Smokers fuming over new New York ban

From Monday, those looking for a sneaky puff in New York will be barred from all public spaces as part of a city-wide drive to improve the health of citizens.

But armed with cigars, cigarettes and the odd pipe, the city's band of determined smokers are heading for battle.

They intend to fight them on the beaches. And after that, the parks and benches are set for a storming too.

Brighton Beach in Brooklyn will become the first battleground.

Next Saturday, yellow-fingered New Yorkers intend to descend en mass and stage a smoke-in.

In defiance of the new rules, protesters are set to light up as one. And behind the discontent is a former law enforcer.

Audrey Silk is a former New York Police Department officer who fought crime in the city for 20 years.

Now retired, she puts her efforts into running NYC Clash - or Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, to give it its full name.

"It is not about smoking, it is a about civil liberties," the former cop said.

"It started with airplanes, then they went to half restaurants, then full restaurants, then indoors, in bars and workplaces, and now outdoors."

"What next, inside your own home?" she asked.

The 47-year-old, from Brooklyn, refused to discuss her own smoking habit, explaining that it "detracts" from the issue.

Miss Silk said that she has nothing against government advising people not to smoke.

"But when you start imposing laws, that is tyranny," she added.

It is why she will be leading those at next Saturday's smoke-in at Brighton Beach.

"It is not a protest, not a rally. It is a gathering of fellow smokers to engage in civil disobedience against the law," she explained.

Authorities hope non-smoking New Yorkers will enforce the new rules by asking people to extinguish or move on.

But those still refusing to do so could be slapped with a $50 fine.

The regulations will cover popular tourist locations and public areas including Central Park and Times Square's plaza.

According to the mayor's office, New York City dwellers are exposed to second-hand smoke at a higher level than the US national average.

Officials claim that 57 per cent of New Yorkers who do not smoke have elevated levels of cotinine - the residue left by exposure to other people's cigarettes.

Miss Silk disputes the scientific basis for the ban, and claims that in stigmatising smokers, the authorities are borrowing a tactic used to sinister effect in the past.

"You can't run away from it. They are saying that we are diseased. It was the same with black people and drinking fountains," she said.Other smokers in the city are less concerned about the new rules. Standing on the edge of Madison Square Park, one of the green spaces that will be covered by the ban, Bob Bastian, a 54-year-old office worker, was philosophical about his curtailed rights to spark up.

"It might actually make me stop," the 30-a-day smoker said.

Taking another drag on his cigarette, Mr Bastion said the move was "inevitable" and that it didn't bother him "one way or another".

"But I gotta find out where I am able to smoke," he added.