I went to the Chaos on Broadway demonstration with Derek. We met at the corner of 6th Avenue and 48th street, where there were several police and vehicles. We met Josh, a Columbia journalist student writing about us, outside New Amsterdam Theatre--currently playing The Lion King. On our way, we also saw several policepersons. Derek and I were quite apprehensive, since the promoters of the event openly invited people to break the law, and we both decided to dress low-key.

We arrived at the theatre around 4pm, where there appeared to be more police than there were protesters. There were three empty buses parked in front of the theater, cops intermingled with tourists, and police lined up to block the theatre entrances. I observed the area for a few minutes before I decided to pass out flyers to people within the area. At first, the demonstrators were reluctant to take my flyers because I had no anti-Bush declarations on me. Once I explained my purpose, people gladly accepted the flyers. Before long, Derek and I both had several questions. Most people were confused by the lack of visible delegates.

Eventually, the police gave a cease and desist order over a bullhorn. I was near one entrance of the theatre, and Josh and Derek were on the other. They did not hear the order, so I told them, and we made our way to Wonderful Town, which was also swarmed with police, but no visible protesters. Around that time, we met up with Melissa and a friend of hers from the BPL, and we had planned on meeting Jenna and others at the TKTS booth. Once we got closer, there was a police blockade (Police in riot gear lined up) on the sidewalk, so we crossed the street to make our way from the other side. We saw police in riot gear heading toward the mentioned blockade, so Derek and I headed for the park, Josh left, and Melissa and her friend went to the TKTS booth.

I had my largest volume of street reference questions during this event, so I do consider it successful!