I didn't catch the early evening news at 7, but at
10:00pm Channels 5 and 9 both broadcast local news, and
they both covered New York's Million Marijuana March.
Channel 5, Fox, had a short thing, maybe 15 seconds, with
great on-stage footage of Preston Peet editor of http://www.drugwar.com - They mentioned
the police made 148 arrests there, though I don't know if
this is the latest
figure. I presume most of the arrests were for marijuana
possession, but I wonder if those arrested just got a
desk appearance ticket (out of the cop shop in a few
hours) or were put through the system (in jail until bail
could be set, and paid, on Monday or Tuesday).
Channel 9, UPN, ran 2 or 3 promos leading up to their
coverage, which lasted about a minute. They had great
footage of the parade ( which I missed this year ), and
Cures Not War's Dana Beal ( http://www.cures-not-wars.org ), talking on stage
about nonviolently repealing the marijuana laws. Also
footage of people booing the police as they took away
another person.
Neither channel showed anyone smoking pot, because not
many people were smoking pot. There were about 500 cops
there, and thousands of people there. Still, the event
was somewhat smaller than last year, when there also was
hundreds of cops and not many people smoking pot. The
weather was sunny and warm.
ABC 20/20 was there videotaping anybody who wanted to say
anything; they'll probably air a piece this summer.
There were 3 stages again this year. There were also
vendors for food, clothing, and paraphernalia, and a
table for a Libertarian party candidate, and for Medical
Marijuana Barbie, now with "Hookers for Weed."
Some really good music, and good speakers, including
Dana, Preston, Ask Ed (Ed Rosenthal), and people from
Students for a Sensible Drug Policy and the Unitarian
Universalist Church, the Pie Man, and more.
Andrew
Seidenfeld
From: eco
man tents444@yahoo.com
New York City MMM photos, links. Indymedia.
Here are some photos from the NYC MMM march. 2 of the
photos are in the MMM Cannabis Action Yahoo Group archive
at this specific location: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction/message/7
One photo is a compilation-montage of 4 photos that
cryote stitched together from photos at NYC Indymedia.
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/message.shtml?1x41100
To see the web pages with the larger versions of the 4
photos click
the first 4 links below:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=23798
http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=23796
http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=23794
http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=23793
eco man
Source: New York Times
Thomas J. Lueck
PROPONENTS OF MARIJUANA STAGE PROTEST
An annual rite of protest by marijuana advocates resulted
in 148 arrests yesterday as several thousand people
gathered in Lower Manhattan for a march and rally.
The police said the demonstration, billed by its
organizers as Million Marijuana March 2002, was peaceful.
All arrests were for possession or use of marijuana,
according to Officer Guy Braun, a police spokesman.
The crowd, which began gathering shortly after 1 p.m. at
Houston Street and Broadway, grew to about 6,000 as it
made its way down a single lane of Broadway to Battery
Park, according to participants and some observers. The
police declined to estimate the size of the crowd.
Although similar rallies have been staged for years in
Manhattan, the one yesterday may have struck a nerve at
City Hall, since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was prompted
last month to say he regretted having mentioned in a
interview that he had once tried marijuana and enjoyed
it.
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