' Flanigan said.

Sitting on the steps of St Mark's church in the East Village, the pair
typified the anger felt by protesters that the Republicans are holding
their convention in a city that prides itself on its liberalism.

'This has really shaken everyone out of their complacency. People are
outraged,' said Doody.

Polls support that reaction.

A recent survey showed that 83 per cent of New Yorkers did not want
the convention in their city.

'We all live here,' said Angela Coppola, an office worker who has
joined the protest groups.

'We were the victims of 11 September and now they are coming to
terrorise us with their asinine convention.'

New York was chosen by the Republicans with an eye on associating the
party with the terror attacks of 2001.

But now it runs the risk of having the media coverage turn into
pictures of street battles and mass arrests.

However, that may not necessarily upset Republican strategists.

TV footage of besieged delegates inside Madison Square Garden may
boost George Bush's poll ratings in key, socially conservative Midwest
states.

New York police are preparing for the worst.

Manhattan's District Attorney's office has said that it expects 1,000
arrests a day during the convention, three times the normal rate.

Police will have 'non-lethal' weapons such as tasers (electric stun
guns), plastic bullets and pepper spray.

Any illegal protest is expected to be cracked down on immediately.

At a press briefing last week, mayor Mike Bloomberg was firm about the
police attitude to protesters without permits:

'If you disrupt traffic, if you behave in a way that is against the
law, the NYPD will enforce the law. Period.'

Huge preparations have been made to combat the threat of terrorism.

New York, along with Washington and Newark, New Jersey, is likely to
still be on a heightened state of terrorist alert.

Checkpoints will be set up around the convention centre, helicopter
flights over the city will be banned and New York-bound trains will be
searched by anti-bomb units using sniffer dogs.

The convention itself, featuring speakers such as Senator John McCain
and Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, will culminate in
the prime-time acceptance speech of Bush himself.

But by then it is possible that events on the streets will be all
anyone is talking about.

________________________________________________________

New York, New York. It's a wonderful town.

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
These vagabond shoes
Are longing to stray
And make a brand new start of it
New York, New York
I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps
To find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap
These little town blues
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New York.

Harry