Editor’s Note: Still no word from Belacqua.
I took part in the massive demonstration against the Bushits yesterday. What a party! Seventh Avenue was packed from 14th Street to 34th Street and around down Fifth Avenue to Union Square. It was a festive, good natured march until we reached Madison Square Garden. Then the anger and the rage boiled over. Boos, catcalls and middle fingers filled the air, the anger directed both at the convention and the large Fox News billboard at 33rd and Seventh Ave.
It was a carnival atmosphere marching up Seventh Avenue, a slow movement with many pauses because of the size of the crowd. The protest signs demonstrated the number of obscenities that can be derived from Bush’s name. Intermittently a roar would rise from the back of the crowd and be carried forward as the acoustic wave echoed up the avenue.
It’s interesting to participate in an event and then read and view the press accounts. One account spoke of, “police in riot gear lining the route of the march.” The police were not in riot gear, but in their working uniforms. The only helmets in sight were those worn by a contingent of mounted patrol at Seventh Avenue and 34th Street. And those guys always wear them. Police coverage was sparse along the march route until we reached Madison Square Garden, where police were stationed every five or ten feet. Rather than their uniform hats, these police were wearing baseball caps which look nothing like riot helmets.
As usual, the numbers game has started. Our local news radio station, WCBS, which has raised the trivialization of news to an art form, said 100,000 had marched. WINS, a news station that makes a stab at responsible reporting said 400,000, the same number given by the demonstration’s organizers, United for Peace and Justice. Mind you, the assembly area covered 14th to 22nd Streets between Fifth and Ninth Avenues. The march route wound its way from the assembly area up Seventh Avenue, then east on 34th Street to Fifth Avenue, then down Fifth Avenue and Broadway to Union Square.
One thing there is agreement on is that the front of the march reached Union Square before the end of the parade stepped off. I believe it. We had assembled at 17th Street and Seventh Avenue. The parade stepped off at noon. We did not start moving until 12:45 p.m. Draw your own conclusions.
This morning my feet are sore, my legs stiff and my back hurts. But, by God, it was worth it!
8:00:56 AM 
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