New York's Central Park has long been the logical place for mass gatherings, with its sprawling Great Lawn and, well, central location. In 1991, singer Paul Simon drew 750,000 there. In 1995, Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass that drew more than 130,000. And in 1997, country singer Garth Brooks played to a crowd of 250,000. But political assemblies on the eve of the Republican National Convention appear to be taboo. This week, city officials persuaded a federal judge to keep the park off limits Saturday to a protest rally by 75,000 people jointly sponsored by an Arab-American coalition and an anti-war group. [ It's a bs excuse and no one's even bothering to hide it. They don't want protests and they'll use whatever stupid crap they can find that'll achieve the end result. It's either a public place or it's not, and as I said in an earlier related topic, in any case where there's not a clear and obvious danger to public safety, people have the right to assemble, and that' pretty much it, as far as i'm concerned. -k] Yahoo! News - New York tramples Bill of Rights to protect 'grass'? |
