CRITICAL MASS DESTRUCTION! What is the matter with the city when it comes to policing Critical Mass? Last night two police officers were somehow injured during the course of the group bike ride...and seventeen bicyclists were arrested!

Good ol' Gothamist refers surfers to Sarah Ferguson's coverage at The Village Voice.

Earlier in the week, the Voice also covered the impact of surveillance on groups such as the environmentalist (and pro-Critical Mass) Time's Up!

Why are law enforcement officials so preoccupied with bicyclists and environmentalists? As the Voice suggests, the tactics appear to have a chilling effect on the normal exercise of the rights to assemble and engage in free speech. And the policing activities also seem to distract from police activities that might make the city a safer place to live and work.

This week Gothamist also posted an item about the number of pedestrian deaths in the city last year: 152. Suggestions to address the issue were solicited; somehow no one came up with the idea that cracking down on bicyclists would have saved those lives (or prevented the many injuries that were not included in the pedestrian death count). Surely that's because everyone realizes that automotive vehicles are the ones that could use more policing.

Blog About Town is very much in favor of obeying traffic laws in New York City. Whether you're a bicyclist, pedestrian, or motor vehicle driver, be careful and courteous is BAT's credo! But Blog About Town also admires events like Critical Mass that are essentially legal, at worst harmless, and more likely a healthy example for the city. "Cracking down" on the participants is a misuse of power.

It's time for the government to stop treating bicyclists, protesters, and other "non-conformists" as if they were terrorists.

Here's the website for the FreeWheels Bicycle Defense Fund.