19-03-2012, 08:41 PM
y: Gregg Levine Sunday March 18, 2012 4:30 am
Occupy Wall Street OWS M17
Zuccotti Park, NYC, 3/17/12. (photo: G. Levine)
Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protestors filled Zuccotti Park on Saturday to celebrate the first six months of the movement. The action began midday, and included marches by groups of protestors around nearby streets in the Financial District. By 10 PM the crowd in Zuccottialso known as Liberty Parkhad swelled to over 700 (some reports go as high as 1,000).
The mood in the park was light and celebratory when the sounds of bagpipes were heard, approaching from the west. Hundreds in the park moved toward the noise, only to witness NYPD officers preventing the pipers from entering the park, arresting at least one. Some on the scene said that the pipers were not affiliated with OWS; they had come to NYC from Brittany to participate in the St. Patrick's Day parade, and later decided to play for occupiers.
While the pipers had drawn much of the crowd to the southwestern part of the park, uniformed NYPD officers moved in to remove a makeshift tent (a plastic tarp thrown over a rope strung between two trees). As police were doing this, loud shouts of "get out" were heard. That order came from a blue-shirted community affairs officer, though, and was not directed at protestors but at the uniformed cops that had just moved in to remove the tarp. Those officers complied and filed quickly toward the east side of the park.
Shortly after that, however, dozens more uniformed NYPD moved into position around the park, and at around 11:30 PM entered the park en masse. Though no announcement was audible on the east side of Zuccotti, reports say police told protestors the park was being closed for "cleaning." While many occupiers moved out of the park, a large number remained, some linking arms, others behind orange netting recognizable as the material police have used to "kettle" protestors in the past.
At that point, police began grabbing protestors and placing them in plastic cuffs. Some were escorted out of the park to waiting wagons on Broadway. Other occupiers lay down or went limp and had to be carried out of the park.
But other protestors encountered a more violent response. Accounts include reports of a broken thumb, possible broken jaw, and police using their boots to hold protestors' faces on the ground. Others said they were pushed forcefully down the street; one visitor to the park reported being hit from behind with a nightstick.
The NYPD quickly filled the two wagons they had waiting at the scene. Police cleared a swath of sidewalk on the east side of the park and constructed a pen out of metal barricades to hold other arrestees until more transport arrived. Some of those protestors were face-down on the ground, others were standing; some were held by police.
An MTA city bus labeled "out of service" arrived, and police began loading it with cuffed occupiers. Some were escorted easily onto the bus, but others were moved more aggressively. Multiple officers were seen holding down one arrestee inside the bus.
One woman, wearing a bright yellow shirt, was moved forcibly onto the bus, only to be moved off of it minutes later. The woman was jerking wildly and appeared to be having a seizure. She fell or was forced to the ground within feet of leaving the bus. Some close to the scene said they saw police holding her down with knees on her torso.
Members of the crowd shouted at cops to get her medical attention. Nothing happened immediately; it was about 20 or 30 minutes later that a Fire Department EMT and ambulance arrived on the scene.
As police were clearing Zuccotti, a group of 100 or more mobilized to march up Broadway, announcing their destination was Union Square Park. Dozens of NYPD followed in squad cars, vans, on scooters and on footstopping marchers at several intersections, occasionally warning them to stay on the sidewalk. It is now reported that near 10th street, at around 12:20 AM, police became more violent, punching one marcher in the face, slamming him against a glass door, breaking the glass and drawing blood.
[Note on the account above: I was at Zuccotti Park from about 10:15 till around midnight. I then marched north along Broadway and caught up with marchers. I broke off at Broome Street to get to a computer and upload video. When I use terms like "reports," "reported," "accounts include" or "some said," I am conveying what others on the scene told me or what others have reported since. Otherwise, if it happened in the time I was there, I saw or heard it, myself.]
Now for the video:
This first video begins as cuffed occupiers are walked or dragged out of Zuccotti Park and onto waiting police wagons. The two wagons are quickly filled and their doors closed. Remaining arrestees are made to wait in the street, and then inside a hastily constructed pen of metal barricades.
At approximately 5:44 in the video, one handcuffed protestor yells, "This police officer is not wearing his name or his badge number. Please report it."
About ten minutes later, a city bus arrives to transport the remaining arrestees. At about 33 seconds in, a woman with red hair and a bright yellow shirt is briefly seen being led inside the bus. Approximately one minute later, the same woman is visible, but this time is jerking uncontrollably as she is pulled off the bus. Once off, she either falls or is brought to the ground by the police restraining her.
comment on this22 Comments Recommend
Tags: #OWS, #Occupy, NYPD, Zuccotti Park, seizure, M17, arrests, police brutality
22 Responses to Occupy Wall Street: Zuccotti Park Reoccupied for Semi-Anniversary; Dozens Arrested (Video)
firedancer March 18th, 2012 at 5:30 am 1
Thank you very much for the report Gregg. Keep the light shining on this type of treatment!
Reply
realitychecker March 18th, 2012 at 5:31 am 2
The forces of repression make clear their intent to take up where they left off, only now with the aid of new repressive laws and precedents in place. Obama signals his approval by his silence. Any person who votes for Obama is sending the message that repression like this is okey-dokey.
Reply
TarheelDem March 18th, 2012 at 5:35 am 3
Thanks for this coverage.
Reply
seaglass March 18th, 2012 at 5:45 am 4
In response to realitychecker @ 2
Its only ok it seems for large TOO BIG TO FAIL Corps. to Occupy the Gov't and own it.
Reply
realitychecker March 18th, 2012 at 5:49 am 5
In response to seaglass @ 4
The battle lines are now drawn as clearly as they can ever be. We will see whether the people want freedom or not.
Reply
Phoenix Woman March 18th, 2012 at 6:24 am 6
Think about it:
Ray Kelly and Michael Bloomberg were so eager to beat up peaceful Occupiers along with bagpipers from Brittany! that they took hundreds of cops off St. Paddy's Day drunk detail to do it.
Wonder how many drunken robberies, fistfights, knifefights, and gunfights occurred that wouldn't have happened if all the cops in New York hadn't been sent out to punch some hippies instead?
Reply
wendydavis March 18th, 2012 at 6:39 am 7
"…the park was being closed for "cleaning." The unintended metaphor is not lost on us.
And yes, rc; the battle lines are being drawn. Those who aren't clamoring for freedom now are those who believe they have it.
TarheelDem: please stay safe in Chicago; our thoughts, prayers, gratitude and respect will be with you; wish my body could be with you, too.
Reply
wendydavis March 18th, 2012 at 6:40 am 8
In response to wendydavis @ 7
I forgot to offer you my thanks, Gregg Levine.
Reply
fitley March 18th, 2012 at 6:46 am 9
In response to realitychecker @ 2
So I take it you'll be voting for Gingrich?
Reply
jpjones March 18th, 2012 at 7:12 am 10
In response to fitley @ 9
Typical Obamabot straw man bullshit.
I'll be voting in November for someone whom does not sicken and disgust me, for someone whom I won't have to make pathetic excuses for, someone whom I believe represents real courage and commitment to the values I hold. Which means I'll be writing in a name maybe Dan Choi, maybe Bradley Manning, maybe Jane Hamsher.
And if you support assassination by fiat, the imprisonment of journalists and whistleblowers, perpetual war, kowtowing to the US Conference of Bishops, secret back room deals with corporate lobbyists, and protection of war criminals and Wall Street con artists, then you are in the fortunate position of inevitably winning the next election whether you vote for Obama, Gingrich, Romney, or Santorum.
Reply
Eclair March 18th, 2012 at 7:54 am 11
I am happy, no, delighted and reassured, to see that the bus used to haul off these peaceful protestors, is labelled "Clean Air Electric Hybrid."
Reply
caleb36 March 18th, 2012 at 8:10 am 12
I know people are tired of anti-Obama rants, and there have been too many of them, but really!! One word from the president could help drastically to stop this nationwide abuse of peaceful OWS demonstrators. I am also sickened that Obama yesterday, after working on behalf of the 0.01% for almost four years, says that protecting the economic stature of the middle class is the defining issue of our time. The man is such a phony!
Reply
mzchief March 18th, 2012 at 8:13 am 13
I was monitoring the action real-time from multiple Twitter, live stream, video capture, image still and blog post roll ups of accounts and footage. I review prior to posting to my Twitter stream as I go. Here's a roll up of much of the atomic data I saw and reTweeted but in a Storify form by Meg Robertson (Digital Producer at MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show. Also a fan of NYC news) of what happened last night posted shortly after the bulk of the action by NYPD:
"Police Brutality Reports from #M17 at Zuccotti Park" | Storified by Meg Robertson | 6 hours ago · 517 views
Here's the video footage I've been waiting for of what I was hearing @TimCast describe as it happened regarding the targeted attack and potential medical neglect by NYPD of Occupy Wall Street Activist Cecily McMillan:
Julia C. Reinhart †@juliacreinhart
@rdevro #ows Video of girl in seizure after being arrested at #M17 Zuccotti Park. Cops don't help for quite some time http://youtu.be/An8OCm-Gl2U
YouTube
1:32 AM 18 Mar 12 via TweetDeck · Details
Tim was describing what looked like seizures by Cecily as they were happening. Onlookers were yelling for medical and being ignored. NYPD was concern about filtering out media and documentation of what was going on. Tim tried to get closer and was repeatedly harassed despite his verified Chicago press credentials. Other live streamer and credentialed media were intercepted by NYPD and removed. Interestingly, YouTube blocked Russia Today's YouTube channel without explanation last night and YouTube videos were posted about that as soon as it happened.
Occupy Wall Street OWS M17
Zuccotti Park, NYC, 3/17/12. (photo: G. Levine)
Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protestors filled Zuccotti Park on Saturday to celebrate the first six months of the movement. The action began midday, and included marches by groups of protestors around nearby streets in the Financial District. By 10 PM the crowd in Zuccottialso known as Liberty Parkhad swelled to over 700 (some reports go as high as 1,000).
The mood in the park was light and celebratory when the sounds of bagpipes were heard, approaching from the west. Hundreds in the park moved toward the noise, only to witness NYPD officers preventing the pipers from entering the park, arresting at least one. Some on the scene said that the pipers were not affiliated with OWS; they had come to NYC from Brittany to participate in the St. Patrick's Day parade, and later decided to play for occupiers.
While the pipers had drawn much of the crowd to the southwestern part of the park, uniformed NYPD officers moved in to remove a makeshift tent (a plastic tarp thrown over a rope strung between two trees). As police were doing this, loud shouts of "get out" were heard. That order came from a blue-shirted community affairs officer, though, and was not directed at protestors but at the uniformed cops that had just moved in to remove the tarp. Those officers complied and filed quickly toward the east side of the park.
Shortly after that, however, dozens more uniformed NYPD moved into position around the park, and at around 11:30 PM entered the park en masse. Though no announcement was audible on the east side of Zuccotti, reports say police told protestors the park was being closed for "cleaning." While many occupiers moved out of the park, a large number remained, some linking arms, others behind orange netting recognizable as the material police have used to "kettle" protestors in the past.
At that point, police began grabbing protestors and placing them in plastic cuffs. Some were escorted out of the park to waiting wagons on Broadway. Other occupiers lay down or went limp and had to be carried out of the park.
But other protestors encountered a more violent response. Accounts include reports of a broken thumb, possible broken jaw, and police using their boots to hold protestors' faces on the ground. Others said they were pushed forcefully down the street; one visitor to the park reported being hit from behind with a nightstick.
The NYPD quickly filled the two wagons they had waiting at the scene. Police cleared a swath of sidewalk on the east side of the park and constructed a pen out of metal barricades to hold other arrestees until more transport arrived. Some of those protestors were face-down on the ground, others were standing; some were held by police.
An MTA city bus labeled "out of service" arrived, and police began loading it with cuffed occupiers. Some were escorted easily onto the bus, but others were moved more aggressively. Multiple officers were seen holding down one arrestee inside the bus.
One woman, wearing a bright yellow shirt, was moved forcibly onto the bus, only to be moved off of it minutes later. The woman was jerking wildly and appeared to be having a seizure. She fell or was forced to the ground within feet of leaving the bus. Some close to the scene said they saw police holding her down with knees on her torso.
Members of the crowd shouted at cops to get her medical attention. Nothing happened immediately; it was about 20 or 30 minutes later that a Fire Department EMT and ambulance arrived on the scene.
As police were clearing Zuccotti, a group of 100 or more mobilized to march up Broadway, announcing their destination was Union Square Park. Dozens of NYPD followed in squad cars, vans, on scooters and on footstopping marchers at several intersections, occasionally warning them to stay on the sidewalk. It is now reported that near 10th street, at around 12:20 AM, police became more violent, punching one marcher in the face, slamming him against a glass door, breaking the glass and drawing blood.
[Note on the account above: I was at Zuccotti Park from about 10:15 till around midnight. I then marched north along Broadway and caught up with marchers. I broke off at Broome Street to get to a computer and upload video. When I use terms like "reports," "reported," "accounts include" or "some said," I am conveying what others on the scene told me or what others have reported since. Otherwise, if it happened in the time I was there, I saw or heard it, myself.]
Now for the video:
This first video begins as cuffed occupiers are walked or dragged out of Zuccotti Park and onto waiting police wagons. The two wagons are quickly filled and their doors closed. Remaining arrestees are made to wait in the street, and then inside a hastily constructed pen of metal barricades.
At approximately 5:44 in the video, one handcuffed protestor yells, "This police officer is not wearing his name or his badge number. Please report it."
About ten minutes later, a city bus arrives to transport the remaining arrestees. At about 33 seconds in, a woman with red hair and a bright yellow shirt is briefly seen being led inside the bus. Approximately one minute later, the same woman is visible, but this time is jerking uncontrollably as she is pulled off the bus. Once off, she either falls or is brought to the ground by the police restraining her.
comment on this22 Comments Recommend
Tags: #OWS, #Occupy, NYPD, Zuccotti Park, seizure, M17, arrests, police brutality
22 Responses to Occupy Wall Street: Zuccotti Park Reoccupied for Semi-Anniversary; Dozens Arrested (Video)
firedancer March 18th, 2012 at 5:30 am 1
Thank you very much for the report Gregg. Keep the light shining on this type of treatment!
Reply
realitychecker March 18th, 2012 at 5:31 am 2
The forces of repression make clear their intent to take up where they left off, only now with the aid of new repressive laws and precedents in place. Obama signals his approval by his silence. Any person who votes for Obama is sending the message that repression like this is okey-dokey.
Reply
TarheelDem March 18th, 2012 at 5:35 am 3
Thanks for this coverage.
Reply
seaglass March 18th, 2012 at 5:45 am 4
In response to realitychecker @ 2
Its only ok it seems for large TOO BIG TO FAIL Corps. to Occupy the Gov't and own it.
Reply
realitychecker March 18th, 2012 at 5:49 am 5
In response to seaglass @ 4
The battle lines are now drawn as clearly as they can ever be. We will see whether the people want freedom or not.
Reply
Phoenix Woman March 18th, 2012 at 6:24 am 6
Think about it:
Ray Kelly and Michael Bloomberg were so eager to beat up peaceful Occupiers along with bagpipers from Brittany! that they took hundreds of cops off St. Paddy's Day drunk detail to do it.
Wonder how many drunken robberies, fistfights, knifefights, and gunfights occurred that wouldn't have happened if all the cops in New York hadn't been sent out to punch some hippies instead?
Reply
wendydavis March 18th, 2012 at 6:39 am 7
"…the park was being closed for "cleaning." The unintended metaphor is not lost on us.
And yes, rc; the battle lines are being drawn. Those who aren't clamoring for freedom now are those who believe they have it.
TarheelDem: please stay safe in Chicago; our thoughts, prayers, gratitude and respect will be with you; wish my body could be with you, too.
Reply
wendydavis March 18th, 2012 at 6:40 am 8
In response to wendydavis @ 7
I forgot to offer you my thanks, Gregg Levine.
Reply
fitley March 18th, 2012 at 6:46 am 9
In response to realitychecker @ 2
So I take it you'll be voting for Gingrich?
Reply
jpjones March 18th, 2012 at 7:12 am 10
In response to fitley @ 9
Typical Obamabot straw man bullshit.
I'll be voting in November for someone whom does not sicken and disgust me, for someone whom I won't have to make pathetic excuses for, someone whom I believe represents real courage and commitment to the values I hold. Which means I'll be writing in a name maybe Dan Choi, maybe Bradley Manning, maybe Jane Hamsher.
And if you support assassination by fiat, the imprisonment of journalists and whistleblowers, perpetual war, kowtowing to the US Conference of Bishops, secret back room deals with corporate lobbyists, and protection of war criminals and Wall Street con artists, then you are in the fortunate position of inevitably winning the next election whether you vote for Obama, Gingrich, Romney, or Santorum.
Reply
Eclair March 18th, 2012 at 7:54 am 11
I am happy, no, delighted and reassured, to see that the bus used to haul off these peaceful protestors, is labelled "Clean Air Electric Hybrid."
Reply
caleb36 March 18th, 2012 at 8:10 am 12
I know people are tired of anti-Obama rants, and there have been too many of them, but really!! One word from the president could help drastically to stop this nationwide abuse of peaceful OWS demonstrators. I am also sickened that Obama yesterday, after working on behalf of the 0.01% for almost four years, says that protecting the economic stature of the middle class is the defining issue of our time. The man is such a phony!
Reply
mzchief March 18th, 2012 at 8:13 am 13
I was monitoring the action real-time from multiple Twitter, live stream, video capture, image still and blog post roll ups of accounts and footage. I review prior to posting to my Twitter stream as I go. Here's a roll up of much of the atomic data I saw and reTweeted but in a Storify form by Meg Robertson (Digital Producer at MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Show. Also a fan of NYC news) of what happened last night posted shortly after the bulk of the action by NYPD:
"Police Brutality Reports from #M17 at Zuccotti Park" | Storified by Meg Robertson | 6 hours ago · 517 views
Here's the video footage I've been waiting for of what I was hearing @TimCast describe as it happened regarding the targeted attack and potential medical neglect by NYPD of Occupy Wall Street Activist Cecily McMillan:
Julia C. Reinhart †@juliacreinhart
@rdevro #ows Video of girl in seizure after being arrested at #M17 Zuccotti Park. Cops don't help for quite some time http://youtu.be/An8OCm-Gl2U
YouTube
1:32 AM 18 Mar 12 via TweetDeck · Details
Tim was describing what looked like seizures by Cecily as they were happening. Onlookers were yelling for medical and being ignored. NYPD was concern about filtering out media and documentation of what was going on. Tim tried to get closer and was repeatedly harassed despite his verified Chicago press credentials. Other live streamer and credentialed media were intercepted by NYPD and removed. Interestingly, YouTube blocked Russia Today's YouTube channel without explanation last night and YouTube videos were posted about that as soon as it happened.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass