nyc critical mass tonight?
 

anyone going... ? rain? cops? etc...

how big do nyc mass's get?

they used to get *big*, 2+ thousand. now they get arrested and their bikes get impounded, so only a few people show up.

Fascists...

Tonight will be big, and you should show even if you're not going to ride:
Still We Speak!

I'm going, but just to snap a few shots of the cops on their new scooters.

i will be there with spurs on

i'm gonna try and make it.

rally at 5, ride at 7, correct?

Rally at 5:30, I believe... Ride at 7.

man. i rode by union square on my way home from work.

easily 300 cops standing in a big group, police busses, flatbed trucks, metal barriers set up, etc.

***** is going down tonight and i'm staying away.

i care deeply about this cause, but i just can't risk losing either my commuter bike or my very, very expensive road bike.

i guess the strongarm tactics are working :(

that does not sound good, glad i decided against it... :(

There's a permit for the rally, though not for the ride... If you're worried, take the train in and rally only!

Have seen isolated packs of people on their bikes, having fun, slowing traffic - but nothing like in the past...

je-sus. i remember when this was fun. i got corked by a cop letting ~10 cars through my greenlight on atlantic and hoyt in bk tonight. looks like they're staging their own masses; hordes, whatever. saw them again on the climb on the hill in the park (prospect@930). sirens and lights.

i think the bk and mhn CMs should conspire to occur on the same night. that'be an f-d up logi problem for all concerned. in the rhetorical sense is all i'm saying.

man the pigs come down harsh over the pond!

I don't get it, what is this all about?

I didnt go last night. I saw Little groups of people out on the street with their bikes all locked together trying to find out where other people were.. I overheard that people were even getting arrested if they were riding in little groups of 5!

I don't get it.. So if a few of my friends and I want to ride around in the city at any given time, we are now criminals? If its 5, 50 or 500 you can get arrested.. not cool..only in this city! :( Thumbs down

I say we all try to ride on sunday.. Lets all meet up at a different location in a mass.. im sure if we try to ride with a mass amount of people every week or so, the city wont be able to keep bringing out all the police, paddywagons, flatbeds. That has to add up for one night. Maybe if we just ride in masses non-stop, the city will have to back down with the cost..

anyone up for a ride.. Say Sunday 7pm? and where.... Message me

you'll be able to ride wherever/whenever you want on sunday, there will be masses of people riding around after bikeNY.

Looks like its time to have a rotating critical mass schedule. One month on thursday, then next month on Tuesday or some shi+. Not like it would be any less effective at blocking traffic. The pigs wont be able to keep up and once the bike community gets back in the groove you could probably get 500+ riding again. Keep the rally on fridays based on principle. Bad idea?

We're getting really close to mass arrests at the park with or without riding, in my opinion... One of the primary strategies in the City's current lawsuit is their claim that any group of 20 people in any park or public plaza requires a permit - so that rally on Fridays is still going to be a point of contention.

There are reports of single riders being arrested last night - in one case, a rider alone was reportly chased by two police cars, one of which struck him / pushed him into a curb so that he could be arrested. May or may not be CM related - could well be an isolated incident in which a suspect in some actual crime tried to flee on bike. Anyone have more information - numbers, etc - on last night's events?

Oh: And happy Bike Month, NYC!

NYT:

At Least 18 Arrests Made in Tense Night of a Monthly Cycling Protest
By KAREEM FAHIM and JIM DWYER

Published: April 30, 2005



nder tense circumstances, the monthly Critical Mass bicycle ride set out last night from multiple locations in Manhattan, in an attempt by the riders to thwart a police crackdown.

The police did not supply arrest numbers last night, but a lawyer who works with the riders, Julia Cohen, said at least 18 were detained.

Up to 400 people, many of them without bicycles, had gathered in Union Square Park before riders fanned out to locations around downtown Manhattan, including Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, and Madison Square Park in the Flatiron District.

In one of the first arrests of the evening, a young woman who was straddling her bike and walking it out of the south end of Union Square Park was seized and personally arrested by Assistant Police Chief Bruce H. Smolka Jr.

"You're riding your bicycle on the sidewalk," Chief Smolka said. "You're under arrest."

The woman protested that she had done nothing wrong. The chief insisted that she get off her bicycle immediately, and then he tried to pull her off. The woman argued, and then other police officers, some of them wearing plainclothes, joined the chief and forcibly removed the woman from the bike.

Ride participants tried to retrieve the woman's bike and scuffled with police officers, who then arrested a second woman.

The sight of a senior chief in the Police Department struggling in a crowded public place with the woman roused the gathering of people.

Cries of "Let her go, let her go," and "fascist state" filled the air, as Chief Smolka and other officers led the woman into a van. A line of 10 motorcycles then sealed the edge of the sidewalk at the intersection of 14th Street and Union Square East. The arrested woman began to give her name in response to a question from a reporter, but only uttered one word - "Lisa" - before she was pushed into the van and the reporter was forced away from her.

Chief Smolka is the police official in charge of southern Manhattan, and oversaw many of the mass arrests made in August before and during the Republican National Convention, including more than 100 arrests of bicyclists at a Critical Mass ride that swelled to include 5,000 riders.

Since then, the mass rides, which were conducted peacefully for several years before that, have become a point of contention with the Police Department.

Police officials have sought to require permits for the rides, which are intended to promote pollution-free transportation. They have filed for injunctions, first in federal court and more recently in state court. And they have warned that riders who run red lights, block intersections or otherwise break the law will be arrested.

In recent months, a cat-and-mouse game has developed, in which the riders try to outrun the police by starting from multiple locations, using cellphone text messages to spread the word. These efforts have been met by increasing shows of force with police officers deployed on foot and motorcycle, and in vans and helicopters. Last night, all of them were darting through the narrow confines of Lower Manhattan.

Soon after the ride began, a freelance reporter for The New York Times, Colin Moynihan, was standing on a sidewalk at Sixth Street and Avenue A interviewing people when he was briefly detained and handcuffed. He was later released by the police without charges.

this paragraph is a little inaccurate:

In recent months, a cat-and-mouse game has developed, in which the riders try to outrun the police by starting from multiple locations, using cellphone text messages to spread the word. These efforts have been met by increasing shows of force with police officers deployed on foot and motorcycle, and in vans and helicopters. Last night, all of them were darting through the narrow confines of Lower Manhattan.

man! i rode last night for a bit. i saw too many people get arrested, and one cyclist get hit by a car (when the cops showed, they told the motorist to leave! i couldnt believe it, i went and got the liscence plate #) anyways i decided to bail and i headed back to union sq to meet up with a friend and i was just standing their with my bike and i was approached by 2 cops who then proceeded to give me a summons for "reckless operation of bicycle". wtf? sucks. now i have to figure out what to do. argh.