NEW YORK (AP) – Swarming the streets last week, anti-GOP protesters made their voices heard. The police put on an unprecedented show of force, assuring things didn’t spiral out of control.

Both sides accomplished what they set out to do – a point illustrated by one episode on the convention’s second night. Twelve demonstrators wearing black hoods linked arms in a circle and sat down in the path of a bus carrying Louisiana delegates.

With hundreds chanting “WHOSE streets? OUR streets,” the protesters were promptly arrested, along with 150 others who swarmed the street in solidarity. Police deftly cleared the intersection, the delegates made it to the convention and no one was seriously hurt.

For protesters it had all the elements of success – a nonviolent protest in a landmark Manhattan intersection witnessed by Republicans with journalists on hand to capture the moment. Police would call it a triumph because they never lost control of the situation and there were no injuries.

In fact, that’s how the majority of this week’s anti-GOP demonstrations, attended by as many as a half million people and policed by thousands of officers who made more than 1,800 arrests, played out.

So who can claim victory?

“Both,” said Sidney Tarrow, professor of sociology and political science at Cornell University. “This is a very well-disciplined police force and they have been successful, but the protesters have been successful as well in demonstrating their opposition to this war and this administration’s policies.”

Sunday’s anti-war march that twisted through midtown was the largest demonstration at a political convention ever, and dozens more actions came in the days that followed.

They marched, chanted, blocked streets, banged drums, unfurled giant banners, rang bells, lighted candles and stripped naked in protest. They harassed delegates, slipped onto the convention floor and infiltrated Republican parties.

“We’re all mad, we all had that one message, and it really worked,” said Jennifer Flynn, who helped organize a march and rally on Monday advocating poor people’s issues.

They protested the war and demonstrated for more AIDS funding, better treatment of the poor, women’s rights, gay rights, and in memory of 9/11 victims. They started planning more than a year ago.

It helped that they were organized, even the anarchists. Many communicated by text messages on their cell phones, using the service to establish meeting points, warn about police activity and update on actions as they were happening.

“Need protesters at 38th and Park Ave, Bush arriving any sec!” came one message Thursday morning from a church where the President was to attend a prayer service.

Some groups obtained permits for their gatherings, but for others, defying that process was the point. Most of the 1,821 arrests were for disorderly conduct – and a handful for assault.

“We have every reason to be proud,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday. “The NYPD did a great job.”

The 36,500-member New York Police Department planned for 18 months a “rapid response” strategy to dispatch teams of officers on scooters, bicycles, horseback and foot throughout the city as demonstrations erupted. They used plastic netting and metal barricades to corral and disperse large groups.

“We knew we had to be mobile and flexible,” Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

In several cases, groups who threatened to march without permits, risking arrests and confrontations with officers, were allowed to do so after last-minute negotiations at the scene with police eager to avoid conflict.

While city officials have expressed reserved praise for peaceful demonstrators, civil liberties groups and the protesters have criticized police for making sweeping arrests too quickly and for detaining prisoners in a filthy facility. The New York Civil Liberties Union said Friday that some protesters are likely to sue the city for how they were treated.

Despite their successes this week, activists say their work is just beginning. A coalition of groups already has issued a call for nationwide civil disobedience the day after the presidential election, regardless of who wins, “because the crisis with our democracy did not start with Bush and won’t end with Kerry.”

“Now people have a sense of what’s possible,” Flynn said. “Now, we know we cannot only do this, but we can do bigger.”