NYC::Today's Peace March - Picture Entry

It was such a great day for a rally in Manhattan today. Clear, blue skies – on the cool side, low 60s – and an underlying energy that said: Enough!

I had been unaware of the event until Steven D posted a story on the front page last Tuesday and immediately decided to participate. Posted an entry last night suggesting to other tribbers to meet up before assembly at Pete’s Tavern (I occasionally go there for Saturday brunch in any case), but did not get much response on a Friday night.
In any case, I was already assured of company. Suggested to my daughter – to some tribbers known as swimmer – that she might want to march and she enthusiastically said yes. While having brunch, BT’s very own Arthur Gilroy came up and introduced himself. He joined our table and we had a good chat. No doubt, a radical – and one with immense knowledge of NY history and culture. We then proceeded two blocks crosstown to the assembly area and parted ways.

We joined the crowd at 18th/Broadway and waited maybe 1/2 hr before the crowd moved. It was actually such a great experience; the crowd had young and old; war veterans all over; students and punks, old hippies and young ones – impossible for us in the middle of it to estimate the size of the crowd, but a report in NY Daily News state that organizers estimate the crowd to 300,000.

The demonstrators stretched for about 10 city blocks as they headed down Broadway. A police spokesman declined to give an estimate of the size of the crowd, although organizers claimed there were 300,000 people. There were no arrests.

The reference to 10 blocks is pure nonsense. As we turned off Broadway towards Foley Square at the end, I could see the crowd stretching all the way back to where Broadway makes a bend at 10th Street.

Here are some images that swimmer and I took:

During assembly at 18th St.