Tüba,
If only. So I go to GAP on my way home, since it is, and there's maybe five people there.... and eight police vans, a paddy wagon, a flatbed truck and a light truck and easily 35 policemen, including, as I later found out, the borough commander. The five of us become three as a couple of cyclists decide not to participate because they lack lights, and the three of us left, myself, Jonathan and Nicki, decide we'll ride a Courteous Mass out to Coney Island for hot dogs & fries at Nathan's. So, right about 7:15, we push off the curb.

I didn't even have my second foot up on my pedals when I was grabbed by the shoulder. Fair's fair... my headlight wasn't on when I began to roll away, but then I was handcuffed, which was fairly out of proportion, I thought, and was searched and detained while they decided what to do with me. Everyone except the guy who cuffed me seemed embarrassed even to be there and me talking to th em made them more embarrassed, I think. Maybe not. Long story short, eventually, they let me go, no ticket or summons, acting like they were doing me a favor. And they "let us" ride the loop in the park, which is, at that point closed to traffic anyway, which was awfully nice of them.

This is utter and complete ********. I'm sorry to be snotty about this, but I so want to see the stats on serious crime in Brooklyn during the hour and a half that the massive police show of force was in effect at Grand Army Plaza, which was there to restrict the right of free and peaceable assembly of three- THREE- dangerous CMers. As if, there in the cold and rain, we would have posed a threat to anything but a bowl of soup and a glass of whisky. Did I mention there were three of us?

The captain who took me aside to explain that they were letting me go told me that I was being let go strictly because it was such a small group, and that they were going to continue to show up in force based on the parading w/o a permit thing they tried to enforce against the NYC ride, before the judge's denial of their request for an injunction. Also, our departure at 7:15 instead of 7:30 (which I guess was when the ride started last month) took them by surprise and forced them to "change tactics," a phrase which in this context means "handcuff people who behave unpredictably, even if their behavior is completely legal." Asked point blank if they were going to continue to bust chops in the future, he said they would be restricting "rallies" (at least they're not calling them "protests" anymore) which crossed the line and became "parades," although he was unwilling or unable to define precisely when a "rally" would become a "parade."

During the exceedingly brief Critical Mass ride itself, which was marked by spirits far higher than the cold, rain and disproportionate policing might lead you to believe, Jonathan pointed out that statistically, this was by far the most brutal crackdown on Critical Mass yet, as fully 1/3rd of the riders were in cuffs at one point. His wisdom is, I believe, one of the reasons that the police elected him as the "leader" of CM Brooklyn when they needed someone to negotiate with over the fate of the 1/3rd of the Mass detained. So send your dues checks and membership enquiries to him, I guess.

Much respect to Jonathan and Nicki, who, in the cold and rain, came all the way from Manhattan to help keep the Brooklyn Mass alive this month. Nicki, I'm sorry we dropped you on the hill...I was too distracted by rage to keep the Mass tight. That was wrong, and the other two thirds of the Mass are sorry. Many thanks to all the policemen who "let" us ride the loop... especially those in the van who blew by us in the designated bike lane at 40 mph. And all of you Brooklyn CM riders best show up next month... I've ended up in cuffs in August and in November, and it's time for someone else to take a turn.

"...It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again and they said no,
it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

See you next month, on bikes. December 10. GAP. 7pm.