Witnessed a bit of "police action" in Union Square yesterday evening. My friend Emily and I were walking alongside the park when all of a sudden we noticed a line of about 20 cops walking past us with those plastic hand-cuff things dangling off their belts. What looked like a pretty small and peaceful protest was going on at the front of the park. When the cops came into view people started chanting "No police state! Freedom of speech!" 2 or 3 people got hauled off amid hissing and booing. I really could not see why they were being taken away. Maybe they didn't have pants on. Of course the people being handcuffed were surrounded by people pointing cameras and camera phones and videocameras. A few news vans were there too. And I got handed a leaflet from the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, one of the groups denied a permit to hold a rally in Central Park:

For decades, Central Park has been the site of mass protests, huge concerts, religious gatherings and other activities. But now the billionaire Mayor, who recently declared that protest is not a right but "a privilege," has determined that people can gather for AOL/Time Warner-sponsored events in the Great Lawn, put people protesting Bush and the Iraq war should be denied.

I really like Bloomberg, but he loses major points for this one. A privilege? Where did I read that "only the privileged would call it a privilege." Does ANY Republican, even Dems turned Republicans, remember the First Amendment?