Before looking at the broader event, let me take a minute to comment on the size of the Unity Rally & March down Broadway. I have heard credible estimates of 30 to 100 thousand.
The crowd stretched solidly from Union Square to below Canal
(click on picture for larger version)
That said, it was very difficult to assess exactly how many people participate. Conservatively there were 5-10 thousand in the park. This was over-capacity for the area the police had "penned off".
Exiting the park proved to be another gautlet. The police would only let 100 or so people out at a time - even people at the front of the march were not allowed to march out of the Square, so they essentially had to "re-assemble" after passing a police control point.
Naively, I had thought that when I heard that "14th Street will be blocked off" I imagined the march being directed out of the park, into the street, and down Broadway. Instead, the police blocked off 14th Street FOR THEMSELVES. They drove in a fleet of scooters, 6-8 SUV's, and a single line of cops on the curbs and crossings!
After milling back and forth, trying to get out one of the exits in the South of the square, the tail end of the march was not even allowed to leave by the South. Instead, a phalanx of cops and vehicles inserted themselves between the march and the remaining protesters. At least 2 large contingents had to march out of Union Square to the North, circle around to the West, and re-join the march. (I saw 500 or more marches join the tail end of the march at 9th street, and heard reports of other feeders). But, inevitably, some potential marchers got left behind.
This - together with certain areas of construction on Broadway which acted as pinch-points - meant that the march appeared "thin" or "small" in certain places. The funniest example of this happened as I was standing on the front steps of a bar where me a few other marchers had gone for a drink after the march. A small contingent - which had refused to stop at the "official" end of the permitted march and was one of the many milling all over the Wall Street Area - walked by, chanting. Wealthy-looking Mexican having a smoke on the steps turned to another well-heeled gent and says: "So this is what they've been making all the fuss about?!" :)
Zuccotti itself was shut off to the march. It seems there was some way to get around the police line, and some did, but I think this messed up the idea of having a general assembly after the march. [Please someone contradict me if I'm wrong - I was in a bar getting drunk! :P ]
So, anyway, the march officially probably stands at "over 30,000". Frankly, I think anything over 20,000 has to be counted a great success.
But this is only part of the larger May Day activities.
First of all, the 99 pickets were a HUGE success. We had at least 4 protests with well over 100 people - those on the "Immigrant Worker Justice Walking Tour", and dozens more with 25-100. The protest at the Strand Bookstore - located at 12th St and B'way - had a MASSIVE protest out front at 3pm, uniting the UAW (which represents the workers at the Strand), OWS Labor activists, and Occupiers. It was un-permitted, so we had to keep moving on the sidewalk, but the crowd was impressive:
(click on picture for larger version)
Outer Boroughs also had actions. Some sent contingents to the Unity March (Occupy Staten Island), while others stayed in their boroughs.
But 2 anecdotes carry a special weight for me:
1) An activist friend of mine, who works at a "Jiffy Lube" auto shop, told me that the workers staged a walk-out in the morning of May 1st. Apparently, it was in protest of sub-standard wages for part-timers, but full-timers walked out in solidarity.
2) Walking through the "urban mall" on lower Broadway was particularly inspiring. As a retail area, it was virtually shut down. This meant that many of the workers on duty stood in the doorways and cheered for the marchers, "joining in" as it walked past. A cook in an upper-floor kitchen held a piece of paper that said "99%" out the window.
A supporter hanging a sign out a kitchen window (click for larger version)
Although many of these people were not organized into the main events of the day, they nonetheless participated. Even those who just took small acts of protest, or even used the day as an opportunity to initiate real conversations among co-workers, friends, and family, have to be counted as participating.
This is why I maintain that it is probable that 10 (or more) times the number who marched must be counted as participating in May Day.
1 million. Even in a big city like New York, that's pretty impressive!
