Wednesday · August 18 2004
NYC is offering buttons and tourist discounts to peaceful convention protesters
Law-abiding protesters will be given buttons that bear a fetching rendition of the Statue of Liberty holding a sign that reads, “peaceful political activists.” Protesters can present the buttons at places like the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Sex, the Pokémon Center store and such restaurants as Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too and Applebee's to save some cash during their stay.
Quotes from Mayor Bloomberg:
- “Unfortunately, we can't stop an anarchist from getting a button”
- “It's no fun to protest on an empty stomach”
A (sort of) unintentionally hilarious article.
The most confusing thing that happened to me on a picket line was when the DuPage County sheriffs took a sympathetic ear to our cause (at their headquarters, no less). It was January, and we had to be out there at 5:30 a.m. every morning, and it was 15 below. They started escorting us inside to warm up and get coffee, but they would pretend they were dragging us inside for a good talking-to. We didn't get buttons, though. Or discounts.