MB Civic

To the Editor:

Re “At the Protest, a Civics Lesson Gets a Twist,” by Jim Dwyer (About New York column, April 25):

As one of the 1,806 people who were arrested during protests at the Republican convention in New York in 2004, I agree that the mass arrests offered a grim civics lesson.

I am a columnist for The Athens Banner-Herald, the daily newspaper here. While taking notes and photographs at a peaceful demonstration outside the New York Public Library, I and scores of others were ensnared by New York police officers using nets to corral both protesters and bystanders.

I considered my arrest and 30 hours in jail to be both a badge of honor and an occupational hazard. I also consider the New York authorities’ tactic of mass arrests just a pretext for crushing dissent and silencing antiwar voices during convention week.

Such a roughshod trampling of civil liberties should never again be allowed to happen on the streets of New York or any other American city.

Ed Tant
Athens, Ga., April 25, 2007