Bicycles Serve as Protest Tools at the RNC
Police escort cyclists during the RNC
Selena Hsu
A George W. Bush campaign ad released in March accused John Kerry of having “wacky ideas…like taxing gasoline more so people drive less.” But for the 5,000 cyclists who gathered in Union Square on the Friday prior to the Republic National Convention, there’s nothing “wacky” about alternative transportation. In fact, because bicycles subtly defy the oil dependence that anti-Bush activists have linked to the war in Iraq, many protesters appropriated them as protest tools, giving bicycles a greater meaning than mere substitutes for cars and cabs.
RNC cyclists were a far cry from the bumbling bike-riders in Bush’s sepia-toned ad. They transformed their vehicles into creative mouthpieces for patriotism, freedom of expression, and environmental advocacy. At the United for Peace and Justice march on Aug. 29, an indy media group called the Human Television Network broadcasted on-the-go from televisions mounted on pink stilt-bikes. And in the “Paula Revere’s Ride” on Aug. 24, a street theater team called Greene Dragon biked down Lexington Avenue with massive horse heads—fashioned from cardboard—mounted on their handlebars, chanting: “One if by SUV, two if by corporate jet! The Republicans are coming!”
“Bush wants to keep us as addicted to oil as he can, to wage his war in Iraq,” said Elana Levin of Greene Dragon. “Bicycles are like methadone against the oil addiction,” she added, declaring independence from the “corporate monarchy of George II.”
What’s more, Levin said, bicycles “connect people to one another” in a “communally centered activity” that contrasts with “Bush’s culture of fear and international isolation and beating up on everyone.”
But Noah Budnick of Transportation Alternatives, a non-profit bicycle advocacy group, called bikes “nonpartisan” and apolitical, saying their effectiveness in protests doesn’t necessarily reach beyond bike-related issues, such as advocating for a new cycling path.
Whether or not they’re politically charged, what’s certain is that bicycles can excite and amass a crowd. And at the RNC, this exploded into more than many activists and law enforcement officials bargained for. At best, bikes sparked enthusiasm among onlookers and police alike, effectively communicating protest agendas. At worst, they generated mass arrests, which were questioned by civil rights groups. With the delegates now gone and the city returning to normal, the full effects of these events remain to be seen.
Budnick said the city’s treatment of RNC cyclists was “mixed.” While the Bloomberg administration encouraged people to bike to avoid transit delays, the police conducted mass arrests that created bad press for the bike community, “regardless of whether or not they were justified,” he said.
About four hundred cyclists had been arrested as of Sept. 2, according to Budnick. Of those arrests, 264 were made at the Aug. 27 Critical Mass ride—a monthly event in which cyclists ride a rambling course down Manhattan’s major streets to make cars more mindful of them. The cyclists arrested during that event were charged with disorderly conduct and parading without a permit, according to a police press release.
The arrested cyclists included some who were not riding to protest the convention. “Of course I am against the Bush regime, and of course I knew Critical Mass was going to be a lot bigger this month because of the RNC,” said a 16-year-old who was arrested at Seventh Avenue and 34th Street, one of three locations where police broke up the ride, confiscated bikes, and systematically took cyclists to holding cells at Pier 57 on the Hudson River. “But Critical Mass is something I do every month because it’s a fun and positive experience, because I am a New York City biker for environmental reasons, and to promote the idea that we are part of the traffic,” she said.
A 26-year-old from New Jersey, who said he watched police take his bicycle and arrest his friend at 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue, felt the same way. “Critical Mass is a celebration of bike culture,” he said. “Ride daily and celebrate monthly. There is a protest element, and there’s a lot of connection between riding bikes and not using oil, but I don’t want it to be a monthly protest. That’s boring.”
Despite those feelings, he became one of hundreds of activists left without a bike after the convention. Volunteers at Time’s Up, the environmental organization that promotes Critical Mass, dedicated the first hour of a Sept. 2 legal awareness meeting to information on retrieving bicycles from the police. Of the approximately 70 people at the workshop, two had gotten their bikes back. Police tagged and vouched most bikes as arresting evidence to be held until court dates, some of which are scheduled as late as November. But some arrestees reported that their cycles were left in the middle of sidewalks or collected by volunteers and dropped off at the Time’s Up workshop.
Because the 26-year-old wasn’t arrested, he has no police paperwork for his confiscated property. He plans to visit the precinct with the bike’s store receipt in hopes of relocating it.
Police issued warnings to cyclists prior to the convention. In a press release issued Aug. 25, Michael Scagnelli, NYPD chief of transportation, warned “that those who wish to continue to ride with ‘critical mass’ will obey all traffic, administrative and penal laws, and will understand that if laws are broken, violators will be summonsed or arrested.”
On the day of the ride, patrolmen distributed flyers outlining traffic laws. A blimp, helicopters with searchlights, officers in riot gear, and enough motorcycles to encircle all of Union Square replaced the handful of motor scooters that usually escort Critical Mass riders.
Cyclists who had been riding peacefully for months questioned the motives of the city’s sudden shift in attitude because of the convention.
“The cops have been actively helping us go through red lights for the past five years, but this month they cracked down,” said the 26-year-old New Jersey man.
The 16-year-old girl said the riders’ sheer numbers created confusion that overwhelmed police organization, leading to indiscriminate arrests and lost bikes. She also suspected they used the ride “as a warning” to people planning to participate in later RNC activities. “Police were running around with pieces of paper warning about arrests, but I didn’t think they’d actually do anything because we do this every month,” she said. “I had an idea that there might be a scuffle, but I didn’t think they’d start arresting people without telling us what they were doing.”
Her story is consistent with concerns voiced by civil rights groups, which questioned both the manner and legality of the bicycle arrests.
The New York Civil Liberties Union said in a statement, “This event has been taking place for 10 years in the City and largely has been ignored by the police. Whatever the wisdom of cracking down at this juncture, the NYCLU questions the results.” The civil liberties group noted that it received “scattered reports of wrongful arrests and excessive force” and is “concerned that on several occasions the police failed to give demonstrators required warnings to clear the streets.”
“If they had said to disperse, I would have gone home,” said the 16-year-old. “I didn’t want to get in trouble. But the cops didn’t say a word about what to do. We were just 150 people blocked in, waiting to get arrested, writing down the [National] Lawyers Guild phone number on our arms and holding them out to get handcuffed.”
Stick-on temporary tattoos of the National Lawyers Guild’s number were distributed in Union Square prior to the ride. Bruce Bentley, mass defense coordinator for the Guild, an association of legal workers, said that bikes were “targeted” in “deliberate attempts by the police to both punish dissent as well as intentionally delay the process to keep people off the street” until the end of the convention.
“They have the legal right to arrest people for obstructing traffic violations, but they don’t have to break people’s feet and arms and give them bruises. That doesn’t have to happen, and we’ve had reports of that,” he said.
Bentley also questioned the detention of bicycles as evidence. “There’s nothing unlawful when someone possesses his own bike. It isn’t stolen. It isn’t evidence of a crime. It’s just more evidence of the lack of integrity of the police,” Bentley said, adding that a slew of post-RNC lawsuits against the city, for violations of rights, are likely.
And bicycle tension wasn’t limited to the Critical Mass ride. Bentley said one of the Guild’s legal observers was “grabbed from behind and given bogus charges” at Sunday’s “Bike Bloc,” a group ride down Sixth Avenue, a block away from the United for Peace and Justice march. Sixty-two other bicycle arrests were made that day.
On Monday, the Human Television Network used bikes in a slightly different way, riding with mounted screens down the avenues parallel to Madison Square Garden. While no one from the group was arrested, spokeswoman and rider Phoebe Connelly said the group did encounter some problems. “There were some police who thought it was their duty to give bicyclists more trouble than others,” she said. “We’d run into this catch-22 where every block the cops would change the rules. On one block it would be, ‘Get on the left and stay there.’ On the next it would be, ‘What are guys you doing? You’re blocking traffic. You need to move.’ The mixed messages were really frustrating.”
However, Connelly said Human Television Network’s reception was “really positive overall.” Curious police even asked for the stilt-bike creator’s email address, she said.
“The belief is that when you build a fantastic, beautiful piece of engineering, people will want to talk about it. It was this whole other way of relating. And the police response ultimately showed they were just people out doing their jobs,” Connelly said.
Levin, of Greene Dragon, agreed that not all interactions between bike activists and police were strained. “Everybody, from the people on the street to riders to police officers, seemed to be enjoying themselves,” she said. “We have a very amicable relationship with the police.”
Even cyclists from the Critical Mass ride indicated that bicycles’ ability to foster community would triumph over police tension.
“I feel bad for the police because they were just following orders,” said the 26-year-old whose bike was taken. “But it always blows over. Whenever there’s a big scuffle, it blows over. People shouldn’t be afraid of riding bikes in the street because we aren’t obstructing traffic. We are traffic.”
The arrested 16-year-old’s reaction is more complicated. Her attitude toward the police is now “angrier,” she said, especially since she had to miss other activities during the convention. Because she signed an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal, which states all charges will be dropped as long as she does not get arrested within the next six months, she stayed at home during all the protests and made anti-police necklaces “with little hearts all over them.” But she hastened to add, “I hate judging a whole group of people, like the police. And as Americans, we don’t exactly know what it’s like to live in a police state, because this isn’t one.”
Although she didn’t ride specifically to protest Bush, her politics still came along for the ride. “There’s solidarity with bikers in the city,” she said. “We’re forced to really work to go somewhere. We’re not wasting the world’s resources for oil, and it’s just good to see groups of conscious people on their bikes. Because whether bikers know it or not, they’re participating in making the world a nicer place.”
Showcasing her sincerity and resilience, she added that she planned to continue participating in Critical Mass events. “I’m just not going to let them ruin Critical Mass for me. I’ll be nervous, but I’ll be there next month,” she said.
And much like voters waiting for the election, bike activists awaiting future rides and court dates will just have to see what happens.
