Last night's Critical Mass bike ride could have gone without any problems. However, no matter how far we compromise, the NYPD insists on continuing to treat us as if we were dangerous terrorists. They continue to criminalize a legal gathering; they continue to try to harass us into giving up. Dear NYPD: Fuck You! We will not back down. Rights are rights only when you use them.

We all tried so hard last night to have a fun ride. We all tried so hard to give the cops no excuse to arrest, ticket, or otherwise interfere with our right to assemble and ride.

The ride stopped at every light. We blocked no traffic. We kept the ride to one or two lanes, making sure we could not be accused of blocking traffic or disorderly conduct of any kind.

Everything seemed to be going along fine. We had a crew of cops on fancy new scooters riding along side us the entire time. They seemed completely bored. Based on the money the NYPD must have spent on those new rides and the overtime for all those cops, you'd never know there's a financial crisis in this city.

The ride was moving uptown on 6th avenue. When we stopped at a red light at 41st street a couple dozen cops appeared out of no where, walked towards us and ordered a bunch of us to get off our bikes and give them our ID.

Today, the New York Times covered the issue of the Critical Mass bike rides again. Police and a Cyclists’ Group, and Four Years of Clashes

The article is well written and in general gets things right, but there are a few things in the article that leave me very frustrated and needing to reply.

I guess that normally I would not get so worked up -- I can't count how many times have I been frustrated with the NY Times' coverage of protests that I've participated in -- but being that I was quoted in the article, this time it's personal.

It's amazing how often over the years I've had to spend time in court rooms for simply participating in legal, constitutionally protected protest. In almost all cases, things get thrown out of court before trial. I've been told a number of times by different lawyers "the process is the punnishment."