New York ? Chicago in 1968. Miami Beach in 1972. Add New York 2004 to that list.

New York hasn’t seen the same unchecked violence on the part of either police or protesters, but when it comes to sheer numbers, it’s now surpassed them both.

New York police have arrested more than 1,700 people, more than at any other U.S. political convention. And the GOP convention still has a day left, and President Bush’s appearance is almost certain to drive protesters to the streets again.

“In the history of political conventions, there have never been so many people demonstrating opposition to their government,” former Chicago Seven member Tom Hayden told demonstrators Wednesday.

Police report 1,765 convention-related arrests since last Thursday. At the Republican convention in Miami Beach in 1972, there were 1,129 arrests. Chicago’s notorious 1968 street riots resulted in about 588 arrests.

Part of it, protesters say, is that more people have showed up to protest in New York than did in Chicago or Miami.

Organized by the Internet and driven by opposition to the war in Iraq, as well as by economic and social issues, protesters have arrived here in droves. Heavily Democratic New York also has contributed to the protesters’ ranks and provided a friendly base of operations.

And after watching the new breed of anti-globalization demonstrations turn violent in places such as Seattle, New York police haven’t shied away from making arrests.

“Police are much more likely to put people into pens and react aggressively with physical force than they were before Seattle. It has gotten worse since 9/11,” said William Grover, a political science professor at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt.

Activists act up

Demonstrators wave pink fliers in a symbolic unemployment line in New York. Wednesday's demonstration stretched about three miles from Wall Street to Madison Square Garden, site of the Republican National Convention.

Wednesday’s protests were generally calmer and smaller Tuesday’s, although protesters pulled a stunning hat trick Wednesday, getting within feet of the First Twins before furious Secret Service agents dragged them screaming from Madison Square Garden.

It was the third time in three days that demonstrators beat daunting security hurdles to get inside the convention hall and within spitting distance of VIPs.

On Monday and Tuesday, two different activists got in Vice President Dick Cheney’s face.

But Wednesday’s noontime infiltration by 12 AIDS activists — including four nabbed last Thursday when they stripped nude outside the Garden — was by far the most dramatic.

Barbara and Jenna Bush had just left the stage of the GOP’s noontime Youth Convention and White House chief of staff Andy Card had begun speaking when 10 members of ACT UP jumped on their chairs and started blowing whistles. “Stop AIDS” and “Bush Kills,” they shouted.

Quickly, the Secret Service pounced and dragged the rabble-rousers from the floor as shocked young Republicans chanted “Four more years!”

No security breach

But many wondered how the protesters managed to get in.

“People got in legally. That’s all I can say,” said ACT UP member Asia Russell.

Secret Service spokeswoman Ann Roman surprisingly agreed — and said the agency did not consider the incident a security breach.

Other Secret Service and city police sources blamed the willingness of Republican convention officials to hand out passes.

“People are standing outside their hotels handing out credentials, no questions asked. And it’s Republican staffers who are doing it,” a law enforcement source said. “They want to fill the empty seats.”

“That’s silly,” said Lenny Alcivar, a convention spokesman, denying that passes were being handed out willy-nilly.

The dozen ACT UP members nabbed Wednesday had yellow student passes. Monday and Tuesday’s solo infiltrators also had passes.

Rep. Gary Ackerman, a pro-John Kerry New York Democrat, said he also was able to score credentials. “Security? What security?” he joked. “I had no trouble getting in.”