Update on RNC protests from United For Peace & Justice: press conf. today

IMPORTANT NEW DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING AUG. 29
An Open Letter to Our Supporters

Dear friend of UFPJ:

United for Peace and Justice has been fighting for months to have our
Constitutional rights respected. We have been in a contentious
process with the Mayor and Police Department of New York City
regarding the location of our march and rally against the Bush agenda
on August 29th, the eve of the Republican National Convention. We are
writing to update you on these negotiations and to make sure you know
about a number of important developments.

Almost three weeks ago, United for Peace and Justice made the
difficult decision to accept the West Side Highway rally site for our
August 29 protest, which was imposed on us by Republican NYC Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and the New York Police Department. We had already
reached an agreement with the City regarding our protest march, which
will assemble at 14th Street and Seventh Avenue and march up the
avenue in front of Madison Square Garden, the site of the Republican
National Convention.

We were compelled to go along with the West Side Highway, a rally
site we did not like, in order to move forward with our organizing
work and build the largest and broadest possible protest against the
Bush agenda. But we also made it clear - to the City, the media, and
our supporters - that there were numerous issues regarding the West
Side Highway location that needed to be resolved to make this site
workable for a rally. These include the use of police barricades to
pen in protesters, which we emphatically oppose, and access to free
drinking water and shuttle buses, which are essential given the
highway's lack of shade and remote location.

Our plan to hold a safe and legal march past Madison Square Garden
remains firmly in place. But we are increasingly concerned about the
viability of a rally on the West Side Highway, because of the
following developments:

1) We have had two recent meetings with the Police Department, in
which they did not make any concessions or commitments on any of the
unresolved issues we have put on the table. Neither they nor anyone
from the Mayor's office has given us any indication that they are
willing to work with us to meet our needs.

2) We have heard from a number of medical professionals that there
are serious potential public health risks associated with holding our
rally on the West Side Highway, away from shade, stores, and public
transit.

3) After consulting with a number of sound and stage companies, we
have learned that it will be extremely difficult and potentially
impossible to provide a quality sound system for the entire rally
area, which would stretch for several miles, and that the cost of
sound and jumbotrons will be in the range of $300,000, which is more
than double what it would cost us to hold a rally in Central Park.

4) We have gotten feedback from a number of groups and individuals -
particularly seniors, people with disabilities, and people with young
children - that they cannot attend the rally if it is held on the
West Side Highway, because of health and safety concerns. Many of our
other supporters have said they will not attend a rally there,
because the inhospitable location amounts to an attack on our right
to free assembly.

In addition, since we announced our decision, some important new
information has appeared in the mainstream media. Quinnipiac
University released a public opinion poll showing that 75% of New
Yorkers support our right to rally in Central Park. Meanwhile, a
horticulturalist who worked on the renovation of the Great Lawn
revealed to The New York Times that it was engineered specifically to
withstand large crowds, undercutting the City's claim that our rally
would irreparably damage the grass.

The question is, where do we go from here?

We will be holding a press conference tomorrow, August 10, to
announce our next steps. Our goal for August 29 remains what it has
always been: to bring the largest and most representative number of
people possible out into the streets in opposition to the Bush
agenda. We are committed to having a safe, legal, and peaceful
protest, accessible to all..

We appreciate the broad support we have received throughout this
challenging process. We have been up against an administration and a
police department that are openly hostile to our First Amendment
rights. On August 29, as massive numbers of people march in front of
the site of the Republican Convention, we will send a strong, clear
message: We reject the Bush administration's agenda of war, greed,
hate and lies, and we are standing up to the ominous suppression of
dissent in this country.

We know you stand with us in this effort, and we are counting on you
to continue building to make August 29 a huge success, overcoming the
barriers that have been put in our way by Bush, Bloomberg, and the
NYPD.

In solidarity,

United for Peace and Justice

============================================
AUGUST 29, THE WORLD SAYS NO TO THE BUSH AGENDA!
Massive Protest at the Republican National Convention, New York City
* Assemble at 10:00AM, Seventh Avenue @ 14th Street
* March steps off at noon
============================================
Visit the RNC mobilizing section of our website for resources and to
endorse the August 29 demonstration:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/rnc

It is hard to truly expose this to the media without the "cage" in Boston being brought back into the headlines.