Daily News. 27 January 2002. City on Alert for Days of Rage. Excerpts.
When thousands rally in New York this week against the World Economic Forum, socially conscious activists will be among them -- as well as, police say, hardened radicals and advocates of violent confrontation. With labor unionists, students, environmentalists, civil rights activists and all manner of self-proclaimed anarchists meeting in midtown, police are preparing for street dramas that may range from puppetry and tango-dancing to vandalism and service disruptions. "Many, many thousands, perhaps even more than that, are coming from practically every state," said Larry Holmes, a spokesman for ANSWER, which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. "I think the protest is going to be good for the city; what's more normal for New York than to have a protest?" Police have been gathering intelligence on potentially violent groups and assigning each a threat level. They are groups that have clashed with police at other economic summits, including the World Trade Organization in Seattle in 1999 and the Group of Eight Summit in Genoa, Italy, in July, in which a protester was killed by police. One demonstration tactic labeled a serious threat, known as the "Black Bloc," is in vogue with anarchist groups. Demonstrators wear black clothing and bandannas over their faces, and wield pipes, bottles and Molotov cocktails. Black Bloc proponents boast on Web sites of causing disruptions at various corporate headquarters. Two weeks ago in York, Pa., anti-racists using Black Bloc techniques fought neo-Nazis in the streets during an appearance by Matthew Hale, leader of the white-supremacist World Church of the Creator. While more mainstream activists were painting banners and organizing transportation and housing for participants in anti-World Economic Forum protests, police have spotted other protesters surveying the site of the conference, scoping out the entrances and taking photographs, sources said. Militant groups planning direct action may lock arms to form a blockade, chain themselves together, soil themselves and damage property, police said. Police might enforce an 1845 law that prohibits people from wearing masks in street gatherings, except for masquerades, to counter large gatherings of Black Bloc advocates, sources said. Starting Thursday and continuing until the summit ends the following Monday, anti-globalists from around the country and Europe are expected to converge near the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, the posh, old-money base for the 1,800 forum delegates and their staff and about 20 heads of state as they discuss "A Vision for a Shared Future," with international security part of the discourse. The protesters see the forum as a capitalist display of excess at a time when the events of Sept. 11 have led to war and economic woes. And they are mindful that New Yorkers are still fragile. "We know what the atmosphere is since Sept. 11," said Eric Laursen, a member of Another World Is Possible, a New-York based umbrella organization of anti-war, anti-corporate globalization student groups. "Our thrust is positive -- to have street theater and music in an effort to show people what a better world it could be." But the Anti-Capitalist Convergence, whose motto is "Make Resistance Visible," is using the city's firefighters' scuffle with police in November to suggest that it's time for the return of direct action in New York. Anti-Capitalist Convergence flyers against the World Economic Forum show angry men in fire helmets and turnout coats. About 3,500 cops have been assigned to the forum, including rooftop snipers, plainclothes cops and officers from aviation, mounted, canine, bomb squad and emergency service units. There will be cops at the city airports to make sure there are no disruptions, and extra vigilance on the subways. The jail system is preparing to process hundreds of arrests. Meanwhile, workshops are being held on the legal rights of demonstrators, and street medic treatment for tear gas and pepper spray. The Anti-Capitalist Convergence was offering role-playing where participants play cops, protesters and medics. "Police are preparing as if the Mongol hordes are coming," said Laursen. "In Seattle and Genoa, by far, the overwhelming amount of violence was done by the police. There was brutality, not against the so-called Black Bloc [demonstrators] but against peaceful protesters doing Ghandian methods." Holmes said, "If the police are not heavy-handed, and do not provoke, we have no doubt these events will come off very successfully." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
