US: With less than a week to go before the Republican convention in New York, city officials and protest organisers have yet to reach agreement on where anti-Bush demonstrations will be permitted, leading to growing fears of confrontations with police, writes Conor O'Clery, North America Editor, in New York
The umbrella protest group United for Peace and Justice, which expects 250,000 to march through Manhattan on Sunday, has filed a law suit demanding the right to assemble in Central Park and the case will be heard by New York State Supreme Court today.
Their request to use the park was originally turned down by the Mayor, Mr Michael Bloomberg, citing possible damage to the grass, and the protesters have refused to accept his alternative proposal of West Side Highway.
"Central Park is our town common," said Mr Bill Dobbs of United For Peace and Justice, adding: "We are going to consider all options but we do not want groups to find themselves up against a wall of police."
He said that protesters from 900 groups incorporated in United for Peace and Justice including from Canada and Ireland, would march behind the banner "The World says no to the Bush agenda".
A separate application for the use of Central Park on Saturday by the anti-war ANSWER coalition and the National Council of Arab-Americans was turned down yesterday by US District Judge William Pauley, who urged protesters and the city to work toward a compromise.
The city maintained in court that both rallies threatened to ruin the Great Lawn, which was restored in 1997 at a cost of more than $18 million.
Many individual groups are reportedly determined to make their way to Central Park on Sunday after marching past the convention site in Madison Square Gardens, if last-minute legal pleas are turned down.
Without final arrangements in place, the potential for conflict is increasing, much to the dismay of Democratic Party officials who believe violence could damage the Kerry campaign.
The Republican National Committee, for the first time in its 150-year history, selected New York for its four-day Convention from August 30th to September 2nd.
At the time it was seen as an attempt to capitalise on the third anniversary of the September 11th attack on New York, but since then anti- war sentiment has created the potential for the most widespread street demonstrations at a convention since the Democrats nominated Hubert Humphrey in Chicago in 1968.
For weeks the New York media has been full of ominous stories about how the police are preparing for trouble by stocking up on thousands of plastic handcuffs and hacksaws to cut through chains linking protesters.
The New York Police Commissioner, Mr Raymond Kelly, told reporters last week as he displayed an array of anti-riot equipment: "I think you'll see that we are prepared, that we've been planning for quite a while, we've been doing a lot of training."
Mr Gary Bald, assistant director of the FBI's counter-terrorism division, said the bureau anticipated violent protests at the convention but did not have enough evidence to move against any group or person.
Anarchist groups have said they are planning acts of civil disobedience, including "chaos on Broadway". A group called RNC Not Welcome had disavowed violence but on its website says it welcomes "a diversity of tactics" and encourages "autonomous groups to use their creativity to subvert this carefully staged affair to reclaim our streets and our lives."
There have been several reports of FBI officers visiting protest organisers across the United States to ask about their intentions in New York.
The US Attorney General, Mr John Ashcroft, defended the action, saying agents interviewed only protesters they believed were plotting to set fire to media vehicles at the Democratic convention in Boston three weeks ago. It passed off peacefully.
While the protests will greet delegates arriving for the Republican convention at the weekend, the target of their anger will not be in town until September 2nd. President Bush will not arrive at the convention until the last day when he will be formally nominated as Republican candidate for 2004.
He will deliver his acceptance speech and head straight to an event in Pennsylvania.
Officials say that the president is concerned that he is not seen as making political capital out of the death of almost 3,000 people and will not visit Ground Zero as originally proposed.