14 Comments
A motorcyclist is interviewed by nearly every major media outlet
If you have no idea what’s going on around Amsterdam and 113th right now, read our earlier post first.
New updates:
- Multiple police barricades are set up around Amsterdam
- An NYPD helicopter has been sighted (and heard) roaming the skies.
- Bikers are coming up from Brooklyn and Queens to join the group. According to this group, the other bikers are probably going to get stopped by the po-po.
According to the gathering group of motorcyclists, they’ve gathered peacefully to show their support for “a fellow biker who needs our help.”
Also: “We were upset at how we were represented in the media. It was one sided…Our goal was to get together as a community and show people that what the media says is not what we are.”
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- NYPD’s control-tower-in-a-van
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- Biker collecting donations for hospital bills
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- Interviewed by at least four media outlets
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- Totally not undercover police officers
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- Bikers take over College Walk
photos from Kevin Chen, Peter Sterne
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14 Comments
@Anonymous If the cops present were polite and unbiased, good for them. My complaint is against the institution of the NYPD which, ever since Giuliani, has turned out an overwhelming show of force — manpower and machines — whenever certain kinds of demonstrations occur (e.g. the Million Man March, the anti-Iraq war rallies). It goes far beyond what is conceivably necessary to assure public safety, and far beyond what is seen in other cities. One has to conclude that the goal is to intimidate those exercising their right to assemble.
@Anonamoose Yes, Columbia, don’t you dare group and stereotype people by race or gender, but grouping and stereotyping bikers? That’s fine.
@Anonymous Sad to say, Anonamoose overestimates the tolerance of Columbians.
Judging from Bwog comments, we think stereotyping people by race and gender is just fine.
Race: http://bwog.com/2013/09/25/assault-at-120th/
Gender: http://bwog.com/2012/03/03/breaking-obama-to-speak-at-barnards-commencement/
@wtf Yeah guys, let’s all show solidarity for our fellow bikers after we violently assaulted a random guy! Look how peaceful we are!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/01/motorcyclist-suv-beating-video-new-york/2902195/
@Anonymous the injured biker got what was coming. I hope the same happens to the rest of those thugs.
@Jax I HAVE TO SAVE MY CLUB
*nostril flare*
@Chibs you’re the worst
@KLE The police response was not unreasonable given the fact that a group of bikers that is known to be violent was gathering near a school…..
@Anonymous A school — do you mean Columbia College? There was no sign that the bikers cared at all about being near Columbia. It would be difficult to construe the police presence I saw as reasonable.
@A guy …and attacked one of its alumni. Where was our show of solidarity?
@Anonymous There was a modest gathering of perhaps 100 bikers and, in inimitable NYPD fashion, an overwhelming police presence, with about as many officers as demonstrators, 2 police helicopters, and barricades ad nauseam. I have no particular love for bikers, nor any opinion about last Sunday’s events, but I’m sick of the heavy-handed, intimidating behavior of the NYPD every time anyone tries to hold a demonstration (e.g. the Iraq war, the Republican Convention, Zuccotti Park…). Peaceable assembly is a constitutional right!
@Kevin Chen To be fair, the police were playing “good cop,” explaining to bystanders a fairly unbiased version of why the bikers were gathered. The bikers were able to assemble and get their point across while not causing a huge traffic jam.
@que cute Bikers seem so sweet sometimes
@So sweet So sweet that they drag people out of their cars and beat the shit out of them in front of their wife and child! Cute!