This just in...the nail is in the coffin now.

(BTW, anyone hear about the fab civil disobedience protest being planned by War Resisters League, 1000 Coffins? It isn't a new idea, but it should be quite dramatic).

New York Judge Rules City Can Ban Protesters From Park
By CHRISTINE HAUSER

Published: August 25, 2004

A State Supreme Court judge ruled today that New York City can ban protesters from using the Great Lawn in Central Park on Sunday for a rally, the largest planned for the Republican National Convention.

Justice Jacqueline Silbermann W. Silbermann wrote in her ruling that the protesters' group, United for Peace and Justice, was "guilty of inexcusable and inequitable delay" in bringing its case against the city, according to The Associated Press.

The group sued to try to force the city to grant a permit to rally in the park after months of negotiation failed to produce an agreement on where the demonstration could be held.

Leslie Cagan, national coordinator for the group, told a State Supreme Court judge in Manhattan on Tuesday that if the antiwar coalition was not allowed on the grass of the Great Lawn, "then we simply can't have the rally."

Ms. Cagan said later that the group still planned to march up Seventh Avenue past the convention site at Madison Square Garden.