http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/29/politics/campaign/29CND-PORT.html

On bicycles, on foot, and some with their children in tow, hundreds of thousands of people moved through areas of Manhattan today in rallies or mass demonstrations, carrying messages against war and the Bush administration.

In the largest demonstration ever at a political convention, people swarmed through the midtown area of Manhattan in a march organized by United for Peace and Justice, passing by Madison Square Garden, where this week's Republican National Convention starts on Monday. At the height of the march, it took more than an hour to move one block.

Groups of bicyclists were detained by police officers on scooters in other parts of the city.

The police cordoned off an area along Seventh Avenue near the Garden when a papier-mache likeness of a green dragon went up in flames. The fire was quickly extinguished. It was not immediately clear who set the fire.

By midafternoon, at least 53 people were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct for blocking traffic near 37th Street and Seventh Avenue on Manhattan's West Side, the police said.

Witnesses said a group of cyclists was arrested at Park Avenue South between 27th and 26th Streets. The police handcuffed the cyclists, photographed them and searched their bags, which they then placed in clear plastic sacks. Those who were detained called out that they had been riding lawfully when pulled over.

Much of the activity was focused on the Garden, where President Bush will accept his party's nomination this week. But even as the demonstrators were marching, Republican delegates were enjoying other aspects of the city, including theaters and restaurants.

As delegates lined up on West 44th Street, waiting to be admitted to the Majestic Theater for a matinee performance of "Phantom of the Opera," a couple of dozen picketers chanted "Get out of New York!"

Some delegates responded, "Four more years!"

The protesters retorted, "Four more months!"

When a drummer and a man in an elephant costume — "Elephants Against Republicans" — filed by, Flora Rohrs, a delegate from Colorado, burst into song. "This is my country," she sang, with bits of "God Bless America" thrown in.

"What is going on here is we are going to get George Bush re-elected," she said, adding that the day's demonstrations did not faze her.

Outside Madison Square Garden, about 100 people from a group called Young Koreans United stood banging drums for about 20 minutes chanting that it is time for Bush to go.

Imbo Sim, 40, said he was from Los Angeles and that most of the group were from out of town. "We're against Bush's war policy," he said. "We're against any escalation of tension with North Korea."

A group of older women calling themselves the Raging Grannies from Rochester, N.Y., sang to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic":

"No more lies from Dick and Georgie, we deplore their wartime orgy."

On 41st Street and Sixth Avenue, six other bicyclists were arrested for disorderly conduct, obstructing traffic and parading without a permit.

One man, Kevin O'Connell, a 37-year-old graphic designer, was among those arrested. He said there were "all these small scooters, about 12 of them, with officers in civilian clothes."

"They blocked off the road and caught us," he said.

Mr. O'Connell said he had stepped onto the sidewalk from the street to try to make sure that people were getting through and "was knocked off his bike by officers" and sprayed with tear gas.

Authorities braced for protests by hundreds of thousands of people, including the largest rally, that planned by United for Peace and Justice, which had expected about 250,000 people to take part.

The huge demonstration wound its way north through steamy streets just around noon, when temperatures climbed to about 88 degrees Fahrenheit, starting in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The route took them past Madison Square Garden before turning south again to finish in Union Square.

Among the marchers were war veterans, parents with their children, and the elderly, as well as familiar faces, like the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the filmmaker Michael Moore. Many marchers commuted into the city.

"The march is going great," said Faith Strongheart, a 31-year-old film production coordinator, who drove in from her home in New Jersey to attend the rally.

As she spoke, she struggled to be heard over the chants of a raucous crowd. "There are tons of people, the energy is really high," she said. "There are people with homemade signs. The main message is to get Bush out of office."

She said the heat was beating down on the marchers but "people are very peaceful, everybody is singing, the cops are being very cooperative."

Uniformed police patrols were thick on the ground in the midtown area and other parts of Manhattan and along the planned protest routes near Madison Square Garden. Officers strode through the tunnels of New York City's elaborate subway network, watchful of passers-by.

Even before the convention started, as of Saturday night more than 300 people had been arrested on charges related to the event, according to the police.

A large group of bicyclists on Friday were among those held. The police said 264 individuals were arrested on charges of obstructing governmental administration, unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct at various locations throughout Manhattan.

Thousands of protesters gathered today in Union Square Park on the edge of the city's Greenwich Village neighborhood, holding up placards opposing the policies of President Bush.

Paintings showed scenes depicting Mr. Bush in a war crimes setting. One old woman in a wheelchair held up a placard saying, "I'm 98 and I'm outraged."

One organizer of the protest shouted through a megaphone to the crowd that the police were "closing down" a table with pamphlets and booklets espousing the anti-Bush views.

"Save a Tree — Plant a Bush Back in Texas," read one placard.

"Bush — You're Fired!" read another, using a motto that has infused popular culture borrowed from the reality television show "The Apprentice," set in New York City.

Streets around the convention center were sealed off. After the march, thousands of demonstrators gathered in Central Park, despite court decisions last week that denied some groups, including United for Peace and Justice, permission to hold rallies.

Earlier in the day, police vehicles and officers on patrol circulated among the joggers, bicyclists and dog-walkers. Helicopters thudded overhead in the Upper West Side neighborhood. But by late afternoon, thousands of protesters, many still carrying placards, had converged on the Great Lawn. Some sat on the ground, their signs at their sides, others milled around as the police watched and answered questions for those who needed directions.

Mari Elena Granger, 57, a self-employed New Yorker, carried a sign that said, "Bush lies. Who dies. Bring the troops home now."

Asked whether most of the people in the park had come from the march organized by United for Peace and Justice, she said: "I am assuming most of them are, particularly because they told us we couldn't go. It was a very poor excuse."

The police have been training on mock demonstrations for the convention, which starts on Monday and continues through Sept. 2.

On Saturday, a small circle of demonstrators used Central Park's Great Lawn for a protest, lying in the grass covered by plastic garbage bags.

"Come join us!!" they shouted to people strolling around the oval of grass. Bemused couples with babies lying on picnic blankets looked on but did not budge. One man, throwing a Frisbee with a friend nearby, shouted, "Shut up!"

"If they get out of control we're going to shut it down," a park security guard said, standing in the shade nearby with her arms folded.

Randal C. Archibold, Natalie Layzell, Jennifer Medina, Colin Moynihan and Marc Santora contributed reporting for this article.

Protesters Pour Into Manhattan Streets

Protesters Pour Into Manhattan Streets

On Eve of GOP Convention, Thousands Demonstrate Against Bush and Iraq War

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44003-2004Aug29.html

By Sara Kugler
The Associated Press
Sunday, August 29, 2004; 5:24 PM

NEW YORK -- Bearing flag-draped boxes resembling coffins and fly-swatters with President Bush's image, more than 100,000 protesters peacefully swarmed Manhattan's streets on the eve of the Republican National Convention to demand that President Bush be turned out of office.

Flanked by police in riot gear, the protesters moved through the fortified city, loudly and exuberantly chanting slogans such as "No more years." They accused the Bush White House of prosecuting an unjust war in Iraq, making the country poorer and undermining abortion rights.

There were no reports of major violence and about 100 scattered arrests.

Police gave no official crowd estimate, though one law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, put the crowd at 120,000; organizers claimed it was roughly 400,000.

The march snaked in a circular route around midtown Manhattan, shutting down dozens of blocks and bringing out hordes of police in a city already girded against terrorist attacks.

"They chose New York, where they're universally hated," said writer Laurie Russo, 41, of the New York borough of Queens. "They should have gone somewhere they're more welcome. They exploited 9/11 by having it in New York at this time."

In the largest set of arrests, some 50 protesters on bicycles who stopped near the parade route were carted away in an off-duty city bus. Also, 10 people were arrested after someone set a paper dragon float afire near Madison Square Garden, site of the convention, and nine demonstrators tried to prevent the arrest, authorities said. The nine were charged with assault.

"There's been a few minor arrests," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "It has been peaceful."

Residents leaned from windows along the demonstration route to shout their support. Scattered opposition was visible only around Madison Square Garden, where the GOP convention opens Monday. Some early convention arrivals looked across police lines, shouting at demonstrators: "Go home!"

"I hope this shows the world that they're not alone in their hatred of George Bush," said Alan Zelenki of Eugene, Ore., who planned for three months to attend this week's protests.

The causes varied as much as the people shouting support: immigrants' rights, gay rights, universal health care, the Palestinian cause, an end to the killing in Sudan. Tracy Blevins, a biomedical researcher who recently left New York for Houston, dyed her Maltese pink and carried the little dog in a baby pouch to advocate peace.

Some demonstrators batted around a 6-foot-wide inflatable globe. One sign echoed Democratic nominee John Kerry's Vietnam-era remark: "How do you ask a soldier to be the last person to die for a lie?"

The protest organizers, United for Peace and Justice, had sued unsuccessfully to force the city to allow a rally in Central Park. City officials said such a rally would damage lawns.

"Fahrenheit 9-11" director Michael Moore told demonstrators that "the majority of this country opposes the war ... The majority are here to say, 'It's time to have our country back in our hands.'"

On Friday, 264 people were arrested for disorderly conduct in a bicycle ride that snaked through the city and passed by Madison Square Garden.

A number of other events were planned Sunday, including a gay rights demonstration and a vigil in Central Park by a group of Sept. 11 families opposed to the Iraq war.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in a radio address Sunday, acknowledged the intense feelings on both sides but said the convention was an important event for New York.

"We've put in place a security plan that is thorough, measured, and that protects the rights of convention-goers and protesters without unnecessarily getting in the way of New Yorkers as we go about our daily lives," Bloomberg said.

Associated Press reporters Tom Hays, Richard Pyle and Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.