NEW YORK -- Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Manhattan Friday, businesses closed early and merchants boarded up shop windows as New Yorkers feared the violence gripping Los Angeles could spread to the heart of the Big Apple.
As dusk decended on the city, there were several violent attacks resulting in a small number of injuries, police said.
A steady steam of protesters, numbering about 1,000, continued to walk Manhattan streets following a peaceful Times Square rally against the acquittal of four white Los Angeles police officers charged in the videotaped beating of a black motorist, Rodney King.
The demonstrators chanted, 'We want justice for Rodney King.' About 200 protesters branched off from the main group and went into Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theatre. A security guard was hurt by a bottle as the ralliers were turned away from the sports facility, authorities said.
The main group of demonstrators headed down Seventh Avenue where at 14th Street, a conflict left two officers and a third person injured, police said.
The nature of the conflict was not known, but police reported that one officer was hit with a garbage can and another was hit by a flying bottle.
Officer Andrew McInnis said about 250 police officers in riot gear were walking alongside the demonstrators to guard against further violence.
In Queens, five people were arrested for disorderly conduct infractions related to a rally of about 100 youths, police said. The group was parading down Jamaica Avenue at 161st Street, when some young people overturned a food cart and broke a store window.
Despite heavy precautions by merchants and fear-fueled rumors sweeping the city, police said they had received only scattered reports of incidents.
New York, unlike Los Angeles and other major urban centers, was notable for its mainly peaceful protests despite widespread tensions.
Rioting in Los Angeles has claimed the lives of at least 38 people and caused more than half a billion dollars worth of damage.
Police Commissioner Lee Brown said New York saw eight incidents Thursday night that have been classified as bias crimes, but none resulted in serious injury.
But shopowners prepared for the worst, as some of the country's top fashion houses said police told them to order employees to go home early to avoid trouble.
'A memo went around this office that told us we have to leave by 3 p.m.,' said an assistant to Donna Karan at the famed designer's Seventh Avenue headquarters. 'It's absolutely crazy.'
Executives at garment district businesses said police urged them to shut down 90 minutes before a demonstration at 4:30 p.m. in Times Square, just blocks away, where several hundred protestors rallied peacefully and listened to speakers condemn the verdict.
A majority of businesses in the area pulled their security gates down to protect windows, while other stores, including a Gap clothing store on 42nd Street, nailed wooden boards over windows.
Brown said that some youths assaulted a vendor at the Fulton mall in downtown Brooklyn Friday but there were no reports of property damage or injuries.
Three students at Evander Childs High School in the Bronx were arrested in the morning and charged with inciting to riot for turning over tables in the school cafeteria, police said.
In Manhattan, some 300 angry high school students chanting 'Justice now!' marched across the Brooklyn Bridge for a non-violent, anti-racism rally in City Hall park.
The city's Human Rights Commission also reported a few sporadic incidents, all minor, such as broken windows on Fordham Road in the Bronx and in the Jamaica section of Queens.
Commuters who left work early to avoid potential trouble crammed into Penn Station, some waiting hours for trains home to Long Island and Westchester County.
The Port Authority Bus Terminal, just blocks from Times Square, also remained open but crowded, despite rumors -- all false -- that the station had been closed because of rioting, a spokesman said.
And motorists trying to get in or out of Manhattan were confronted by bumper-to-bumper traffic on all highways.
Commissioner Brown said there were many peaceful demonstrations and that youths should be given credit for the way they are behaving. He acknowledged, however, that rumors were flying.
Mayor David Dinkins expressed a note of caution. 'We are not out of the woods by any means. We have to be ever vigilant.'
Brown said the department was on alert but that no additional officers have been called in, and he added that he had no knowledge of police advising businesses to close.
Businesses throughout the city, including Time-Warner Inc., and Macy's, the department store giant in Manhattan's Herald Square, closed and sent workers home early.
'It was a management decision to allow all our employees to get home safely this evening,' said a Macy's spokeswoman, who declined to elaborate.
Another Midtown fixture -- The New York Times -- also sent most of its 'non-essential' workers home early because of safety concerns over the expected demonstration in nearby Times Square, said a spokeswoman.
Most editorial and production workers remained in the Times building, just off Times Square, the spokeswoman said.
As the city that never sleeps closed up early, even lower Fifth Avenue and merchants near Greenwich Village were taking precautions.
'Its like a bad storm. You can sense it coming,' said one shopper at the Union Square farmer's market, where produce was being packed up early amidst fears demonstrators would march from Times Square.
Fire Department spokesman Michael Mulvihill said most of civilian employess left the department's headquarters in downtown Brooklyn early after 'rampant rumors' about acts of vandalism and violence in the area earlier in the day.
'They were, shall we say, predicting or anticipating problems down here. So far, we haven't had any,' he said.
Trading was not affected by protest jitters on New York's stock and commodity markets, which remained open all day, although many firms allowed employees to start their weekends early as a precaution.
Friday morning, Mayor David Dinkins brought several hundred community leaders, clergy and activists together at Gracie Mansion. They urged people to refrain from violence and appealed for calm.
