Critical Mass
August 2004

This ride took place on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention. The police, anticipating chaos and perhaps hoping to practice crowd control techniques, notified the press and local cycling organizations that they planned to arrest any participants who broke traffic laws. They had hundreds of police monitoring from the sides of the road, bicycles, scooters, two helicopters, and a blimp. This had the opposite of the intended effect, drawing out thousands of people who probably would not otherwise have attended. The press later estimated turnout at 5000. Something like 250 of these were arrested near the end but I never saw it.

Click on the thumbnails to see the images in larger size

Some have dressed for the occasion	Well over 2000 people at the start	NY's Finest get bicycles for the event, too
Peter and the impossibly cool bike	Enthusiastic crowds at Union Square	Inching down Park Avenue South
Then it opens up a bit	Look, up there in the sky!	It's a police helicopter, following us all night
Cool bike and a guy in a blue wig	Regrouping on the way back north	Heading towards Times Square
Scalliwag	Almost to Times Square	Their Target: Republicans
Actually, he is pretty scary	Ah, Times Square	NY's Finest watches the ride roll by
Uh..precinct, I think we need a few more cops	Heading south	Towards Madison Square Garden
Yelling at the RNC	Regime Change in the USA

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