I went to Bike Bloc this morning, an unofficial action in support of the main protest march here in NYC. There were about 250 bikes, riders ranging from your iconoclastic activist and latter-day punk types to fairly benign looking people like me. We gathered on the SE triangle across from Union Square south.
I had hung two placards from my bike rack: "Yes, George, there is global warming" on one, and the other, WorldChanging's logo and slogan.
You may have read in various news outlets that over 250 bicycle riders were arrested Friday night, out of 5000 participating in Critical Mass. Here's a press release about it from the NYCLU. So I had a sense that this was a somewhat more edgy activity than just walking in the march would be, but I also figured that the police would not be looking for trouble unnecessarily. And we had no intention of making any.
The group left Union Square around 11:30, circled it twice, and then headed up Park. Somewhere in the high 20s we cut over to 6th Ave. Guys on big heavy scooters started weaving through traffic and the bikes as we went up 6th, very recklessly. Vans with lights and sirens started coming up behind the riders, and most of us moved to the side to let them through--I thought they were ambulances, but they were police vans.
As I came up to 40th with the two buddies I'd made for the ride, we could see the vans and some scooters pulled over at 41st (by Bryant Park). We could see one rider kneeling with a cop cuffing him, and two other riders standing and being cuffed. One was a legal observer (bright green cap).
The scooter-riders, in case it's not clear, were plainclothes cops, and I saw them all around midtown as I moved about the area over the course of the afternoon.
A few of us ended up walking up about halfway the block to observe the arrests -- most of the ride had scattered by this time, about 10 minutes since we'd left Union Square.
We encountered a few riders on west 40th, including one of the organizers, and eventually learned that the bike bloc was reconvening at Union Square. Once there, we were told that there had been perhaps 25 arrests (about 10% of the riders). If folks wanted to continue, it was suggested that they do so in small groups of no more than 5 people, head towards the march, and perhaps offer support.
Two of my buddies decided to head for Brooklyn. Another man we'd hooked up with at west 40th wanted to go over to the march, so we rode/walked down 14th, cut up 6th and over on maybe 15th. It was completely packed. Impossible to ride, we walked the bikes for several blocks. Eventually, though, it was so crowded that we cut east in the 20s and he decided to try and head home.
I wasn't ready to leave, so I ended up biking up 6th and reconnecting with the march as it crossed east, walking my bike all the way. For the final several blocks south I walked with two women who are Sierra Club volunteers--SC is holding a vigil down near Ground Zero to protest EPA's whitewashing of the post-9/11 environmental situation. SC is the only national green group with any presence in the city this week.
Blah blah blah riding around a little more on the east side...got to the 42nd Street Library around 3:45, the pre-determined reconvening time for the bike bloc.
Learned that the cops had been picking off riders in the vicinity of the march and Times Square all afternoon ("Riders who look like protestors, not like yuppies, there's just no other way to say it," said the organizer), perhaps 50 people all told between the morning and the afternoon had been picked up by the cops.
While we were standing there listening and talking, with a lot of other marchers sitting on the library steps relaxing, a few police approached the crowd from the north. I can't recall the exact order of the following but: One of the cops took up a megaphone and said that we were being ordered to disperse because we were illegally blocking a pedestrian thoroughfare. If we dispersed, we wouldn't be arrested. The bike riders began to scatter. A riot squad appeared on foot. Bike cops started to gather, and our buddies on the scooters also re-appeared. Keep in mind that 5th Ave. was completely closed to civilian traffic for blocks around the library.
I went across the street to talk with one of the organizers for a sec, and then hung out watching for some time. The riot squad looked ready to move in and make arrests (of the people sitting on the stairs?) and several police vans pulled up. But over the course of maybe 20 minutes, the scooter and bike cops pulled away and went down 5th a few blocks, the riot cops relaxed and took off their helmets, and nothing further happened before I left.
ADDENDUM, 8/29 10:22 pm:
Here are the accounts of the bike bloc that were texted in to nyc.indymedia.org as the ride progressed:
11:41 AM
200 bikes heading eastbound on 14th from University place
12:01 PM
Broadway and 34th, 3 cyclists and at least 2 legal observed taken into custody, unconfirmed reports from nyc legal of arrests at 41st and 7th.
12:24 PM
bike bloc reportedly experiencing mass arrests at 7th and 34th
12:37 PM
Undercover motorcycle cops attack cyclists in the bike bloc at 6th ave and west 41st. Appx 40 arrests have been made. Cyclists are reconvening at Union Sq. south.
03:25 PM
Police are reportedly arresting bikers heading uptown. They are trying to redirect people towards 5th ave. This may be a trap. 6 arrests are reported at 6th and 34th.