Dub-dubya-puppet-on-feb-1

I made a huge George Bush Effigy to help protest that day. It was made from cardboard and styrofoam. It made quite an impression, and I was, subsequently, interviewed by a CNN news reporter.

"If you can not find Osama, bomb Iraq
If the markets hurt your mama, bomb Iraq
If the terrorists are Saudi,
and the bank takes back your Audi,
and the TV shows are bawdy, bomb Iraq.

If corporate scandals are growing, bomb Iraq,
And your ties to them are showing, bomb Iraq,
If the smoking gun ain’t smoking,
We don’t care, we ain’t joking,
That Sadam will soon be croaking, bomb Iraq."

This was a popular Chant that cold February day. 500,000 penned-in, but festive protesters who, with most of the civilized world tried to derail the runaway train of the impending Iraq quagmire. Below is an account leading up to the arrests of myself and many others. I was lawfully standing on the sidewalk, when an officer took his nightstick and shoved me , holding my large effigy backward into the crowd. I repositioned myself on the curb, without resisting or speaking to this gorilla with a badge. In no time, THREE cops , screaming expletives, shoves me face-first onto Fifth Avenue. I was never told what i was being charged with. While in police custody, my hands were bound tightly behind my back for 5-6 hours. Those of us on the bus sitting outside the police precinct for hours, truly feared for our physical safety. We had no access to lawyers, water, or toilets. Many detainees were teenage girls crying in pain from the tightness of their bonds. i was released around 2am in the morning. The charges were later throw out of court.

Below is an account provided by Baltimore IndyMedia

"This group of protesters had at their center a giant puppet head of George Bush. They were followed by police as hundreds of them stopped traffice and took over block after block. As they came around the corner from the New York Public Library to 42nd Street, they were enthusiastic and peacefully demonstrating their abhorrence to the war with Iraq. The puppet head towered over the crowd. They ended up standing in front of the Grace Corporation, a huge multinational company.

The group surrounding the puppet head sat down in the middle of the street. It was difficult to estimate the number of those sitting. Police penned them in from all directions. Giving them a warning to disperse, some protesters moved to the sidewalk, but a large number of them, perhaps 200 refused to move. The police advanced and began escorting, or, as in this photo, handcuffing and hauling people away. Though the IMC team here was at a distance from the peaceful crowd, you could see the mist of pepper spray being sprayed on people, and the reaction of those hit, struggling to deal with the pain. After all the sitting people had been removed and put in waiting paddywagons, the police continued on their merciless quest to disperse people, even those on the sidewalk. They sprayed people on the sidewalk and pulled some out into the street and arrested them. The crowd yelled, cajoled, and shamed the police. "Let them go! Let them go! Let them go!" They booed when the giant Bush head was taken down. From our vantage point, those arrested looked more confident in their just cause than the police."