#OCCUPYWALLSTREET campaign - September 17

[AlicetheKurious]

It's fascinating to scan the headlines issued at the same time, about the same event: some are saying "dozens" have been arrested, others say "hundreds", still others say "700" or "more than 700". My favorite so far is this one, from CNN:

Police: Hundreds of 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters get tickets

[vanlose kid]

Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested on Brooklyn BridgeHundreds held by NYPD – including New York Times journalist – after attempted march across bridge ends in chaos

Paul Harris in New York guardian.co.uk, Sunday 2 October 2011 00.58 BST

Protesters are blocked from crossing the Brooklyn Bridge by the NYPD during an Occupy Wall Street march. Photograph: James Fassinger
More than 700 people were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday evening during a march by anti-Wall Street protesters who have been occupying a downtown Manhattan square for two weeks.

The group, called Occupy Wall Street, has been protesting against the finance industry and other perceived social ills by camping out in Zuccotti park in New York.

During the afternoon a long line of protesters numbering several thousand snaked through the streets towards the landmark bridge across the East River with the aim of ending at a Brooklyn park.

However, during the march across the bridge groups of protesters sat down or strayed into the road from the pedestrian pathway. They were then arrested in large numbers by officers who were part of a heavy police presence shepherding the march along its path.

At one stage 500 protesters were blocked off by police on the bridge. At least one journalist, freelancer Natasha Lennard for the New York Times, was among those arrested. "About half way across the group of people who wanted to occupy the bridge launched their action and stepped into the road. They wanted to get arrested. It was sort of the idea," said Yaier Heber, one of the marchers.

But others said the sit-down protest appeared to happen only after the protesters were deliberately blocked off by police after actually being allowed onto the roadway. "They met the police line and ended up being arrested one by one," said Damon Eris, another protester.

The march ended in chaotic scenes with police buses driving up the bridge to be filled with arrested marchers. The packed buses then drove off to central booking. Meanwhile, other marchers waited at the bottom of the bridge's Manhattan side and cheered as some released protesters, or those who had escaped being blocked off, came back down. "Let them go! Let them go!" was a frequent chant.

It was a different scene from the night before when an equally large march had ended up at the city's police headquarters. That demonstration had been against the brutal treatment meted out by some police on protesters on a march the weekend before. Video of one senior police officer spraying pepper spray on female protesters went viral on the internet and drew widespread condemnation.

But the incident did help put the Occupy Wall Street movement into American newspapers and TV shows that had hitherto paid it little attention. The group, drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, say they are inspired by social movements in Spain and the Arab spring. Last week the protesters attracted numerous celebrity visits, including actor Susan Sarandon and film-maker Michael Moore. This week they are expected to get an injection of support from local labour unions.

The movement has also started to spread in significant numbers to several other major cities. On Saturday in Los Angeles hundreds of protesters marched on the city hall with the intention of starting a similar encampment. In Boston protesters have already started camping out in Dewey square, near the city's financial district. Unlike in New York, where protesters are not allowed to create shelter in Zuccotti park, Occupy Boston has been able to set up rows of tents.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oc ... lyn-bridge

*

[2012 Countdown]

Police Leading #OccupyWallStreet Protesters Onto The Brooklyn Bridge Traffic Lane



===

N.Y. / Region
Sunday, October 2, 2011

---
Updated, 3:35 a.m. Sunday | In a tense showdown above the East River, the police arrested more than 700 demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street protests who took to the roadway as they tried to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday afternoon.

The police said it was the marchers’ choice that led to the enforcement action.

“Protesters who used the Brooklyn Bridge walkway were not arrested,” Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the New York Police Department, said. “Those who took over the Brooklyn-bound roadway, and impeded vehicle traffic, were arrested.”

But many protesters said they believed the police had tricked them, allowing them onto the bridge, and even escorting them partway across, only to trap them in orange netting after hundreds had entered.

“The cops watched and did nothing, indeed, seemed to guide us onto the roadway,” said Jesse A. Myerson, a media coordinator for Occupy Wall Street who marched but was not arrested.


A video on the YouTube page of a group called We Are Change shows some of the arrests.
---

Full-
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/ ... bridge/?hp

=====

Sat. NBC Nightly News on bridge arrests and #occupywallstreet protests. Good content and scope-
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#44743163

===
Sam Seder's Majority Report
SamSeder's Channel
Sam goes off on the mainstream media who have been ignoring #OccupyWallStreet due to the "lack of a message."
http://www.youtube.com/user/SamSeder#p/u

===

Why has #occupywallstreet never 'trended' on twitter?

Jp Morgan Buying Huge Stake In Twitter
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry|February 28, 2011
http://articles.businessinsider.com/201 ... hris-sacca

Just sayin'... Just like Carlyle Group buying up Lowes Theaters.

==========

General Assembly Minutes 10/1 7:30PM
Posted on October 1, 2011 by Ketchup
Because hundreds of us got arrested, GA will be a little bit different.

First, a review of procedures.

Then we will have working group report backs.

After that, announcements!

For working group report backs, we’re going to give priority to Legal and Direct Action to report back on what happened today.

REVIEW OF PROCESS.

Two generations of people’s mic will be required! This means that the crowd repeats what the speaker says, and the crowd further back repeats that.


Legal—Marina. Part of the legal team. As people know, we have had many people arrested. Confirmed names of 100 people. But we think it’s more than double that number. We have lawyers at the precincts right now. We have heard from people held on the buses and they’re taking care of each other. Legal’s coordinating groups of people to greet people when they are released, which we think will happen tonight. It’s important we show lots of love to those who were arrested. This person will be coordinating those teams. We’ve heard so far there are buses at 1 Police Plaza and the 79th precinct. We’ll be sending people there. When people are released, they need to contact the National Lawyers Guild so that they know that they got out. They will be collecting names right up front.


The Brooklyn Bridge has been shut down due to protestors.


Direct Action—

Sandy—Direct Action planned for a peaceful march over the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian walkway. During the march a small group of individuals took it upon themselves to take the vehicle roadway that was not blocked off. Immediately people from Direct Action started communicating to protestors that there were two options. The planned route on the public pedestrian walkway, or if they wanted, to autonomously take the vehicle roadway, which we warned them was illegal and highly unsafe. Many people were unfortunately corralled into the vehicle roadway.

Michael—I was a scout for today’s march. I found it bizarre that there was very little security or police presence on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. There was a lot of police activity on the Brooklyn side.

Chris—I arrived in the middle of the march. When I got there, folks from my working group were directing people from taking the pedestrian walkway as was planned. Despite this, when I got there hundreds of people were marching on the vehicular roadway. I saw almost nobody following our working group’s recommendation to follow the pedestrian walkway. In fact, the crowd marching on the highway was so big that I myself followed them for about 200 feet before realizing what I was doing.

Sandy—On a positive note to wrap things up, there were hundreds of people who made it to Brooklyn in solidarity with the communities in Brooklyn!


Community relations—Justin. Wants to talk briefly about the positive relationships that we’re building with local residents and business owners. We continue to outreach to local restaurants and street cart owners on Wall Street who have been displaced by over-policing, and this week we’re going to begin to exhibit some Occupy Art Work at a local art exhibit. If you want to join the committee, find me or come to our meeting tomorrow at 12PM next to the media center.


Comfort—Mike. Good news: We’ve had amazing support from all over the country! We have plenty of clothing, but we are in desperate need of sleeping bags, ponchos, and clothing for larger folks, large-XXL! It’s very hectic when it’s raining, and we appreciate your cooperation and patience. We ask you to please share with your neighbors, whatever you can, to keep warm and dry, so everyone stays healthy, and there are enough supplies to last us the next few days. It’s up to all of us to get whatever help we can to keep us alive. That being said, you guys have been great! And any extra volunteers would be greatly appreciated. So come see us next to Medical if you or your friends need to stay dry and warm. Thank you!


Info—Info has a lot of things we need to know so we can tell everyone who comes here how to get involved. We are asking all of the working groups to please get an email address for your working group, through Internet at the NYCGA website. Then bring Info a list with the group’s name, contact, general function/description, meeting times, meeting location, to info. Currently the only way we have to get people involved with you is a volunteer sheet. Without contacts for the working groups, it’s hard to give you volunteers. They want to volunteer! Let them! Also, Info needs staff. If you have some time during the day, please see if you can relieve people at the desks. It’s fun and easy, thank you!


Please, working groups make your report backs concise, and try to put more words into what you’re projecting to the group!


Labor—Kelly. Has good news! Not only have we been endorsed by the Transit Workers Union, and as of this morning, we have been officially endorsed by SEIU1199 Hospital Workers. They have said they will support us in the following ways: One week’s worth of food and registered nurses to train our team! I invite all of you to join us to march with fellow Union brothers and sisters on Tuesday at 4PM at City Hall and Wednesday at 5PM at City Hall. Thank you!



Organizational outreach—Joe. What organizational outreach means is I reach out to specific organizations, trying to garner support from the NYC community. I personally deal with NYC universities. But we do a lot more than that! And we need all the help we can get! If you or anyone you know have friends, family, or ties in the community and want to help, we now have a table right next to where I’m standing where you can help you make that a reality. Right now the easiest thing would be taking some of the Occupy Wall Street Journal newspapers, which are right here by the table and distributing them in your community. Thank you!



Outreach media—Andrew with media. If you want to make media or learn how, write down this Gmail account: OccupyTVNY@gmail.com. We have many technical needs, namely hard drives. See Info for the US Postal Service drop box. Also, email OccupyTVNY for donation information.



Media—Flux with the people’s media. If you have footage of brutality or anything else that you would like to share with the world, bring it over here quickly.


Legal with time-sensitive information about people in the jails—We have confirmed five different jails. There are people leaving now. We want you to come! Meet back here at the sign. There’s three in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn. We will tell you how to get there! Thank you!


For those of you who haven’t been here, there are always cops around here! No reason to panic!

Open Source—We are the Free Libre Open Source group, reminding you that the people are the source of Open Source. We are looking for people to each one teach one, or what they know, skill sharing. We are developing an online tool—people can post offers and wants. We’re going to demo it to working groups and hopefully launch it mid-week! We are moving out of a casino debt-based economy into an Open Source economy!

Education—If you want to learn or teach about a society of no leaders, but everyone being a leader, there’s an education group. Please email OWSeducation@gmail.com.


Internet—Drew. All day tomorrow, I will be training working groups on using inter-group communication tools near the media center!


ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pertaining to the entire group.

Limiting announcements to fifteen minutes, one minute each.

Open Source—They will be meeting at the WikiLeaks truck after General Assembly.

Maxine—I want you to know that the real cause is in Washington. We have a few great representatives, most are hacks.

Ism—All over the US, in over 60 cities other occupations are being planned or are happening right now. Every day our movement grows. We will not be silent, and we will win!

To reiterate, this is a time for information announcements that pertain to the entire group.

Azrea–I am a drag queen! I have a group of drag queens, nightlife entertainers and political activists, who want to join forces with OWS! They are coming with supplies. We will come with medical supplies, clothing, and food. We will also, if you would like, perform for you! We will be here tomorrow around 2PM. If you have any questions, you can find me by the media table.

Legal—They would like more people to come with them to the jails! Meet behind media! Thank you!

–Tomorrow it’s October 2. This is not his birthday, it is the national day of non-violence, declared by the UN. We will be doing a celebration at Union Square in front of the Ghandi statue at 1PM.

Sharon—I would like to announce the launch of People of Color Working Group. It is time to bring more diversity to Occupy Wall Street. We will meet right now briefly under the red statue at Cedar and Broadway. Remember, the people united can never be defeated! Thank you!

Jay—I am a member of the People’s Organization for Progress, based in Newark, NJ. We support 100% Occupy Wall Street! Second, we ask for support for the daily protest held in Newark to demand a mass public works program, open for all, financed by taking the wealth from Wall Street and ending the wars, and we ask that OWS take up the same demand.

National Lawyers Guild—Going to give information about what’s happening with those who got arrested. There are three precincts here in Manhattan: 1 Police Plaza, Midtown North, Midtown South. There are four in Brooklyn: the 75th, the 77th, the 79th, and the 80. What we need is for you to email the names of those arrested to the NLG. The address is nycnlg@igc.org. You need to include phone number, name, date of birth. Also, if you have video or photos, the email is nycnlg@igc.org. Thanks!

Kobi—Our brothers and sisters in jail need our urgent help and solidarity. We need, right now, seven volunteers to come right here and go to support them. It’s being organized right now! So if you are willing, please meet us right up here!

Facilitation—We’re sorry that not everyone can hear. Today we had a great day! It was an amazing showing, and a lot of brothers and sisters were arrested. We were there, and their spirits we high! They said go to Liberty Square, regroup, learn, recruit, build solidarity, and do it again! Facilitation spoke with Direct Action, and they’re studying what happened today, because we’re learning. I’m mentioning this, just so you know, we’re building a movement. Let’s remember that we have Soapbox, and we should focus about today, and hear from people that were there, so we can learn.

Joe—The New York Times is reporting that over 400 people were arrested! It is now trending worldwide on Twitter. THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING.

Ned—Yesterday Bank of America announced that they’d be charging $5/month to use debit cards. They know that we’re here. The timing is not accidental. They are laughing, they are pouring salt.

Peter—If they arrest 400 of us, we can come back with 4,000! If they arrest 4,000 of us, we can come back with 40,000 of us. If we mobilize tomorrow, the city will be with us while we celebrate non-violence. Let’s protest police brutality.

Again, INFORMATIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ONLY. Soapboxing and personal experiences will be for after. Thank you, though.

Arts and Culture—Alex. Sorry I’m late! We believe that we are at the brink of a new aesthetic movement, like Impressionism, Modernism. Wrapping it up: We are creating collectives of artists of all performance arts: musicians, painters, and so forth. If you want to join one of those to create a new aesthetic, let us know! Thank you!

Elisa—I came from New Orleans today, post-Katrina represent! I bring with me today the hope of direct democracy. By 2012, six years ago our world suffered a devastation that today you can do something about. A website has been donated for the purpose of direct democracy. She will be working on improving coordination of this. The website for this is http://www.Govby.us

Alfonso—I worked with Arts and Culture. We have created a tri-fold pamphlet that explains what the Generally Assembly is. If you would like a digital copy, please email todoflui@gmail.com.

–Everybody repeat loud enough for the police to hear! Tonight we have fifteen marines coming to protect us! Apart from them, if they want to get to some protestors, so they can mace them, they will have to get through THE FUCKING MARINE CORP FORCE!

Important announcement—We have decided as a group that there will be no drugs and alcohol in this park! Also, there will be quiet hours from 11PM-8AM. If you want to keep talking, do it quietly by the front so people in the back can sleep.

SOAPBOXING.

Priority will be given to people’s experiences from today.

http://nycga.cc/2011/10/01/general-asse ... /#more-836

====

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
Posted on September 30, 2011 by NYCGA
THIS DOCUMENT WAS ACCEPTED BY THE NYC GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

http://nycga.cc/2011/09/30/declaration- ... york-city/

====

OP-ED COLUMNIST
The Bankers and the Revolutionaries
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: October 1, 2011

AFTER flying around the world this year to cover street protests from Cairo to Morocco, reporting on the latest “uprising” was easier: I took the subway.

----

I don’t share the antimarket sentiments of many of the protesters. Banks are invaluable institutions that, when functioning properly, move capital to its best use and raise living standards. But it’s also true that soaring leverage not only nurtured soaring bank profits in good years, but also soaring risks for the public in bad years.

In effect, the banks socialized risk and privatized profits. Securitizing mortgages, for example, made many bankers wealthy while ultimately leaving governments indebted and citizens homeless.

We’ve seen that inadequately regulated, too-big-to-fail banks can undermine the public interest rather than serve it — and in the last few years, banks got away with murder. It’s infuriating to see bankers who were rescued by taxpayers now moan about regulations intended to prevent the next bail-out. And it’s important that protesters spotlight rising inequality: does it feel right to anyone that the top 1 percent of Americans now possess a greater collective net worth than the entire bottom 90 percent?

So for those who want to channel their amorphous frustration into practical demands, here are several specific suggestions:

¶Impose a financial transactions tax. This would be a modest tax on financial trades, modeled on the suggestions of James Tobin, an American economist who won a Nobel Prize. The aim is in part to dampen speculative trading that creates dangerous volatility. Europe is moving toward a financial transactions tax, but the Obama administration is resisting — a reflection of its deference to Wall Street.

¶Close the “carried interest” and “founders’ stock” loopholes, which may be the most unconscionable tax breaks in America. They allow our wealthiest citizens to pay very low tax rates by pretending that their labor compensation is a capital gain.

¶Protect big banks from themselves. This means moving ahead with Basel III capital requirements and adopting the Volcker Rule to limit banks’ ability to engage in risky and speculative investments. Another sensible proposal, embraced by President Obama and a number of international experts, is the bank tax. This could be based on an institution’s size and leverage, so that bankers could pay for their cleanups — the finance equivalent of a pollution tax.
---
Full-
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/opini ... .html?_r=2

[Carfuffle]

I haven't posted here in years, but I've followed this forum, and thanks to this thread, found my way to #Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Kansas City started here Friday with about 60 people, there were about 100 at our GA yesterday. Today will be Day 3, we're still organizing and reaching out to the community to grow our numbers. I'm not camping out, but attending daily, bringing supplies, etc. Police here have been supportive and helpful. This isn't a "protest", its a growing movement. If there's one in a city near you, I encourage you to attend. Now is the time to be the change we've all dreamed about. Check out http://www.occupytogether.org/ to find cities that are joining.

[Bruce Dazzling]

I haven't posted here in years, but I've followed this forum, and thanks to this thread, found my way to #Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Kansas City started here Friday with about 60 people, there were about 100 at our GA yesterday. Today will be Day 3, we're still organizing and reaching out to the community to grow our numbers. I'm not camping out, but attending daily, bringing supplies, etc. Police here have been supportive and helpful. This isn't a "protest", its a growing movement. If there's one in a city near you, I encourage you to attend. Now is the time to be the change we've all dreamed about. Check out http://www.occupytogether.org/ to find cities that are joining.

Occupy Kansas.

AWESOME!

Nordic and Jeff (and everyone else), feel free to use any of my photos.

You can link to them from here.

[Luther Blissett]

NEW YORK CITY POLICE FOUNDATION — NEW YORK
JPMorgan Chase recently donated an unprecedented $4.6 million to the New York City Police Foundation. The gift was the largest in the history of the foundation and will enable the New York City Police Department to strengthen security in the Big Apple. The money will pay for 1,000 new patrol car laptops, as well as security monitoring software in the NYPD's main data center.
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly sent CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon a note expressing "profound gratitude" for the company's donation.
"These officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe," Dimon said. "We're incredibly proud to help them build this program and let them know how much we value their hard work."

http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/ ... /ny-13.htm

[Bruce Dazzling]

NEW YORK CITY POLICE FOUNDATION — NEW YORK
JPMorgan Chase recently donated an unprecedented $4.6 million to the New York City Police Foundation. The gift was the largest in the history of the foundation and will enable the New York City Police Department to strengthen security in the Big Apple. The money will pay for 1,000 new patrol car laptops, as well as security monitoring software in the NYPD's main data center.
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly sent CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon a note expressing "profound gratitude" for the company's donation.
"These officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe," Dimon said. "We're incredibly proud to help them build this program and let them know how much we value their hard work."

http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/ ... /ny-13.htm

FFS

[Duncan Hines]

Greetings from rainy Boston!

Three-year lurker, first time commenter here.

The first night of Occupy Boston went really well, with thousands of participants. Great speeches were enjoyed by a very enthusiastic crowd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su5mXhf1Qpc&feature=share

Boston Police have apparently been pretty accommodating, even blocking off some side streets to clear the way for an unpermitted march through the Newbury Street shopping district yesterday. The Greenway Conservancy, which runs the park that is being occupied, has been cooperative too. Occupy Boston participants have agreed to help reseed grass next spring, and the Greenway folks have helped with trash pickup, among other things.

I visited the encampment yesterday and it was well organized and going strong. It was surreal and encouraging to see how @OccupyBoston's twitter request for supplies yielded multiple cars pulling over and dropping off cardboard boxes less than an hour after the tweet went live. Thousands of financial district workers will be passing through occupied Dewey Square twice a day during the workweek, so I'm excited to see how the encampment grows and evolves over the course of next week.

Media coverage has been generally positive, with supportive coverage from the free daily Metro and (surprisingly) the right-leaning Herald. While the Herald article isn't wholly positive, it's good food for thought on how to frame the movement for skeptical but potentially supportive self-identified conservatives: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2011_1002taking_on_the_banks_one_brat_at_a_time/srvc=home&position=3. Silence from the "liberal" Boston Globe. Substantial broadcast news coverage, however.

[jam.fuse]

http://www.correntewire.com/occupy_the_brooklyn_bridge

Submitted by MsExPat on Sat, 10/01/2011 - 10:26pm

...

It started to rain, hard. The group decided--in a "General Assembly"--to march over the Manhattan Bridge back to Zuccotti Park in Manhattan. Since I live in Brooklyn, I decided to come home.

But as I was leaving the park in Brooklyn, an extraordinary thing happened. A policeman called to me. "How's it going?" he asked. Nonplussed I said, well, okay, thanks. Then I asked him if the police were going to surround the park and arrest us all (this is what we had heard the "white shirts" saying on their radios). He said, "No Way! They won't arrest you for sure."

I asked him if he was Community Affairs, and he said that he was a Lieutenant (a white shirt officer), but had been pressed into service as a CA cop for the day. Then he let loose and let it all come out. He sympathised with the marchers. He had kids, he was worried about their education. About genetically modified food. About the way America was going.

I listened to him, half incredulous, half thrilled. Almost as thrilled as I was, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, hearing the car horns and the cheers of passing motorists--all of them African American. Some hung out of the window, raised fists, cheered.

I have some reservations about what's going on in Zuccotti Park, and I will write about that tomorrow. But tonight, I'm going to hold tight to the memory of that cop, and those motorists' cheers.

[Project Willow]

Great story about the cop. Hi Boston!

Seattle coverage.

http://www.nwcn.com/news/washington?fId=130914513&fPath=%2Fhome&fDomain=10212

[2012 Countdown]

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution

They are in great spirits today! They are all charged up. Bring it the fuck on.
==

Economic protesters remain camped out at L.A. City Hall
October 1, 2011 | 9:36 pm
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... hall-.html

==


Hundreds freed after New York Wall Street protest

Protester Michael Pellagatti holds up the plastic handcuffs used to restrain him and the court summons he was issued

Police in New York City have freed most of the more than 700 people arrested on Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday during a protest against corporate greed.
Fewer than 20 protesters are still held as they are yet to be identified.
Most of those freed were given citations for disorderly conduct and a criminal court summons.
The Occupy Wall Street group, camped in Manhattan's financial district for two weeks, says it will continue its demonstrations.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department told the BBC the small group still detained were expected to appear at the Manhattan criminal court on Sunday.

'Multiple warnings'
The arrests took place on Saturday after protesters carried out an impromptu walk over the East River to Brooklyn.
Some demonstrators carried slogans reading "End the Fed" and "Pepper spray Goldman Sachs".
Police said the protesters were given "multiple warnings" to keep to the pedestrian walkway but spread to the road, halting bridge traffic for several hours.
Some protesters accused the police of not issuing warnings or of tricking them on to the roadway, accusations the police denied.

Full-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-cana ... witterfeed


====

Watch this extended clip. There is NO DOUBT what the truth is. The police led them to a trap. It was all set up and planned.-

NYPD Arrests 700 #OccupyWallStreet Protesters On The Brooklyn Bridge

[Plutonia]

[Plutonia]

Anybody know anything about Jeff Madrick?

exiledsurfer exiledsurfer
by AnonyOps
World renowned economist to speak at #ows: RT @JeffMadrick I am speaking to #OccupyWallStreet protesters at zuccotti park Sunday, oct 2 5pm
2 hours ago

[Free]

A few photos from the Oct. 1st protest and march across the Brooklyn bridge:

[eyeno]

How to escape from zip ties on the wrists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 97t_vgN6NE