United for Peace Statement of New March Route for 8/29

UFPJ Announces Full March Route for August 29
August 26th, 2004
We want to thank New Yorkers for the extraordinary level of support you have shown us through the long struggle over the permit for this protest. An overwhelming majority of people in this City – and countless more around the country – know, as we do, that Central Park belongs to the people, and that barring political events from taking place there is a terrible assault on the First Amendment rights of everyone.

We may have lost in court, but thanks to the massive public pressure on our behalf, we are pleased to announce that the City has finally come to the bargaining table and negotiated a sensible agreement with us for a historic march against war and the Bush Agenda, that takes us through the heart of Manhattan.

Six weeks ago, the City said, “It’s the highway, or no way.”
Today, we say, we’re marching on Fifth Avenue and Broadway.

The plans for our march assembly remain what they have been: We will gather beginning at 10:00AM in the area from 15th Street to 22nd Street, stretching from Fifth Avenue to Ninth Avenue. We will march up Seventh Avenue past Madison Square Garden, the site of the Republican National Convention. From there, we will turn east on 34th Street, march to Fifth Avenue, then march down Fifth Avenue to 23rd Street and then march down Broadway. The final destination for our march will be Union Square, where we will conclude our historic march.

Union Square, of course, is the place where so many New Yorkers gathered spontaneously after September 11, to express our grief at the terrible attack on our city and our conviction that this attack not be used to justify more killing and war.

We are marching this Sunday because we have an Administration that has exploited the 9/11 tragedy to pursue an illegal and unnecessary war in Iraq, a war that has alredy cost the lives of almost 1000 U.S. servicepeople and more than 10,000 Iraqi civilians. The Bush Administration lied about the reasons for the war, lied about the alleged weapons of mass destruction. Their policies are based on greed and hate, they manipulate the truth and bring us to war. We, and millions of Americans, are fed up.

So this Sunday, we will march to say NO to the Bush agenda of war, greed, hate and lies.

And what about Central Park?

Central Park is New York City’s town commons, a traditional public forum that belongs to all the people of this city. What came to light in our court case, however, is that the City of New York and the Central Park Conservancy have made a secret, private deal to withdraw the park from public use. This is an outrage, this is an assault on our freedom of assembly. The fight to restore Central Park to public use is far from over … it is just beginning.

We all know that large numbers of people are planning to go to Central Park’s Great Lawn on Sunday, despite – or because of – the court’s ruling that we may not hold a rally there.

United for Peace and Justice emphatically supports the right of people to peacefully assemble in Central Park.

We are committed to having a safe, legal protest march, that anyone and everyone can attend – kids, seniors, immigrants, people with disabilities. We therefore are NOT leading our march to Central Park, and we ask everyone who plans to participate in our march to respect our desire for a safe and legal event, and not to organize breakaway marches from it to the Park.

To those who wish both to march with us and to assert their right to assemble in Central Park on Sunday, we ask that you follow our march to the end, disperse peacefully at Union Square, and then make your own way to the Great Lawn.

We ask the City of New York and the New York Police Department to respect the right of people to gather on the Great Lawn, and to conduct themselves with restraint. Indeed, we ask the NYPD to respect the rights of protesters throughout our march on Sunday, and at all the protest events scheduled throughout the week.

We invite all New Yorkers and people from all over the country to join this massive demonstration against the Bush Agenda. Bring your signs, bring your banners, bring your family and friends. Together, we will upstage the Republican Convention with a powerful message of peace and justice.