
Prior to the Iraq War in spring 2003, Feb. 15, 2003 was to be a worldwide protest to prevent the war from happening. In NYC the rally was to be in Central Park, but the NYPD refused to grant a permit for there, so the rally was at the UN (at the east river near 47th St). The capacity of that location was very small. People started approaching the rally location from many locations. My feeder group started at the Library (41st and 5th ave.), headed north on the sidewalk, east on 53rd until the group became to big, spilled into the street, and headed north again on 3rd Avenue. At 57th Street, there was a barrier of cops and barricades. I tried to exit the pen at 56th going east, but that was barricaded as well. Those in the cattle pen were calm, waving their signs - generally a calm situation on a brutally cold day. There was another barricade at 53rd across 3rd Avenue. Standing on the sidewalk at the NW corner of 53rd and 3rd avenue I shot these 4 clips. The clips show: 1. Cops and protesters talking calmly. 2. Entry onto the scene from the east of a team of roughly a dozen police on horses and some (I count 3) police supervisors (white shirts). These started going over to demonstrators and pushing them, and then started harrassing those standing on the SW corner sidewalk. This upset the calm, and caused people to chant against the police. 3. Before I knew it, the team of horses, led by a white shirt, was pushing us back on our sidewalk. People started screaming, yelling <b>...</b>
cops
NYPD
NYC New York City
horses
Iraq war
police brutality