Myself and 3 others were nabbed about 10 seconds after leaving the north end of Union Square Park.

We were charged w/ parading without a permit, a recent amendment to the police code. I have been told we are the first people to be charged for this - in the past few months they were hesitant to use it and stuck w/ ticketing for missing bells and such.

At first they seemed like they were going to arrest us - they cuffed us and tagged our bikes. The guy that cuffed myself and the guy next to me was named Tim. It was his first day, I found out, and that's why he was so bad at putting on the cuffs. Both myself and the other guy had to ask him to rearrange our cuffs twice because our hands were going numb.

Fortunately after ~20 minutes they uncuffed us and gave us summons and let us have our bikes back, with the warning that if we're caught again they'll confiscate our bikes as evidence.

I'm scheduled to appear 8 August 2007. I plan on pleading not guilty, although I expect to be out of the country (indefinitely) by that time.