Sharpton-Led March May Disrupt Business

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Scores of protesters are expected to swarm Fifth Avenue Saturday to protest aggressive police practices and to memorialize Sean Bell, who was shot and killed by police three weeks ago.

Organized by the Reverend Al Sharpton, the march is being billed as a day to “shop for justice.” It is expected to draw several hundred demonstrators to Midtown Manhattan during one of the biggest shopping times of the year.

Among those expected to attend are lawmakers, activists, and representatives of some of the city’s labor unions, including the United Federation of Teachers and 1199 Service Employees International Union. They will march down Fifth Avenue between 59th and 34th streets starting at noon. “It does no good to just negotiate wages and benefits for workers and then have them being gunned down in the street, or have crime be a problem and no one is addressing those issues,” the secretary-treasurer of 1199 SEIU, George Gresham, said. Members of the Bell family, including his daughter, who turns 4 Saturday, are also expected to march.

Yesterday, several elected officials said they are sending busloads of constituents to the march. City Council Member Leroy Comrie is sending six buses from his district in Southeast Queens, and Council Member Hiram Monserrate, who will send three buses, said his constituents are angry even three weeks after the shooting. “I believe 50 shots on three innocent New Yorkers is clearly excessive,” he said. “There must be justice here.”

Organizers stopped short of saying the march was designed to negatively impact business, but retailers on Fifth Avenue who were interviewed yesterday said it most certainly would damage one of the busiest retail days of the year.

“The bottom line is, I do believe it will hurt the business,” an employee of the Barrington Gallery of London Ltd., Morris Saffati, said. “Whenever we have parades here we don’t do any business and that’s a fact,” he said. Echoing his sentiment, some shoppers yesterday said the demonstration was bad timing. “Anyone who knows the guy was shot 50 times knows it was an awful tragedy, but I think it’s a very bad idea,” Jeff Guberman, 31, said.

A Long Island man doing his shopping yesterday said the inconvenience would probably be minor. “It doesn’t bother me,” Bob Marshall, 71, said. “People should have freedom of speech.”

Yesterday, officials involved in planning the march conceded that they expected a certain amount of inconvenience for shoppers, saying they targeted what would be a congested area to maximize the opportunity for their message to be heard. “I’m not saying there would be zero economic impact because of this,” Mr. Gresham said. “The stated goal is to have real change in the system, but nothing gets done if there’s not public attention.”

Others, however, said they hope to take the message to business owners in the form of lost profits. “The rally — with its thousands of people — will hopefully shut down Fifth Avenue,” Council Member Charles Barron, who said boycotting certain businesses was not out of the question in the future, said. “The city needs to get the message that business won’t go on as usual.”


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use