Occupy Wall Street NYC

skip · Mar 24, 2012

I don't know if anyone posted this yet, but it's now the Occupy song from the Ramones...

“There’s a new sun rising up angry in the sky.
There’s a new voice crying but not afraid to die.
Let the old world make believe it’s blind and deaf and dumb
BUT NOTHING CAN CHANGE THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME.

There are changes lying ahead on every road.
There are new thoughts ready and waiting to explode.
When tomorrow is today, the bells will toll for some.
BUT NOTHING CAN CHANGE THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME.

The future’s coming on sweet and strong,
And no-one’s gonna hold it back for long…

There are new dreams crowding out old realities.
There’s revolution sweeping in like a fresh new breeze.
Let the old world make believe it’s blind and deaf and dumb,
BUT NOTHING CAN CHANGE THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME. “
Click to expand...

Aerianne · Mar 24, 2012

Occupy Wall Street Demonstrators March To Protest Against Police Violence
Saturday 24 March 2012

Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators marched to protest against police violence and demand the resignation of New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly on Saturday afternoon.

Protesters marched from the movement's original base of operations, Zuccotti Park, in lower Manhattan to Union Square, where occupiers and police have been facing off for the past week.

The mood varied from playful to confrontational throughout the afternoon. A handful of occupiers had fashioned their bicycles to look like police scooters, wore mock police uniforms and barked familiar orders at protesters as they passed.

Throughout the march protesters repeated anti-police chants. A chant of "hey-hey, ho-ho, Ray Kelly has got to go," steadily morphed into "Hey-hey, ho-ho, every cop has got to go". "Fuck the police" was also a popular refrain.

Early on, at least two young women and a man were arrested after the women laid on their backs in a busy intersection. "I don't respect your authority," one yelled as she was led away by police.

Tensions escalated as the march moved into the SoHo and Chinatown districts, where streets are narrow and ill-equipped to accommodate scores of energetic protesters. Approximately a half dozen more people were arrested or detained in a brief period of intense confrontations in the area. Participants in the march had made repeated attempts to move into roadways and the police responded by sending in helmeted officers carrying batons and bundles of zip-tie handcuffs.

One protester appeared to suffer an injured ankle and a plainclothes officer was seen blocking the camera of a New York Times photographer as he attempted to document an arrest.

As protesters carried on into more spacious areas, the intensity died down. The march arrived to Union Square amid chants of "stop, stop, stop police brutality" and "One, we are the people, Two, we are united, Three, this occupation is not leaving."

Occupy Wall Street called for the demonstration following last weekend's mass arrest of at least 73 protesters, a crackdown most Occupiers described as excessively violent. Organisers framed Saturday's action as a critique of an array of NYPD tactics that tend to disproportionately target low-income communities and people of colour. Protesters repeatedly pointed to the department's widespread use of street-level stop and frisks and the surveillance of Muslim communities as examples of failed NYPD policy.

By early evening, there had been 13 arrests. City councilman Jumaane Williams, a supporter of the Occupy movement, was on hand for the march and attempted to de-escalate confrontations between police and the protesters.

"My primary job is to make sure everybody's rights are protected and nobody is harmed," Williams said.

"I think we're seeing the frustration and anger raised on both sides, the protesters and the police and I blame that squarely on the mayor and the commissioner," he added. "They refuse to address the issues that we're trying to discuss. They refuse to acknowledge there's a problem with the culture within the NYPD."

"I don't blame the rank and file NYPD. I blame the leadership of the NYPD and the city," Williams went on to say. "When you try to suppress people's speech, they do tend to get angry. What I saw last week was people using Zuccotti park in the way that it was supposed to be, they way that they were told that they could legally use it and they still got beat up and they still got arrested."

The focus of Saturday's action, however, left some protesters worried.

"I'm a little concerned about our message getting watered down," Occupy protester Aaron Black told the Guardian. Black argues that while protesters have suffered aggressive treatment by the police, the movement should remain focused on economic issues.

"We started the conversation in September," Black said. "What we're upset about is that they keep interrupting the conversation."

"We keep getting our heads kicked," he explained. "That's not constitutional."

Black said he fears continued clashes with the police could obfuscate Occupy's opposition to things like corporate personhood and the influence of money in politics, "I hope it's not a constant showdown with police."

Protester Liesbeth Rapp said the issue of police violence is impossible for Occupy to ignore. Rapp said she has witnessed "an insane amount of police brutality" against Occupy protesters over the past six months.

"We didn't target police brutality. Police brutality targeted us," she said. "We have to make people aware of what the state is doing, but it's a complex issue.

"We have to make them aware that their tax dollars are being misused to suppress people exercising their first amendment rights and any form of dissent. That's very important for people to know," Rapp added. "I feel it's a vital thing to call attention to."
Click to expand...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/25/occupy-wall-street-protest-police

Aerianne · Mar 24, 2012

Police Arrest 14 In Two New York Occupy Protests

NEW YORK | Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:34pm EDT
(Reuters) - Fourteen protesters were arrested on Saturday in separate Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, one that involved an hours-long march through Manhattan streets and a second at the United Nations, authorities said.

Several hundred protesters zig-zagged from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan where the anti-Wall Street Occupy movement was born last year to Union Square Park in what was billed as a demonstration against police brutality.

Protesters carried banners that said "end police brutality" and signs that questioned such as "Angry Pacifist", "Shame on NYPD", and "They never stop & frisk old white guys like me."

Ten protesters were arrested in that demonstration, which lasted about four hours, mainly for disorderly conduct, police said. It was not clear what formal charges were issued.
Click to expand...

Police detained two demonstrators who lied down in the middle of a Manhattan street. Dozens of protesters lied down on sidewalks, or cut across busy intersections.

Two men and two women were arrested for trespassing during a protest at the UN later Saturday billed as the start of a campaign to disrupt corporate polluters.

It was the second straight Saturday of Occupy demonstrations in New York at the site of the movements inception last September. Last Saturday, more than 70 protesters were arrested when police swept them out of Zuccotti Park just before midnight.
Click to expand...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/25/us-occupy-newyork-idUSBRE82O01I20120325

Aerianne · Mar 30, 2012

"Rank And File Initiative" Group Chains Open Subway Gates

An Occupy Wall Street-affiliated group has claimed responsibility for chaining open more than 20 subway gates in New York City, in an action intended to highlight issues surrounding the public transit system.

According to a statement released by a group calling itself the Rank and File Initiative, "teams of activists, many from Occupy Wall Street, in conjunction with rank-and-file workers from the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the Amalgamated Transit Union, opened up more than 20 stations across the city for free entry".

Chains and padlocks were used to hold emergency gates open on the F, L, R, Q, 3, and 6 lines. Signs resembling Metro Transit Authority notices were posted on the subway walls that read "Free Entry, No Fare. Please Enter Through The Service Gate", while activists above ground urged passengers to ride for free .

The Rank and File Initiative pointed to "escalating service cuts, fare hikes, racist policing, assaults on transit workers' working conditions and livelihoods — and the profiteering of the super-rich by way of a system they've rigged in their favor".

Transit fares have increased by 50% over the last decade.

"It was an attempt to say we're united," said Occupy supporter José Martín. "When there's a fare increase, there's a service cut or there's a lay-off on transit workers, it's an attack on both the transit workers themselves as well as the workers and students and youth who are riders."

While the Rank and File Initiative's press statement indicated that union members worked "in conjunction" with the action, union leaders denied knowledge of the plans.

Martín said one of the motivations for Wednesday's action was to highlight the number of minorities arrested for fare evasion. "One of the driving motivations was the criminalization of black and brown youth through the NYPD quota system," he explained. "A lot of Occupiers have been going to jail for the last six months and finding themselves in jail cells with black and Latino youth who are often there for nothing more than fare evasion, thrown in cages for such a tiny violation and then often forced to lose their job or get in trouble in school."

According to Martín, the action was part of strategy known as a "noncompliance campaign". Similar fare strikes have been carried out in other parts of the United States, Canada and Europe.

Martín said Wednesday's action foreshadows Occupy's plans for the coming months, including a "general strike" activists have called for on 1 May and "foreclosure defense" actions that Occupy supporters have been involved in for months.
Click to expand...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/29/occupy-wall-street-new-york

Aerianne · Apr 6, 2012

The Battle for Union Square Continues

The branch of Occupy Wall Street protesters who have colonized Union Square for the past three weeks continue their nightly standoff with the New York Police Department, which each night deploys more than fifty officers to clear the park and stand guard along a wall of metal barricades to make sure no one gets in.

In recent weeks protesters have turned this nightly 12 a.m. ritual into an opportunity for street theater that points up the waste and absurdity of the NYPD's heavy-handed response. Friday nights, for example, they stage The People's Rap Battle, in which anyone can challenge an officer to hip-hop combat. As you might expect, the police invariably forfeit.

Over the last week, some protesters have adapted to the nightly eviction by trying to sleep in front of the retail outlets of some of the major banks the movement has long targeted, but police have thwarted those efforts, arresting some and forcing the rest to move.

Last night, the protesters undertook a new form of street theater, staging a teach-in to inform the assembled police officers about the state of the law.

David Graeber, an author who has been closely involved with the movement, read aloud from an enlarged copy of a 2000 federal court ruling that held sleeping on the sidewalk as a form of political protest was legal, as long as protesters don't take up more than half the sidewalk or otherwise act disorderly.

They then showed the ranks of officers a large map of the area, pointing out the bank locations outside of which they intended to sleep, and declared their intention to do so in a way that complied with the law. Austin Guest, one of the organizers of the event, called officer's attention to the numerous video cameras, legal observers, and members of the press that would be watching what went down.

The protesters walked across the street to the Bank of America, and started rolling out their sleeping bags. Police officers initially assured the campers "It's all good." Guest reported that around 3:30, two police officers roused protesters sleeping in front of a CitiBank location and forced them to stand. When protesters again read the officers the law, took their badge numbers, and threatened to report them to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the officers left without making any arrests.

Not everyone in the movement is convinced that this standing conflict with the police is the best course of action. Some even criticize the Occupiers' focus on Union Square altogether.

"There's this whole circus every night surrounding the police and trying to be in the park overnight, but what's the point?" asked Dimitry Sheynin, who's been involved with the movement since it's days in Zuccotti Park. "Sure, you can make an argument that it's important to have a space for the movement here during the day, but if anyone tries to tell you that serious organizing happens at 4 a.m., they're fucking stupid."

Sheynin and others are particularly concerned that the presence of Occupy Wall Street has disrupted the community of homeless people who had been allowed to sleep in the park until the protest encampment led police to shut the park down entirely every night.

"I consider the entire scene at Union Square to be the opposite of what Occupy Wall Street represents," Sheynin said. "The day you arrived here, you displaced a community that had been here for 20 years. You came in in a way that affected other people, you didn't get their consent, and you didn't even try to talk to them."

Some who share that sentiment expressed concern at the decision to read the 2000 court ruling, which distinguishes sleeping on the street as a form of political speech (protected) from sleeping on the street for other reasons (not necessarily protected).

"When you read that ruling to the police, you're basically telling them 'If you want to bother people for sleeping on the sidewalk, don't do it to us protesters, do it to those smelly homeless people,'" said one disapproving OWS-er.

Graeber says he doesn't see it that way.

"Our position is that when homeless people are sleeping in the street, they're involved in a political protest too," he says.

And the movement needs to be able to stay in the park, Graeber says, not only because it serves as a space for discussion, community outreach, and symbolic dissent, but because protesters need somewhere to lay their heads.

"A lot of the people are are real occupiers," Graeber said. "They left their homes, they left their jobs. For a while we were able to give them shelter in churches, but now they're actually in need of a place to sleep. So this is fulfilling an immediate practical need; it's not just a symbol."
Click to expand...

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/04/occupy_wall_str_51.php

Aerianne · Apr 10, 2012

Wall Street: #Occupied

For the first time since our movement against economic inequality and political corruption began, Occupy Wall Street is literally occupying Wall Street. As of 3am eastern time, over 40 Occupiers are sleeping on Wall Street near the corner of Broad across from the New York Stock Exchange. Everyone angry at the greed of the financial system is encouraged to bring a sleeping bag! Follow on Twitter: #SleepOnWallSt, #SleepfulProtest. Update: Just before 8am Eastern, NYPD arrived with zipties and informed the protesters they had to be out of the way by 8. Occupiers are engaging with stock traders, tourists, workers, and other folks in the financial district and plan to hold an assembly in Liberty Square later.

Background: On March 16, we attempted to peacefully re-occupy Liberty Square (formerly Zucotti Park), the small park just south of Wall Street that had become home to Occupy Wall Street exactly six months earlier. The NYPD had other plans. They attacked us once again. When many homeless Occupiers were left with nowhere to go, many went north to Union Square in midtown Manhattan. Union Square, which has been a central point in popular struggle in New York City for over a century, quickly became an important hub for the Occupy movement as well.

As an excuse to arrest and harass Occupiers, the NYPD began enforcing a midnight park closing rule for the first time in history. In response, Occupiers developed a new tactic: Sleeping on sidewalks directly in front of banks. Rather than allowing the NYPD to muddy our message by re-framing the narrative as ¨police versus protesters,¨ we returned to the banks for our real battle: the 99% versus the 1%. The police merely enforce the system; Wall Street is our real enemy.

On April 6, NYPD gathered once again for the nightly ¨eviction theater¨ only to find Occupiers had moved to the sidewalks and erected a sign declaring their legal right to do so. When police moved in arrest them, Occupiers on livestream read the law permitting sleeping on sidewalks as political protest. In Metropolitan v. Safir, the U.S. District Court covering New York City ruled that ¨ the First Amendment of the United States Constitution does not allow the City to prevent an orderly political protest from using public sleeping as a means of symbolic expression."

The police backed down. The tactic quickly became a model for other Occupations. Occupy DC can be found sleeping outside of a Bank of America near their old encampment at McPherson Square, while Occupy Philadelphia have taken their message and sleeping bags to Wells Fargo on Chestnut Street, near occupied Independence Mall.

Now, the tactic has been applied to, finally, occupy Wall Street.

These bank protests are part of the latest wave of the spring resurgence of Occupy leading up to a major day of demonstration and a General Strike on May 1st. From the Chicago Spring to recent attempted re-occupations in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and many other places, as long as banks keep taking our homes and receiving massive public bailouts from corrupt governments, we will make our discontent known by making our new homes right in front of them.
Click to expand...

http://occupywallst.org/article/wall-street-occupied/

jokerlove69 · Apr 10, 2012

that's pretty awesome. I believe america needs some real change. not some made up hope of a president. I vote for the Revolution

Aerianne · Apr 10, 2012

Occupy Wall Street Weekly Marches on Wall Street presents Run on Bank of America:

Every Friday until May 1st, OWS is practicing various street mobilization tactics and formations in preparation for actions on May Day.

This week we are teaming up with the campaign to Break up Bank of America! Come out to the "Run on Bank of America" as we run, march, and call on everyone to move their money out of this monstrous bank. Bank of America is a giant, raging hurricane of theft and fraud, spinning through America and leaving a massive trail of destitute retirees and foreclosed-upon families in its wake. So we are moving our money out of this criminal institution.

These weekly marches are intended to be a low-risk activity carried out in a creative and assertive way to make it to the NYSE, where we counter the closing bell with the "People's Gong."

Join us this week as we practice race and relay tactics! A Singing Plus Brigade will perform after the People's Gong - everyone is welcome to join in!

See you there!

#SPRINGTRAINING, #BreakupBofA, #Fthebanks Breakupbofa.com
Click to expand...

http://occupywallst.org/article/friday-run-bank-america/

skip · Apr 11, 2012

Ah, the movement has reawakened.

Spring is here and summer is coming.

New life is being injected into OWS.

Let the politicians lie this election year.

The people will spread the truth!

BlueLightRain · Apr 14, 2012

So? how did this go? I haven't heard anything

Aerianne · Apr 16, 2012

Occupying The Steps Of Federal Hall On Wall Street

Police arrested four Occupy Wall Street protesters who camped out on Wall Street Monday morning.

The arrests represent the latest conflict between the NYPD and protesters, who have changed strategies recently and begun camping out on sidewalks on and around Wall Street rather than trying to occupy public spaces like Zuccotti Park.

"[Police] said they needed to clean the sidewalk, that it's illegal to sit or lay on the sidewalk," said Lauren Digioia, 27, who said she has been staying on the sidewalks around Wall Street for eight days.

Digioia said police started to push protesters down Wall Street toward Nassau Street about 9 a.m.

She said she saw one man get arrested trying to take video of the police. Another man, she added, was detained for writing on the sidewalk with chalk.

Police confirmed that four people were arrested, but said no one has been charged yet.
About 40 protesters regrouped Monday morning and sat on the steps of the Federal Hall, across the street from the New York Stock Exchange.

The protesters are allowed to stay on the steps until dusk as long as they are "obeying [their] First Amendment rights [and] not disobeying rules," said Tom O'Connell, Chief of Operations, Federal Hall National Memorial.

One protester said protesters are staying on the sidewalk to build momentum toward a May 1st protest and citywide strike.
Click to expand...

http://www.dnainfo.com/20120416/dow...-for-camping-out-on-wall-street#ixzz1sFkWCTG3

animalsASleaders · Apr 22, 2012

i attended a few back in October. I hope they get this going again for the spring and summer months, but i feel as if some support has been lost

Aerianne · Apr 23, 2012

May Day Wildcat March Called for 1pm

Posted 9 hours ago on April 23, 2012, 2:39 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

via STRIKE EVERYWHERE!:

A call has gone out for a massive Wildcat march in NYC on May 1st, starting at 1PM. The original call is available here. Seconding strikeisaverb, See you in the streets! Forward and Repost widely. https://www.************/events/297929263615205/ and print and distribute flyers (wildcatmarchflyer-single, wildcatmarchflyer-quarter)
CALL FOR A WILDCAT MARCH FOR GENERAL STRIKE PARTICIPANTS

MAY 1ST, 2012 1PM

We were told by bosses, by activists, by union leaders we couldn’t strike. Perhaps, they suggested, if we wanted to protest we could carry a sign and walk within police barricades, safely cordoned off in a free speech zone. On May 1st, we aren’t working and we aren’t protesting. We are striking.

We call on all fellow wildcat strikers to join us for a massive unpermitted march at 1pm at Sara D. Roosevelt Park (corner of 2nd and Houston). Along with striking rebels all over the world, we will show the bosses and cops of the world that we are many and we are only getting stronger.

Bring drums, banners, music, and an affinity group. Stay tight and stay in the streets. See you on May Day.
Click to expand...

http://occupywallst.org/

Aerianne · Apr 23, 2012

Occupy Wall Street Plans Massive May Day Bridge and Tunnel Blockade in NYC

Occupy Wall Street plans to come back with a bang in less than ten days when it unleashes its May Day General Strike that could blockade the bridges and tunnels necessary for New York City to function.

Occupywallstreet.org lays out the plan openly on its website:

“On May 1, 2012, autonomous direct action groups within Occupy Wall Street, as a part of the global mobilizations for general strike and economic non-compliance, will block one or more Manhattan-bound bridges or tunnels to protest the shameful opulence of the 1%.”

In addition to the planned transit blockade, Occupy is rallying factions across the country in solidarity with general strikes around the world: “For the first time, workers, students, immigrants, and the unemployed from over 115 U.S. cities will stand together for economic justice.”
Click to expand...

http://radicalsurvivalism.com/web/2...ve-may-day-bridge-and-tunnel-blockade-in-nyc/

junglejack · Apr 24, 2012

I'm helping my brother move some things to Brooklyn ,May 1st- -He,s doesn't support our cause a real lot- although he understands our right to protest
Anyway -the ride thru the wicked traffic should be fun-,as I throw PB& j sandwiches out the window- -

powertothepeople
muchlove
jjack

animalsASleaders · Apr 30, 2012

Aerianne said:

Occupy Wall Street Plans Massive May Day Bridge and Tunnel Blockade in NYC

http://radicalsurvivalism.com/web/2...ve-may-day-bridge-and-tunnel-blockade-in-nyc/
Click to expand...

power to the people

tikoo · Apr 30, 2012

i prefer power to the peaceful

Aerianne · Apr 30, 2012

NYC MAY DAY 2012 ACTIONS

99 Picket Lines
Midtown Manhattan
Community groups, unions, affinity groups and OWS
more info
8am - Chase Building (NYCC) - 270 Park Ave (@48th St)
8am - New York Times Building (UAW) - 620 8th Ave (@41st St)
8am - Sotheby's (Teamsters) - 1334 York Ave (@72nd St)
8am-10am - US Post Office (Community-Labor Alliance) - 421 8th Ave (@W31st St)
8:30am-9am - NYU Bobst Library (NYU for OWS) - 70 Washington Square South (@University Pl)
9am - Paulson & Co (Strong Economy for All) - 1251 6th Ave (@50th St)
10am - Chase Branch (NYCC) - 401 Madison Ave (@48th St)
11am - ABC Studios (NABET-CWA) - 66th Street (@Columbus)
12pm-1:30pm - Investment Banker Stephen Berger (CSEA AFSCME) - 46th St @ Park Ave
12pm-2pm - Immigration Court (NMASS) - 26 Federal Plaza (Worth & Lafeyette)
1:30pm - Capital Grille (ROC-NY) - 155 E 42nd St (@3rd Ave)
2pm - Chase and Citibank (Occupy Sunset Park) - 5th Ave & 54th St (BROOKLYN)
3pm - Strand Bookstore (Strand workers) - 828 Broadway (@12th St)
3pm - Beth Israel Hospital (Workers United) - 10 Union Square East (14th St & Park Ave)
8pm - Washington Square Park Arch (Musicians 802) - Washington Square North @ 5th Ave
Pop-up Occupation with Mutual Aid (unpermitted)
8am–2pm, Bryant Park, Manhattan
Occupy Wall Street
more info
Bryant Park will be the site of a fun and friendly "Pop-up Occupation" featuring free food, a free market, free services, skill-shares, workshops, teach-ins, speak-outs, meditation, public art, performances, discussions, and trainings.

May Day Morning Commute from Brooklyn
8:00am, Maria Hernandez Park, Brooklyn
Free Coffee + Breakfast! MARCH from Knickerbocker to Flushing to Broadway to Continental Army Plaza
Occupy Williamsburg, Occupy Bushwick
more info

Sitting Meditation
8–11am, Bryant Park (southwest corner), Manhattan
OWS Meditation working group
Bike Bloc
9am, Union Square, Manhattan
Strike Everywhere
more info

The Free University: Lectures, Workshops, Skill-Shares and Discussions
10am–3pm, Madison Square Park, Manhattan
more info

Occupy Brooklyn March over the Williamsburg Bridge and into Wall Street
10:30am, Continental Army Plaza, Brooklyn
Occupy Williamsburg, Occupy Bushwick
more info

Building Community Alternatives to Capitalism Day
11am–10pm, LaunchPad, 721 Franklin Ave., Brooklyn
Brooklyn Skillshare
more info

Teach-in: How to Keep Your Cool and Occupy…Understanding Aggression
11am, Bryant Park (southwest corner), Manhattan
OWS Meditation working group
High School Student Walkout Convergence
12pm, Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn
more info

Guitarmy: Guitar Workshop and Rehearsal with Tom Morello
Permitted Gathering Space for May Day Festivities
12pm, Bryant Park, Gertrude Stein Statue (east side), Manhattan
OWS Music working group
more info

Call2Create
art events all day throughout NYC
more info

Wildcat March (unpermitted)
1pm, Sara D. Roosevelt Park (East Houston St. & 2nd Ave.), Manhattan
Strike Everywhere
more info

OWS Mutual Aid cluster
1pm-4pm, Union Square
OWS Mutual Aid cluster is hosting a free store, skill shares and workshops on a variety of subjects related to life outside the dominant capitalist paradigm.

Meditation Flash Mob followed by Kirtan
1pm, Bryant Park (southwest corner), Manhattan
OWS Meditation working group

Day Without Workers/Día sin los Trabajadores: May Day March and Speakout
2pm, 5th Ave. at 54th St. in Brooklyn, marching to 36th St & 4th Ave. to take subway at 3:30pm to Union Square rally in Manhattan
Occupy/Ocupemos Sunset Park
more info

MayDay on D-Block!!
2pm, Houston & Ave D, Manhattan
LES public housing residents & tenants take their struggle to the street! All invited!
Occupy Avenue D

Occupy Wall Street & Guitarmy March (unpermitted)
2pm, Bryant Park to Union Square, Manhattan
OWS Teach-in at Trinity Church
2-5:15pm, Trinity Church on Wall St
more info

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Contingent!
3pm at Regal Movie Theatre, 50 Broadway (at 13th St.) - joining rally at Union Square after
Audre Lorde Project, FIERCE, Queers for Economic Justice, Streetwise and Safe and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project
more info

Solidarity Rally with Tom Morello, Dan Deacon, Immortal Technique, Das Racist, Bobby Sanabria and special guests (permitted)
4–5:30pm, Union Square, Manhattan
May First Coalition, Labor Unions and OWS
more info

Impromptu General Assembly
5pm, Union Square by the Andy Warhol Statue (17th and Broadway)
May Day Choir Convergence
5:15pm, Madison Square Park (in front of the fountain), Manhattan
more info

Occupy the Rent Guidelines Board: A Tenants’ General Assembly
5:30pm, 7 East 7th St. (outside Cooper Union), Manhattan
Real Rent Reform Campaign

Solidarity March (permitted)
5:30pm, Union Square to Wall Street, Manhattan
May First Coalition, Labor Unions and OWS
more info

JD Samson & MEN Perform
7pm, 2 Broadway
After the march concludes, more performances and speakers will start the after-party!

Occupy Wall Street Afterparty (unpermitted)
8pm, Wall Street area
People’s Assembly and Haymarket Martyrs Memorial Resistance Rager
Details to be announced. Check the #MayDay and #M1GS hashtags on Twitter up-to-the-moment info.

The May Day 2012 Solidarity Rally and March is being organized by an historic coalition, including:
Alliance for Labor Rights, Immigrant Rights, Jobs for All
May 1st Coalition for Immigrant & Worker Rights
Immigrant & Community Organizations
Occupy Wall Street
Click to expand...

http://occupywallst.org/article/nyc-full-schedule-permitted-and-unpermitted-may-da/

Aerianne · May 2, 2012

NYPD, FBI Raid Occupy Wall Street Protesters' Homes

The NYPD has kept a close eye on the Occupy Wall Street's May Day protest plans.

A six page memo (see below) from the NYPD's Shield unit reveals the department is concerned over "political fissures" in the movement which they believe could lead to violence Tuesday.

From the memo:

Political fissures that are present within the OWS movement may impact the strategies of demonstrators during individual protest actions; in particular, the Wildcat March is not an officially sanctioned OWS march and may attract militant elements from inside and outside the OWS movement that may seek to directly confront law enforcement officials using barricades, riot shields, and possibly weapons such as pipes and rocks.

In anticipation Monday, the FBI and NYPD raided the homes of protesters.

"There were a number of visits between 6:00 and 7:30 in the morning and at other points in the day that appeared to target people that primarily the NYPD, but in one instance the FBI, wanted to ask certain questions to," Gideon Oliver, a spokesman for the National Lawyers Guild, which often represents Occupy protesters, told Buzzfeed . "Questions included things like 'what are your May Day plans?' 'Do you know who the protest leaders are?' 'What do you know about the May Day protests?' and such."

Gawker reports that Zachary Dempster said 6 officers broke down the door of his Bushwick apartment at 6:15 AM, reportedly executing a warrant for the arrest of his roommate on a 6-year-old open container charge. Dempster believes, however, that cops used the raid as an excuse to question him about May Day.

And an hour later in Bed-Stuy, one of Dempster's activist friends' apartment--which he shares with 6 other Occupy protesters-- was also paid a visit by 6 of New York's finest. From Gawker :

The activist said police used arrest warrants for two men who no longer lived there as pretext for the raid. The officers ran the IDs of everyone who was in the apartment, then booked our source when they discovered he had an outstanding open container violation. Police never asked about Occupy Wall Street or May Day, but our source said the message was clear: We're watching you.
Click to expand...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...-raid-protesters-homes-may-day_n_1467340.html

Aerianne · May 2, 2012

NYPD Sued By City Council Members Over Response To Protests

NEW YORK — Four lawmakers sued the city Monday over its handling of the Occupy Wall Street protests, saying police conduct is so problematic that the force needs an outside monitor.

The city and police violated demonstrators' free speech rights, used excessive force, arrested protesters on dubious charges and interfered with journalists' and council members' efforts to observe what was going on, the four City Council members and others say in the federal civil rights suit.

"This unlawful conduct has been undertaken with the intention of obstructing, chilling, deterring and retaliating against (the) plaintiffs for engaging in constitutionally protected protest activity," says the suit, which was filed a day before Occupy and labor activists planned a large May Day march.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has defended police handling of the protests.

"This police department knows how to control crowds without excessive force. . They do allow you to protest, but they don't let it get out of hand," he said after some council members complained about what they called police brutality at a March Occupy demonstration.

While Occupy activists have gone to court before over particular episodes in the movement's contentious history with the city, the new lawsuit is a nearly 150-page compendium of complaints, amplified by the council members' participation. A local Democratic Party official, freelance journalists and Occupy activists also are plaintiffs.

Their criticisms range from a police official's much-discussed use of pepper spray on penned-in protesters in September to the temporary removal of demonstrators from Manhattan's Union Square in March.

City council members and other elected officials have sued the city before – over a Bloomberg-led 2009 change to term limits, among other things.

Still, the council members' involvement in the Occupy suit helps dramatize its argument that police oversight is so ineffective it warrants a court-appointed monitor. The officials want an independent eye to review all of the more than 2,000 Occupy-related arrests and to explore the sometime closures of Zuccotti Park and some other public spaces.

The four lawmakers – Letitia James, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Ydanis Rodriguez and Jumaane Williams – said they felt they needed to pursue avenues beyond City Hall to address their growing concern.

"We need accountability, we need relief . and we're not going to just sit idly by," Williams said.

He and Mark-Viverito were among dozens of people who calmly sat down in a roadway near the Brooklyn Bridge during a Nov. 17 demonstration. Their disorderly conduct cases are on track to be dismissed if they avoid rearrest.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, was accused of resisting arrest while trying to get to the protesters' encampment in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park as police uprooted them Nov. 15. He emerged with visible scrapes to his head and said police assaulted him. Prosecutors recently dropped the charges against the councilman, saying they couldn't secure the testimony of a key officer in the incident.

"I feel that the NYPD misused its powers," he said.

Some state legislators also have proposed an independent inspector for the New York Police Department, citing the Occupy protests and other issues.

The lawsuit, crafted by attorneys Leo Glickman, Yetta Kurland and Wylie Stecklow, also seeks unspecified damages and court orders about access to public spaces and other issues in the case.

The lawsuit was filed the same day as another lawsuit by five individuals who said their constitutional rights were violated when police officers kept them inside an area surrounded by metal barricades for nearly two hours on Nov. 30 as they tried to participate in an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. The lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan sought unspecified damages and class action status.

The city Law Department said Monday it had not yet seen either lawsuit and was awaiting an opportunity to review each.
Click to expand...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...rs-occupy-wall-street-response_n_1464424.html

___

Log in or Sign up

Occupy Wall Street NYC

skip Founder Administrator

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

jokerlove69 Guest

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

skip Founder Administrator

BlueLightRain Member

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

animalsASleaders Member

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

junglejack aiko aiko

animalsASleaders Member

tikoo Senior Member

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Occupy Wall Street NYC

skip Founder Administrator

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

jokerlove69 Guest

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

skip Founder Administrator

BlueLightRain Member

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

animalsASleaders Member

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

junglejack aiko aiko

animalsASleaders Member

tikoo Senior Member

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Share This Page

Useful Searches