Charges dropped for RNC protesters

NEW YORK – Prosecutors dropped charges Wednesday against 227 protesters arrested at an anti-war march during the Republican National Convention.

Assistant District Attorney William Beesch said that the Aug. 31 march, sponsored by the War Resisters League, was nonviolent and caused no damage, and that police may have confused the demonstrators with instructions given before the event began.

At prosecutors’ request, Judge Katherine Fried dismissed charges of disorderly conduct and parading without a permit.

The marchers were arrested near the World Trade Center site shortly after they told police they were headed to Madison Square Garden, where the convention was in its second day, to stage a “die-in.”

Police told marchers they would have to stay on the sidewalk and obey traffic laws. But within two minutes, they ordered the crowd to disperse or face arrest.

Just one defendant, Richard Hardie, 73, a retired Air Force major and furniture designer from Northampton, Mass., appeared in court, saying he was ready to go to trial.