By TRACY CONNOR
June 30, 1998

Some 40,000 screaming construction workers staged a raucous demonstration that exploded in violence and paralyzed Midtown Manhattan yesterday - catching city officials flat-footed. "The union leaders changed the location and way underestimated the numbers," Mayor Giuliani fumed. "They told us at maximum they expected 10,000. We were prepared for 15,000. Our estimate is that ... 40,000 showed up ... What they did was totally unacceptable."

Eighteen cops were injured, none seriously, in a series of clashes with angry protesters, who hurled bottles and rushed barricades. Three demonstrators, including a union member who was trampled by a police horse, also were hurt in the melee. Some were hit with pepper spray by police.

Thirty-two demonstrators were arrested.

The Building Trades Council scheduled the demonstration to protest the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's awarding of a $33 million contract to Roy Kay Inc., which uses non union workers. Charges included disorderly conduct, assaulting police officers, and riot - plus one charge of hitting a police horse, officials said. A Daily News photographer was arrested for allegedly violating police orders, but the charges were later dismissed "in the interest of media relations," an NYPD spokeswoman said.

The city vowed to prosecute the arrested unionists and said it will subpoena TV camera footage to identify other rioters. It also plans to sue the organizers of the march for damages and seek an injunction to limit future protests, said Giuliani, who canceled a trip upstate after rowdy builders rampaged across major thoroughfares during a five-hour demonstration.

The NYPD issued a permit for 10,000 workers and deployed 550 cops to keep order at the MTA headquarters on Madison Avenue and 45th Street. The crowd quickly swelled far beyond the original estimate as union job sites across the city shut down, freeing workers to join the protest.

The chanting, flag-waving demonstrators ignored police instructions to disperse and some began throwing bottles and umbrellas as cops tried to contain the crowd, police said "It was supposed to be peaceful, but it turned into "Let's see how many blocks we can close,'" one beleaguered cop said. The group took over Sixth Avenue and other major streets on a crosstown trek to the MTA job site on Ninth Avenue, bringing traffic to a standstill.

The NYPD called in 450 reinforcements - including mounted cops and helicopters, officials said. "The police acted very, very quickly and swiftly to get the requisite number of police officers there, given the fact they were surprised by this," Giuliani said. "The whole group never got out of control. Although the Police Department was playing catch-up, they always kept it within at least some degree of bounds."

Police Commissioner Howard Safir downplayed the violence and said the NYPD is always prepared for protests of any size. "There were some scattered incidents and some minor violence," he said. "Generally, it was a pretty well-behaved crowd."

As the protesters marched from MTA headquarters to Ninth Avenue and 53rd Street and back, there were several ugly, chaotic confrontations with police. The most serious erupted when cops struggled to keep the mob away from the non-union work site and used pepper spray to keep the crowd at bay. Groups of workers - some of whom made pit stops in local bars and carried beer bottles through the streets - also attacked an MTA truck and two vehicles they suspected were doing non-union work.

Safir said there were no early indications of trouble. "The demonstrators were acting in an orderly manner. Then suddenly there appeared to be a change in their demeanor. I don't know what triggered it, if anything," he said.

Defending their own actions, union officials condemned the violence and vandalism. "If it happened, it was wrong. We don't condone it," Paul Fernandes, assistant to the president of the Building Trades Council, said of the violence. "But I would point out 99.9 percent of the people behaved themselves."

Fernandes said the council told the NYPD it expected "at least" 10,000 protesters and cautioned officials they were shutting down all construction projects in the city, he said. "We didn't intentionally underestimate the size of the crowd," Fernandes said. "It's very hard to get into the mind of our membership."

Protesters said they needed strength in numbers to show they won't tolerate non-union contracts. "The city will crumble if we allow non-union workers at sites. They're unqualified. Their work is shoddy," said Kevin Regan, 41, a plumber. "The city has been infested by these non-union workers, and Kay is the biggest roach."

Stanley Kopilow, a lawyer for the charged protesters, called the arrests "an overreaction." "It's really unfortunate that people in 1998 have to protest on the streets to be able to work with dignity. This is not about crime - it's about working with dignity." Some protesters claimed the NYPD inflamed tensions by sending cops in riot gear to keep the peace. "They tried to intimidate us, but we're not going to be intimidated," said steelworker John Rodriguez, 32. "I think they panicked." But cops said they were trying to keep a bad situation from getting worse. "They sprayed us with pepper spray. They were throwing bottles. We were just doing our job. Stop blaming us," one officer said.

Copyright (c) 1998, N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc.