Passenger Trains > Philly on Sunday - Traffic, rail, subway snarls already

A huge downtown demonstration has created havoc with Philadelphia area Sunday afternoon operations. About 10,000 people have rallied to protest fracking, fossil fuels, "corporatism", and "institutionalized violence". Their march down Broad Street in the 95 degree heat went off peacefully, led by a tall man in a polar bear suit.

Septa notes there are delays on several lines, but no cancellations yet.  The route of the march is over the Broad Street subway.


Thousands defy heat

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A huge downtown demonstration has created havoc
> with Philadelphia area Sunday afternoon
> operations. About 10,000 people have rallied to
> protest fracking, fossil fuels, "corporatism", and
> "institutionalized violence". Their march down
> Broad Street in the 95 degree heat went off
> peacefully, led by a tall man in a polar bear
> suit.
>
> Septa notes there are delays on several lines, but
> no cancellations yet.  The route of the march is
> over the Broad Street subway.
>
>
> Thousands defy heat
'
the protest area was designated at FDR park across Broad St from the stadiums

Since they don't believe in fossil fuels, let them walk home.......

MEKoch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Since they don't believe in fossil fuels, let them
> walk home.......

I have to admire the dedication of the guy in the polar bear suit.  95 degrees, and he walked for several dozen blocks with the marchers to the protest site.

O-o-S mentioned the designated protest spot, which was in the general area of the convention building.  The new protest tactic is to converge on the site by have large groups walking from multiple assembly points, but not actually having speakers, etc until you get to the "protest spot".

That makes for good photography from helicopters/drones and assures your place on the evening news.

Whadda we want???

    We Don't Know!!

When Do We Want It???

    NOW!


 

Philadelphia has had many protests for the past several months about various issues, but mostly about race relations with police.  Seeing the news reports, it appears that the police have handled the protests well, and the protesters have been peaceful.  From the news reports I've seen, the Philadelphia Police escort the protesters in street gear, not in riot gear, which presents a much more "normal business" scale to any protests and probably helps reduce tensions.  Also, the protesters are allowed to march in streets, which is inconvenient to drivers because of the rolling blockages.  The police say that the courts haven't found anyone guilty of blocking traffic, so there's no point in arresting protesters who march in the streets.

Given all of that, it's probably not realistic to think that the only protests are going to take place in the "designated" location at FDR Park.  There are going to be protests and marches throughout the city, and there will be street blockages.  And, yes, that's inconvenient for a while.  But if the courts don't find protesters guilty for blocking streets, then I agree with the Philadelphia Police that it makes more sense to monitor the protests, keep things peaceful and let them occur.  When you watch the news reports, you also see a lot of bike Police escorting the protesters, dozens of them.  You don't see that in protests in other cities.    

The Philadelphia police have definitely taken a non-confrontational approach toward these protesters.  And, it's worked. At a cost to motorists, merchants and others who are facing a few days of disruption.

If the anarchist groups, Occupy, Black Lives Matter, or other groups choose to express their legally protected opinions, the strategy may change a bit.  Philadelphia's mass transit and highway system has several well known choke points that don't require much stress.  Many of them back up most evening rush hours.  I'm sure there are a lot of police monitoring key intersections, train stations or junctions, the bridge on 95 to the airport, etc.