Here's a comment left at Atlas that reflects much of what has been posted in the Rally of Remembrance comments section:
Like Tyler, I attended both demonstrations, though I stayed at the pro-mosque demonstration till it ended, which led to my very late arrival at Geller's rally.
Tyler's estimates of pro-mosque crowd size and the area the crowd filled are exactly the estimates I had intended to supply.
The crowd, however, had a character worse than disheartening. Virtually every speaker suggested -- at a demonstration aimed at peace -- the only way to beat the "racists and bigots" was with violence. Some made oblique suggestions. Others were direct. One emcee, a black woman who introduced some speakers, channled Malcolm X, calling out "by any means necessary." Another chant that was repeated several times was "No Justice, No Peace."
At a peace rally?
Meanwhile, apparently a pro-palestinian group functioned as the chief organizing force of that rally.
Despite the incessant Israel bashing, there was a more disturbing tone and subtext to the rhetoric -- which was mostly old tired revolutionary claptrap from the last 40 years. I got the feeling that more than anything else, the crowd supporting the mosque most wanted to go around the corner in street-gang form and kick the crap out of a few people at the anti-mosque rally. The crowd was seething, driven by an animus that was close to blood lust.
For some weird reason these goofy American lefties think they have a special place in the eyes of islam. As if they would escape life in the dhimmitude if they were living in muslim territory.
Meanwhile, as others have said, it was tough to get into the Remembrance Rally. The cops, I think, knew nothing about how to find an entry point. I've had this experience for years at any public NYC event attracting large outdoor crowds. If you ask a cop for directions, he gives you an answer that gets you out of his hair. That's it.In fact, after getting bad directions a couple of times, I went to a cop standing at a crowd barrier a block west of the rally and told him that every direction I'd been given had led to dead ends, so could I just slip in here? He actually asked me why I wanted to get in. That surprised me. I said, to hear the speakers. He let me in and that was that.
And Tyler's observations:
I attended both rallies, and witnessed the events at their maximum capacity. Without a doubt, the pro-mosque event was about 1/6th, maybe 1/10th, the size of Geller's event.
Let us simply analyze the areas occupied by each group - it really isn't that difficult, as each group occupied an obviously differing size in area:
pro mosque rally: Stretched from Park to Warren along the Eastern sidewalk of City Hall Park. Furthmore, these groups tended to constantly circle the barricaded area, exaggerating their presence, but I will disregard that fact.
The sidewalk along the park is approximately 25 feet wide. A Standard Manhattan block is approximately 260 feet by 900 feet. We can then assign 4 square feet per person. Knowing the the pro-mosque event stretched from Park Pl. to Warren Street, we can then dictate: 260 feet per block x 2 blocks x 25 feet wide divided by 4 square feet per person = 3,250 people...This doesn't take into account the fact that many people continuously circled the area creating an illusion of more people, nor does it account for the massive holes in the crowd resulting from hippy drum circles, indian powwows, buddhist chanting groups, and tents. Therefore, this estimate is quite generous.
Rally of Remembrance:Stretched from Park Pl to Reade along W Broadway, and encompassed the entire width of the street - at 4 lanes wide, and 12 feet per lane, this equals 48 feet wide. 260 feet per block x 4 blocks x 48 feet wide and 4 square feet per person = 12,480 people. This doesn't take into account people along the periphery at each intersection who couldn't find space in the main area. Furthermore, this group stood still, shoulder to shoulder, rather than constantly moving about, and presents a more accurate representation.
Thusly, the Rally of Remembrance had AT LEAST 4 times as many people.
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Furthermore, I can tell you that a news helicopter did hover over the area for nearly an hour - that there are no published aerial photos is troubling. They probably spent all their time photographing the ENTIRE crowd of 40 "9/11 Troofers" at the plaza on W. Broadway and Barclay...or were distracted by a kitty cat.
I can also vouch for people claiming the police officers seemed to purposely mislead people, sending them in the wrong direction, or pretending to be unaware of alternate events in the area, since I was personally was told to walk in 3 different directions to get to Geller's rally
