US: When does a picnic in the park become a political rally asks Conor O'Clery in New York?
Protestors banned from holding rallies in Central Park this weekend are planning to exercise their civil rights and go there for a stroll or a picnic anyway.
This will test the ban and the resolve of New York police to enforce a city order that masses of demonstrators be kept off the grass.
United for Peace and Justice which is staging a big anti-war march in Manhattan tomorrow says it will abide by a court decision refusing permission to rally on the Great Lawn in Central Park.
But national co-ordinator Ms Leslie Cagan said she would have a picnic on the grass after the march ends and that she would invite people from the expected 200,000 plus protesters to come with her. "We all know that large amounts of people are going to go to Central Park on Sunday despite the court's ruling," she said.
The route will take marchers past the site of the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden, then east on 34th Street and south on Fifth Avenue towards Union Square where a rally is permitted.
However at the junction of Seventh Avenue and 34th Street many marchers may peel off to go to Central Park at 59th Street, which will be open to the public as usual.
Another anti-war group, the ANSWER Coalition, which was banned from holding a rally of 75,000 in the park today, has issued leaflets reminding people of their right to peacefully assemble there for "casual visits".
Mayor Bloomberg said that the police would enforce laws against using a sound system in the 843-acre park, but added: "We welcome people to the park and hopefully the weather will be good."
Mr Bloomberg's conciliatory tone implies that the authorities have accepted that they cannot stop demonstrators flooding into the Central Park, despite their stated concerns about damage to the grass.
It was a deeply unpopular act. Every major newspaper in New York has attacked the ban on the use of the park, as well as 71 per cent of voters in a poll.
New York police are mobilising 10,000 officers to deal with protests and anti-terrorist security during the convention.
Unsanctioned demonstrations began on Thursday when a dozen AIDS activists stripped naked and stopped traffic by lining up across the road outside Madison Square Garden to demand that President George Bush do more to help developing countries fight the epidemic.
They were taken away in handcuffs, as were two men after they abseiled down the front of the Plaza Hotel to drape a huge banner with opposing arrows, one pointing to Truth, the other to Bush.
The President is not popular in New York where 70 per cent of residents are expected to vote for Democrat John Kerry.
Some 50,000 participants, including 15,000 registered media, are expected at the four-day convention starting on Monday and climaxing on Thursday when delegates will nominate Mr Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney for another four years in the White House.
Liberal commentator Al Franken has urged New Yorkers to protest without leaving home by opening their windows and shouting "fuggedaboutit" the moment the president accepts the nomination.