In the wake of the Republican National Convention, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gives the police department an "A+" for keeping calm in the Big Apple even as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators descended to voice their opposition to the Bush administration. But activists and civil libertarians say the most the most the police deserve is a "B."

While order was kept, they contend, the use of orange plastic nets to corral large numbers of people for arrests, some innocent bystanders, and the extended detentions of protesters violated the most basic constitutional freedoms.

They also say some of the most spirited protests were thwarted under the guise of the threat of terrorism. Several groups are considering bringing civil rights litigation against the city. Legal scholars believe some boundaries were crossed and feel it's important for the courts to assess the tactics and set clear parameters for the future. Local authorities say they were simply doing their best under extraordinary circumstances.

"The problem is not what happened in New York. That's over and it was not bad," says Alan Dershowitz, a legal scholar at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. "The problem is how this precedent could be used in the future by other police forces to control the content of speech."

In all, more than 1,800 people were arrested - a record number for a convention - as the GOP partied at Madison Square Garden behind an unprecedented wall of security. In the largest demonstration, on the Sunday before the RNC's formal opening, some 400,000 protesters jammed the city's avenues chanting, singing hymns, and carrying flag-draped coffins to honor those who died in Iraq.

There were just over 200 arrests that day, and most were for disorderly conduct. Both the police and protesters were lauded for their restraint.

Most of the arrests occurred on two other occasions, and it's the police tactics used in those cases, as well as the length of the detentions at an old bus garage called Pier 57, that have alarmed activists and First Amendment advocates.

On the Friday night before the RNC, a monthly bicycle protest called "critical mass" swelled to more than 300 people. The riders said they'd conferred with police, who initially allowed them to pedal through the streets. Then suddenly, when they reached the East Village, authorities rolled out nets and began arresting people. "They gave us no warning whatsoever," says one rider who was detained.

Police say they did give plenty of warning when it became clear the ride was getting out of hand. And people arrested that night said the police were polite as they handcuffed and led them away. But many of those arrested are upset about the length of their detention in what they called a "grimy garage," as well as the number of innocent bystanders caught up in the police dragnet. "There were Chinese food delivery men, German tourists, people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," says Mike Epstein, an amateur photographer who was held for almost 30 hours before being charged with disorderly conduct.

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