People of all ages and backgrounds sprinkled New York City streets at the end of August in support and opposition of various causes at the Republican National Convention. Union Square, in downtown Manhattan’s Grenwich Village, was the hub of protester energy.
Throughout the day on Thursday, groups informed passersby of the events for the day, including a candlelight vigil honoring the people who have died in Iraq which started three hours before President George W. Bush began speaking at Madison Square Garden.
While Bush was speaking uptown, the energy in Union Square increased and police presence became more apparent. NYPD officers donned riot gear and had plastic zip tie handcuffs dangling from their belts. According to Newsday, nearly 12,000 police officers were assigned daily to police the convention.
Further uptown, NU Students for Kerry President Jason Zaler was one of thousands of demonstrators outside the convention. Zaler participated in a march which he said sent an especially loud message to the rest of the country due to the diversity of the crowd.
“I’ve never been part of a political rally that’s been this big and had this many different people at it. People are really united against Bush,” he said.
Representing the GOP, treasurer of the Northeastern University College Republicans Tina Penman was in NYC Tuesday through Friday last week with NU graduate Amy Christler, former Student Government Association vice president for academic affairs.
Penman, a junior behavioral neuroscience major, said she and Christler attended a youth convention where they met fellow college republicans.
“When we were in the youth convention these protesters dressed up as college republicans – nice suits – they were waving Bush and Cheney signs and then all of a sudden we see the media flock over. Next thing we knew, there were people up on chairs chanting ‘four more months,'” said Penman, who is “all about Bush.”
Penman said they watched the news later in their hotel room and apparently the group was protesters who had snuck in. They took off their suits to reveal anti-Bush shirts.
Despite the countless demonstrations and protests against the president throughout the week, Bush left the convention with an 11 point lead over Democratic nominee John Kerry in a handful of polls.
