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RR: March 2000
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It started out like any normal ride home. I got off work at 5 o’clock, put on my helmet and jacket on the way down, unlocked my bike and then headed into the street to fight traffic. But I took a different route, today I would meet with around 50 other people to bike home. I biked to Loring Park, where I ran into my friend Dan, and saw some other familiar faces, but mostly people I had never met before. We sat on our bikes, talking for a while, making sure everyone was there, and then decided where we would go, and then everybody biked off in a big group.

We started on Hennipen, heading towards uptown. With as many of us as there were, we took up all lanes of traffic... which of course, was the whole point. The more of us there are, the safer we are. A motorist that would run a single bicyclist off the road, without even thinking, dares not barrel their way through a group of 50 or more cyclists. This way, we are safe, and we are making our presence known. We aren’t blocking traffic, WE ARE TRAFFIC! We continued up Hennipen, at a leisurely pace, traffic building up behind us. There was some honking, but mostly people just followed behind. Some of them turned off onto side roads as soon as they got the chance.

At Lagoon and Hennipen, one of the busiest intersections in Minneapolis, a bunch of cyclists stopped and did what is called a “bike lift,” which is when you get off your bike and raise it above your head and cheer. We did it again at Lake and Hennipen, then took a left on Lake Street and started following it toward Macalester college, where the direct action training was going to be (For the IMF protest.) We continued along, waving at people in the stores and restaurants. Some people came out to cheer us on, or to ask what we were doing. People going in the opposite direction on Lake Street occasionally honked and cheered us on. I believe the first police car we saw was stopped at Nicollet Ave. waiting for the light. Most of us waved as we biked past. We saw another squad or two before we got to Chicago, where we did another bike lift.

Just past Chicago, the police came up behind and started demanding that we get off the road and allow traffic past, which is funny because according to the Minneapolis web site, we have all the rights of cars, and WE ARE TRAFFIC! So we continued biking. A police car drove up beside us, and cut off all the bicyclists in the left lane. They all swerved to miss the car, and we continued biking. Between 14th & 15th Avenues about a dozen police cars and trucks converged upon us. A couple cars swerved into the group of bicyclists, cutting them off, then jumped out of their cars and started grabbing people. The remaining cyclists pulled over on the curb, the ones at the front of the mass, which the squads had missed, turned around and biked back to the scene. Now instead of cyclists slowing traffic up a bit, about half a dozen police cars had stopped in the street bringing traffic to a halt. One officer walked over to the group of cyclists standing on the sidewalk, and grabbed a kid with a mohawk. “You were blocking traffic too, come on.” Then a couple more officers came over and started indiscriminately grabbing cyclists, and dragging them to the cars parked in the middle of the street. It was at this time that we started shouting at the police demanding to know why people were being hauled to the cars. “For blocking traffic.” We told them that we had a right to be in the street, and they tried to tell us that we were allowed to ride in the right lane, two abreast. However, I have personally looked up rules for cyclists on the Minneapolis web page, and it says nothing about riding two abreast, and even gives the conditions for riding in the left lane. Here’s what it says.

“The same rules of the road that apply when driving a car should be followed when bicycling. Minnesota laws calls for cyclists to ride with the flow of traffic and as close to the right side of the road as practical, except in the following situations: 1) when overtaking another vehicle proceeding in the same direction; 2) when preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway; and 3) when reasonably necessary to avoid roadside conditions (fixed or moving objects, vehicles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, narrow lane widths) which make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge. Minneapolis cyclists are encouraged to use the designated striped bike lanes where provided.”

So if we are to follow the same rules of the road as automobiles, it seems that we should also be able to bike in the left lane. We were also overtaking other vehicles moving in the same direction (cars & bicycles) and were also avoiding moving objects in the right lane (other bicyclists) as well as fixed objects (as cyclists, we need to give a parked car 3 feet of space, because most motorists do not look for cyclists when they open the door of their car) If a motorist is moving at the same rate of speed as the car to his right, does a group of a dozen cops show up to run them off the road and arrest them? Then why should bicyclists receive that treatment?!

After we were told not to bike in the street, one person yelled, “then where are we supposed to bike?” The cop responded, “on the sidewalk!” “It’s illegal to bike on the sidewalk!” “Then walk them!” “You want us to walk our bicycles?!” This is when the particularly arrogant cop that we had been arguing with stormed up to the curb and yelled at us, “If you bike in the street, you’re going to jail!”

Once again, the Minneapolis web site clearly states: “Minnesota law gives cyclists the same rights and privileges as motor vehicle drivers. This means you have every right to ride on the road.”

It was also about this time that police started indiscriminately grabbing any bicycle that someone wasn’t holding onto. I was taking pictures, so I made sure to lock up my bike (which I had thrown down to run and take pictures) and then continued taking pictures.

People were still yelling questions to the cops, and saying things like “Who’s blocking traffic now?” I guess in retaliation for not showing them the respect they “deserve,” one officer came up and grabbed a random person off the sidewalk, and brought him across the street to his car. As near as the remaining cyclists could count, 6 or 7 people had been grabbed, and we could count 5 bikes leaned up against the trunk of a squad car in the parking lot across the street.

The remaining cyclists decided (by volunteers) who would go to City Hall to do prison support, and the rest would either continue on to Macalester College or go home. A couple people walked across the street to see where they would be taken, and what they were being charged with. A few with ID’s were cited, and released (to walk home without their bicycles.) Juveniles, and those without ID’s were taken downtown.

Once all the police had left, I bicycled home (in the street, taking up my entire lane, just like Minnesota law allows, and just as I always do.)

–Matte