Tuesday, November 15, 2011

NYPD Storm 'Occupy Wall Street'


The NYPD action resulted in the removal of all protesters from NYC's Zucotti Park and the tearing down and removal of all tents and supplies.

A final six defiant protesters attempted to hold their ground near the food tent area of the park and used bike locks to chain themselves to a structure by their necks, shouting "If you pull us, you will kill us!" Police in riot gear removed and arrested them.

The Guardian has this report:
Hundreds of officers with the New York City Police Department descended on the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Lower Manhattan late this evening. At approximately 1.00am protesters say the NYPD set up emergency vehicles around the park and turned on massive flood lights. Scores of officers in riot gear began entering the park and handing out notices of eviction. Protesters say there was little time to respond the department's orders to disperse. Several hundred of the demonstrators rallied around the park's central eating area.

With roughly 200 protesters collected in the kitchen space, police and sanitation workers began tearing down tents and any standing structures around the park. Protester's belongings were thrown into massive piles then loaded into large trucks.

Media were repeatedly directed away from the square and eventually confined to a metal pen at the far end of the block. Police buses were later parked in front of the pen, blocking clear shots of the park.

Meanwhile in the kitchen area six protesters reportedly used bicycle locks to chain themselves together by the neck. The demonstrators gathered at the centre of the park were free to leave but chose to stay, forming seated columns with their arms locked.

A mass of police officers began to gather around the kitchen area to begin arresting the remaining protesters. Reports from inside indicated the arrests were orderly and non-violent, but some protesters and press who managed to leave the area reported that they saw officers beating and stepping on demonstrators.

Eyewitness twitter accounts via the Guardian:

The riot police moved in with zip cuffs and teargassed the occupiers in the food tent

Then they wrestled them to the ground and cuffed them.

I decided it would be better to stay out of jail and keep reporting on what's going on tonight, so I let him haul me out, arguing with him

He literally started hauling me across the park. My feet were slipping on the ground.

All around me, protesters were being pepper sprayed and zip cuffed
The police action comes less than a day after the movement announced plans for a series of disruptive protests outside the New York Stock Exchange and throughout the NYC subway system

2 comments:

  1. If only they knew the actual truth of the real cause of how the elites of Wall Street get rich off the rest of the people, they would be occupying and protesting right in Washington, not only at Capitol Hill but at the Federal Reserve, on Constitution Avenue, N.W., or better yet, they should swarm outside the residence of Chairsatan, The Bernank, 1349 Independence Ct., SE.

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  2. Actually I just read that the OWS group got a temporary injunction, but that the judge refused to give them a permanent injunction. I guess that means they will have to take their iPads and Starbucks lattes and move to another location. Could the left wing in the States have picked a worse group to have outfront in the national spotlight?

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