critical mass banned
concerned citizen | 02.10.2005 00:01 | Repression | London
just in case people missed the innocuous title that looked like a report on last friday's critical mass below...........
in an idle moment, i clicked on the indymedia link below to read what i thought would be a report and some pics of last friday's critical mass, and instead i found a reprint of a letter handed to cyclists by police effectively banning critical mass in its present non-hierarchical form, asking for 'organisers' to establish a route and seek permission six days before.
i agree with the person that commented and think the next mass should be spectacularly well attended. we don't have to ask permission to get together with like-minded people and ride our bikes where we choose once a month on our streets!!
for full police letter, see
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/10/324763.html
i agree with the person that commented and think the next mass should be spectacularly well attended. we don't have to ask permission to get together with like-minded people and ride our bikes where we choose once a month on our streets!!
for full police letter, see
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/10/324763.html
concerned citizen
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Crit Mass Clampdown New York style
02.10.2005 22:46
Since its inception in 1992 police in cities all over the world have cracked down on Critical Mass. Sometimes these crackdowns have been outrageous, with police assaulting and injuring peaceful cyclists, and arresting and ticketing cyclists who were breaking no laws.
It's true that CM riders often do break the law, and we're not complaining about appropriate police response when that happens. We're complaining about the unreasonable police response: (1) ticketing and/or arresting the cyclists who weren't breaking the law, and (2) using excessive force to deal with peaceful bicyclists.
Documenting all the cases in which the police responded inappropriately to Critical Mass would be a big task, so here are just a few examples. We also include a new case in which the city government of NYC is trying to stop CM through a lawsuit.
New York, NY, USA
This is a big case and so we can only cover it in the most superficial way. Other outlets and organizations are covering it in more detail, and we link to them.
August 2004. Police arrested over 250 bicyclists after about an hour and a half into a CM ride which drew some 5000 riders -- a higher number than usual since the theme was to protest the upcoming Republican convention. The crime was apparently that some cyclists had blocked side streets so that the mass of cyclists could continue through in an unbroken line, which is ironic because keeping the mass together blocks traffic a lot less than splintering the group up all over the city by breaking them up at each intersection. It's also ironic because in the past the police used to block the intersections themselves so Critical Mass could get through. And it's triply ironic, because all the police riot vans dispatched to arrest the cyclists did a mighty fine job of clogging up the streets themselves.
There was no police excess, at least according to the New York Times, although some might rightfully consider that arresting hundreds of cyclists for minor traffic infractions is a bit excessive, since motorists usually just get tickets rather than arrest when they break the law. (Washington Post, AlterNet, Village Voice, NY Times)
October 2004. Following the recent arrest and harassment of CM riders some of the bicyclists filed a civil rights lawsuit against the NYPD (PDF), demanding in part that the police not be allowed to seize bicycles from cyclists who had not been detained or arrested. The police department responded with a counterclaim enjoining the plaintiffs from participating in CM without a permit. We're honored to say the counterclaim quotes this website. (In explaining that they had been unsuccessful in getting riders to obtain a permit, a lieutenant quoted our advice in the How to Start a CM section, advising readers "Don't get a permit".) They even included screen shots. Now we're immortal. Here's the counterclaim PDF, but be forewarned that it's 2.4Mb.
Chris Carlsson, one of the founders of CM in San Francisco in 1992, has written a statement in support of CM and the NY cyclists.
December 2004. A judge has ruled that the police can't steal bicycles from cyclists who haven't been charged with a crime. (Duh.) (more...)
March 25, 2005. It's not over. NYC.has filed a lawsuit to stop Critical Mass! Part of the suit is specifically targeted at Times Up!, an organization that has been promoting NYC CM. The Bicycle Defense Fund has been set up to try to help those who were arrested on the Aug. 2004 ride. This will certainly be an interesting case to watch.
March 27, 2005. On the March 27 ride, police threatened riders with arrest, so they tried to leave, and were arrested anyway. Some cyclists locked up their bikes, but police cut the locks and confiscated them. 37 were arrested.
April 12, 2005. The New York Times reported on how police were caught lying about how protesters were resisting arrest, when videotape evidence showed otherwise. Another scandal was that the police doctored their own tapes, removing parts that showed the suspects' innocence. This behavior on the part of the police is outrageous and, of course, illegal -- ironically enough.
The Times reports that of the 1,670 cyclist cases that have run their full course, 91 percent ended with the charges dismissed or with a verdict of not guilty after trial.
June 2005. Your webmaster made a pilgrimage to NYC in part to ride in the NYC CM to show solidarity. Things were peaceful for at least an hour into the ride, until we came off the Queensboro Bridge and police started tackling cycists while they were still riding. It was really infuriating.
August 2005. Police arrested 49 cyclists on the August CM ride. (More at Bike Blog.)
Bike Block
excellent pdf flier available
03.10.2005 08:02
concerned cyclist