At the rally to go 'All Out For Abortion Rights'

Images by Stacie Joy

Thousands of people gathered to "voice their fears and anger" in Washington Square Park early last evening hours after the Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion upheld for nearly 50 years no longer exists.

Published reports put the crowd size between 10,000 and 17,000. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these photos ...

The assembled protestors eventually split off into different groups, with some going up Fifth Avenue to Union Square, where many continued on to Midtown ... while others headed downtown to Foley Square before eventually crossing the Brooklyn Bridge... 

Tonight in Washington Square Park, Union Square

Thousands of people are expected to turn out this evening for rallies scheduled in Washington Square Park at 6:30 and Union Square at 8. More details here.

At the rally in Foley Square to support abortion rights

Photos by Stacie Joy 

A crowd estimated in the thousands turned up at Foley Square downtown late this afternoon in protest of the leaked SCOTUS draft that would overturn Roe v. Wade. 

Protestors gathered and politicians scrambled to speak out following the bombshell report last night at Politico indicating that conservative justices are poised to vote to overturn a landmark ruling that guarantees access to legal abortions. (The Supreme Court confirmed that the leaked abortion draft is authentic.)

New York City: It's time to fight back.

Join me, advocacy groups, and other elected officials at 5PM in Foley Square to say #BansOffOurBodies and support abortion rights. #RoeVWade

— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) May 3, 2022

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was at Foley Square and shared these photos...

"We, here in New York, must set up a fund to ensure that any woman, anywhere in the country, can look to New York as a safe haven that will allow them to make the reproductive health care decisions that are best for them," New York Attorney General Letitia James said. "This won't make things right, but it will give women nationwide one way to rest easy." 

Other speakers included Amy Schumer...

Some attendees later headed north to Houston Street en route to Washington Square Park...

In Tompkins Square Park, speaking out against the city's sweeps of unhoused encampments

Photos by Stacie Joy

More than a dozen community groups and mutual-aid networks joined forces for a rally in Tompkins Square Park yesterday to speak out against Mayor Adams' aggressive sweeps of unhoused encampments across the city, including one Wednesday on Ninth Street in the East Village. 

Speakers at the rally called for an end to the encampment sweeps ... while providing safe housing for New Yorkers living on the streets.

The rally, which drew 100-plus supporters, took place at the chess tables in the Park's SW corner. Before the event, several people removed the barricades from this space that the NYPD placed here late last summer after clearing out an encampment.
 

The speakers included Sinthia, one of the unhoused residents who was living on Ninth Street...

 

The rally came two days after the 7-hour standoff on Ninth Street outside the former P.S. 64 between a group of activists and unhoused residents and reps from several city agencies. 

The NYPD eventually arrested seven people while a sanitation crew tossed some of the residents' belongings. 

Since then, people have questioned the use of dozens of officers from the NYPD, including members of the Strategic Response Group and the Technical Assistance Response Unit, over four tents. 

As CBS 2 reported: 

"It was awful, it was stupid, and it was violent," said Helen Strom, director of homeless advocacy for Safety Net Project. 

Strom also said it was dehumanizing to watch homeless people and advocate in a seven-hour standoff with police and a Sanitation crew looking to clear up their encampment on an East Ninth Street sidewalk.  

"What the mayor should be doing is he should be sending out housing specialists to get people into apartments, instead of spending hundreds of thousands of tax payer money on police," she said. Strom said it was a total waste of resources, since the unhoused individuals refused to go to a shelter, fearing for their safety. 

As Politico noted: 

The new mayor will face an uphill battle in actually compelling people to leave the streets and go into the city’s shelter system, which is considered unsafe by many who have taken refuge under bridges, on sidewalks and in the subways. Elected officials and advocates for homeless people warn the city lacks capacity to offer people other options, and say the push is an unwelcome return to failed policies of the past. 

During an interview yesterday on WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show," Adams defended the sweeps," saying "he was working to preserve the 'dignity' of homeless New Yorkers," as Gothamist reported. 

"When I looked at some of those encampment sites...I saw people living in human waste," the mayor said. "Drug paraphernalia, no showers, no clean clothing. Living like that — that is not dignified." 

During a press conference with clergy members on Thursday, Adams said that the Four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, would have done the same thing. 

Yesterday's rally included a march to the former P.S. 64 ... and eventually to Washington Square Park...

... and then back to Ninth Street between B and C...

Meanwhile, a few of the residents who were the subject of Wednesday's sweep moved nearby along Avenue B...

The NYPD photographed the tents this morning... with another sweep likely in the days ahead...

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

The recently formed action network Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights marked International Women's Day today with rallies and marches in New York City and around the country "to oppose the growing assault on abortion rights." 

The Manhattan march-rally started in Union Square and headed down Second Avenue. Speakers included Rev. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister of Middle Collegiate Church, and actress-activist Kathy Najimy.

[Updated] March Against Monsanto ending in Tompkins Square Park this afternoon

As of about 2:20 p.m., the group was on Second Avenue just below East 23rd Street… the march ends in Tompkins Square Park around 3…



Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Here's the website with details about the global march.

Updated 2:49 a.m.

The march has reached St. Mark's Place…









Photos via EVG reader Steven

Updated 9:37 p.m.







Bottom 3 photos via Bobby Williams