sgp on Mon, 17 Feb 2003 06:06:01 +0100 (CET) |
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[Nettime-bold] Bikes for Peace ride |
Apologies for any cross-posting. A brief report from Saturday's rollin' n resistin' Bikes for Peace ride in New York City. 12:00pm Union Square southside A small group slowly builds into a sidewalk choking crowd of bikes and spandex being herded against barricades by the police force anticipating our arrival. Riders appear from all directions. 12:30pm Broadway As we begin to roll out, the police move in and threaten to seize bikes from non-helmet wearing riders(about 1/2 the group). The first potential victim turns out to apparently be a Transportation Alternatives member who recites the helmet law to the officer, stating only kids under 14 need helmets. We ride away smiling and blocking the entire width of Broadway, a swarming mass of about 30-40 riders. We consist of messengers, former messengers, commuters, aficionados, the gamut of two wheeled possibilities - picking up stray riders along the way. Some have adorned their bikes with signs, banners, noise makers and the otherwise innocent clanging handlebar mounted bell. We run south, then loop around to the east and head back north ultimately ending up northbound on Madison Ave at 23rd St. 1:30pm Madison and 57th Street We ride north on Madison Ave, stopping for red lights, but preventing any cars other than taxis from passing us. In front of us lay open road. Behind us lay a honking frustrated mass of steel and vinyl - buses, cars, SUV's and delivery trucks. As we approach 57th Street we see an easterly cross current of protesters heading for 1st Ave blocking the intersection. This was the first sign of many to come that day of pedestrians taking back the streets. We slowly roll up to 57th Street to the cheers of the marching mass upon seeing us, yelling "Bikes for Peace", "Bikes not Bombs", "No Blood for Oil", etc. We stop and sit, becoming temporary crossing guards, preventing the traffic behind us from intervening or inching forward. The exhausted Greyhound bus engine behind me finally gives up and shuts off. 2:00pm Bloomingdale's The throng thins and we continue to roll north until 59th Street where we make a right turn and roll east. We encounter numerous officers attempting to prevent the easterly flow but we are too many and simply roll right past. We finally reach Lexington and another mass of marching peds. Across the intersection its clear the police have placed their blue wood barricades and have successfully for now altered the flow into a trickle. We dismount and scatter into the crowd and receive an announcement to reconvene at 3pm at Columbus Circle to ride into Times Square. I file into the crowd and get swept east to 3rd Ave. The mass at 3rd Ave. is heading north, but its seems unclear where it's going. It becomes clear this is an overflow, seeking eastward, because as we pass each cross street I see our counterparts marching south on 2nd Ave. At 69th Street we finally make a right turn and cheers erupt. We reach 2nd Ave and again cheers erupt as we meet the southward flow. For the next few blocks we step freely. Then the crowd thickens and the pace slows. We've run up against our first resistance, a police barricade has been placed across the avenue. But because we are so many with no where to go and no chance of reversing our course, the barricade is opened. This happens numerous times at almost every cross street until at one point it appears access to 1st Ave is open and the mass splinters, some heading south, some east. The southerly group comes across a northerly group around 65th Street. This time the barricade is actual officers not the metal or wood kind. They are applying their flying V maneuver to wedge into the crowd and force them onto the sidewalks and off the street. But in this case its not really working as the crowd soon realizes the southerlies are filling in behind the officers and soon enough surrounding them. The flying V fails. 3:00pm Columbus Circle We reconvene chilled but thrilled at the days successful taking of the streets. Spirits are high and stories pass from rider to rider about their observations and encounters. We head across 59th Street and loop around until we are heading south again on 7th Ave, again blocking traffic. As we get about 5 blocks from Times Sq we see that protestors have already arrived and are attempting to take over the streets. We roll into Times Square to an enormous cheering mass slicing between blue barricades and the TKTS building. 3:30pm Times Square Carving to the right we head west to Broadway and come to stop as the buzzing crowd fills into the intersection of Broadway and 47th St. We seem to have been the signal to commence taking back Times Square as the mass filled in around us blocking the intersection, frustrating traffic and police alike. We hold fast until another flying V is waged, this time successfully. The police are gruff and not hesitant to physically push us onto the sidewalks. They clear the intersections and splinter our bike group in about 5 minutes. We finally reconvene at Bryant Park as word spreads from rider to rider of the core's whereabouts. We attempt to escort numerous intersection takeovers for the next hour, spinning here and there around the Times Square area, flocking to the next reported hemorrhage until 4:30 when we encounter a small band seemingly without direction asking us where they should go, left or right. We block the intersection and escort them across until they rejoin another group. 4:30pm 40's and Park Ave. My toes numb and nose sniffling, I finally part from the group as they swarm south to the next call, our only bruise the arrest of one member for laying across an intersection. For more information: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=812#peaceride Related information(note Times-Up was not the sponsor of the ride): http://www.times-up.org/ _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold