Occupy Wall Street: Protesters Violently Arrested in New York

Guardian

Guardian

The Cosmic Force
http://www.suite101.com/news/occupy-wall-street-protesters-violently-arrested-in-new-york-a389725#ixzz1YYOXAwMr

Sep 20, 2011
Jo Harrington

Image: Arrest at Zuccotti Park - LibertyPlazaRev
Image: Arrest at Zuccotti Park - LibertyPlazaRev

Eye-witnesses are claiming police brutality accompanied three arrests in New York City's Zuccotti Park. NYPD sought to tear down tents and stop livestream.

Watched in real time by an international audience, New York's police officers moved in on Zuccotti Park. It was 7.20am, on September 20th 2011, and a light rain was falling over the 200-300 people camping out there. They had been there for four days, as part of the Occupy Wall Street protest. What began as a request from police, to remove tents and tarpaulin, ended in seven arrests. Onlookers claimed these were too violent.

The Global Revolution Livestream captured much of the incident, channeling the footage in real time to its 3000 plus viewers. In addition, some protesters were filming the arrests, then they uploaded their videos onto YouTube.
Why Were People Arrested in New York City's Zuccotti Park?

The Occupy Wall Street protesters had erected tents and draped tarpaulin over themselves and their supplies. Of particular concern was the food, water and electrical equipment, which could have been damaged in the rain. A police officer gave them five minutes to remove these covers, complaining that they constituted illegal structures. An on-site legal advisor informed demonstrators that this was only true of shelters which were attached to the trees. Police also demanded that signs be taken down.

An impromptu General Assembly was held, involving a straw poll on whether to co-operate with police on this matter. But while that was happening, other protesters were already removing the offending tents and tarpaulin. As the speaker recommended that anyone not wishing to comply left up their shelter, in an act of civil disobedience, he became the first to be arrested.

Onlookers chanted, "The whole world is watching", then, as the tousling started, the message changed. Committed to a peaceful demonstration, protesters gave peace signs and spoke in unison, "Courtesy, professionalism and respect." The tents and tarpaulin were all taken by officers.
Was Police Brutality in Evidence As Protesters Were Arrested on September 20th 2011?

US Day of Rage Tweeted that someone had lost a tooth, during the arrests on the morning of September 20th 2011.
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Protester Jason Ahmadi was filmed being dragged by his feet across the pavement by uniformed officers. His head was protected by his rucksack, which had been thrown upwards by the force of inertia. But his hands were cuffed behind him and they were shown grazed and bleeding by the camera. That wasn't the only problem. His face was ashen, but his one hand was growing purple, as the handcuffs cut too tightly.

"I could really do with some new cuffs here." He told anyone who would listen. "My hands hurt. I can't move my hands." Fellow protesters tried to intercede on his behalf, calling out to NYPD officers to loosen or change the handcuffs. They were still saying it as he was hoisted between two policemen and dragged, his legs sliding across the tarmac, into the van.
Asthma Sufferer Screams 'I Can't Breathe!' As Police Arrest Him

Meanwhile the camera had been distracted to the desperate cries of another, unnamed boy. He had been sitting on the tarpaulin, which covered the media equipment - the cameras and video equipment, which were used to send footage to the Livestream. A single police officer stepped towards him and he flinched away. Suddenly another six officers were grabbing and pulling him off the blue sheet. He started to struggle, but it wasn't merely another person resisting arrest. He was suffering an asthma attack.

Mary-Ann McSherry rushed to help him, but was arrested herself. Meanwhile his voice held a tone of panicked hysteria, "I can't breathe! I can't breathe! I'm having an asthma attack!" Each sentence was punctuated by gasps. "I need my inhaler!" He was wrestled to the ground and two officers are clearly seen on film pressing down upon him.

In the crowds around, voices were raised in protest. "You're killing him!" Shrieked one, while an incredulous man demanded, "Is this why you wanted to wear a badge? To deny a kid his inhaler? Is it?" A policer officer assured onlookers that the boy would get his medication, as he joined colleagues in attempting to clear a space. A moment later, the boy was handcuffed and then came the calls for his inhaler. He was shown fervently catching his breath, sitting on the pavement, before being taken into the police van.
What was the Response of Police to the Accusations of Protesters in New York?

A spokesperson for NYPD commented that only one of those arrested required medical treatment. This was a minor leg injury, sustained while he resisted arrest. He was treated by paramedics at the police station. There was no comment upon the condition of the others. Meanwhile, OccupyWallStNYC Tweeted that their information was that an arrestee had been transferred to hospital.

The police spokesperson added that most of those arrested had been a court summons for disorderly conduct, then released.

These arrests followed police action, on the evening of September 19th 2011, wherein the gas supplies and generator were confiscated. These had been used to power equipment used in transmitting film footage to the Global Revolution Livestream. The news scrollbar, on the stream, also stated that food deliveries had been denied access to the site.
Sources:

Death and Taxes, Excessive Police Force in Occupy Wall Street Arrests (Video). (September 20th 2011.)
Livestream, Global Revolution. (September 20th 2011.)
Twitter, @USDayofRage. (Tweet about arrested protester losing a tooth on September 20th 2011.)
Twitter, @OccupyWallStNYC. (Tweet about arrestee going to hospital.)
Wall Street Journal, 7 protesters arrested at Wall St. demonstration. (September 20th 2011.)
YouTube, Occupy Wall Street Protesters' Arrests. (Uploaded by Korgasmx on September 20th 2011.)
YouTube, "I CAN'T BREATHE!" - Police Shoving at 10:30AM at Liberty Plaza. (Uploaded by LibertyPlazaRev on September 20th 2011.)
YouTube, Police arrests this morning 20th sep 2011 (1) OCCUPY WALL STREET. (Uploaded by LibertyPlazaRev on September 20th 2011.)
YouTube, Police arrests this morning 20th sep 2011 (2) OCCUPY WALL STREET. (Uploaded by LibertyPlazaRev on September 20th 2011.)


Read more at Suite101: Occupy Wall Street: Protesters Violently Arrested in New York | Suite101.com http://www.suite101.com/news/occupy-wall-street-protesters-violently-arrested-in-new-york-a389725#ixzz1YYVIOMke
 
Warning- VERY violent!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYaA-34c-vI

9-20-11
This video was taken Sept. 20, 2011 at 10:08 a.m. (Eastern) in Zuccotti Park - New York, NY
 
Guardian said:
Warning- VERY violent!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYaA-34c-vI

9-20-11
This video was taken Sept. 20, 2011 at 10:08 a.m. (Eastern) in Zuccotti Park - New York, NY
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It really made me angry when I read some of the heartless comments to this video, like:

"looks like the cops did a great job - kudos guys"
"I wish they rioted in my neighborhood. I'd make a wall of hippies."
"Stupid kids  most of which some day will get jobs and realize they were wrong"
"losers get a job !"
" I'm sure they are being arrested for poor hygiene , it's against the law to go without a shower longer than a day . That would be 99%."

Of course, there were some mortified responses from people with conscience, but it is obvious that the ranks of the American Stasi will not
be hard to fill... ponerization - sad, very sad.
 
Divide and conquer... seems to be the police tactic. They seem to be talking those that influence the groups first. No rights are read to any of those arrested with no reasonable cause? And, what happended to the Freedom of speech! Worst part is the NYPD fail to realize that they too are getting fooled by the government.
 
Well from all across recent protests in developed countries, clearly two things are appearing according to my opinion.

On the one side there are people who are fed up and want a change big time, like a fundamental change. On the other are people who will do anything to defend the current system, they will call for the army, more tougher police action, tougher laws etc to make sure everything remains as it is. They will sacrifice there rights to maintain the illusion.
 
I'm not sure... seems like the organizers of these protests are either knowingly or unknowingly leading people into a trap. Couldn't there be better ways to protest - like non-participation in the "system", but then again, we need jobs to eat. If you could get a lot of people with means to just go camping for an extended period of time. The only people doing that are those who live in tent cities, and the last people who are gonna protest are the people with means.
 
Mark said:
I'm not sure... seems like the organizers of these protests are either knowingly or unknowingly leading people into a trap. Couldn't there be better ways to protest - like non-participation in the "system", but then again, we need jobs to eat. If you could get a lot of people with means to just go camping for an extended period of time. The only people doing that are those who live in tent cities, and the last people who are gonna protest are the people with means.
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Is there any kind of study done on protests and who/why certain people protest? I ask because most of the recent protests is to do with economic turmoil or political tumoil and to me the people who visibly protest don't actually represent those that are actively suffering.

So for example the financial crisis, sub-prime mortgage fiasco that primarily affected poor ethnic minorities for the majority if am not mistaken yet I don't see this section taking part in these protests. Yet they don't have the means. The whole issue about palestine, one would expect to see a huge showing of arabic-europeans/americans taking part in these protests but then, I am not seeing it.

So what gives?
 
Luke Wilson said:
Is there any kind of study done on protests and who/why certain people protest? I ask because most of the recent protests is to do with economic turmoil or political tumoil and to me the people who visibly protest don't actually represent those that are actively suffering.
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I found this paper:

_http://antwerp.academia.edu/VerhulstJoris/Papers/206160/Why_Do_People_Protest_Comparing_Demonstrators_Motives_Across_
Issues_and_Nations

exerpt:

Explaining who participates is one of the main thrusts in the literature on social movements and political participation, but the work directly focusing on the explicit motivations of participants is more scarce (for an exception see Van Stekelenburg 2006). Starting in the mid 1980s, especially the work of Snow and colleagues on frame alignment has gradually drawn scholars’ attention to the attitudes and opinions underlying protest participation and, thus, to the motivational aspect of protest participation (Snow, Rochford, Worden, and Benford 1986). Since then, more work has focused on the cultural dimension of protest participation. People participate “because they want to, because they can, and because they are being asked to participate” so goes the classic statement of Verba and colleagues (1995). Wanting to participate is a precondition for participation the literature holds: without motivation no participation. Participants are not merely the puppets of external circumstances or structural opportunities that inevitably push them to participate. Participating is a conscious action, it entails costs and implies deliberation and choice.
A motivation can be defined in different ways. Some define a motivation very generally as “things inside a person that move or impel him or her into action” (Barner-Barry and Rosenwein 1985: 12). A more specific conceptualization considers a motivation as the positive ratio of cost to benefits, leading to a specific action preparedness (Oegema and Klandermans 1994: 705). People participate in protest in order to reap some benefits and they weight those benefits against the costs of action. All motivations are to some extent based on a rational calculus. Yet, the fact that the benefits can be almost anything — from the chance that a valued policy change occurs to having a nice day out with friends — leaves ample room for at first sight ‘irrational’ or emotional motives1
The instrumental-expressive dimension draws on Max Weber’s typology of ‘social action’ distinguishing ‘instrumentally rational’ (zweckrational) and ‘value-rational’ (wertrational) actions (Weber ***). Both types of actions are rational, according to Weber, because both are goal-oriented and both are planned and deliberate. In the first case, the goal is external to the action. The motivation to act is extrinsic. For the latter action type “the meaning of the action does not lie in the achievement of a result ulterior to it, but in carrying out the specific type of action for its own sake” (Weber, ***: 25). The motivation to act is intrinsic; by performing the action the goal is reached. Weber (***: 26) puts his own typology in perspective when he acknowledges that “It would be very unusual to find concrete cases of … social action which were oriented only in one or another of these ways.” This implies that many/most actions are at the same time instrumentally rational and value-rational. . A useful and, as we will show, practical way to think about protest motivation is to distinguish different protest motives along two dimensions: an instrumental-expressive dimension and an individual-collective dimension.
Drawing on Weber’s classic distinction of social actions in general, we propose to distinguish ‘instrumental’ and ‘expressive’ motives to participate in protest. An instrumental motive draws upon the potential later effect of the participation on society. People participating in peace protest, for example, have a clear external goal: stop the war. [...]
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You know, most people are just too beat down from their 9 to 5, (or 7 to 7, or whatever), to do much of anything except go home and watch tv.

[edit:spacing]
 
Thanks for sharing that piece mark. This is an interesting area to look into, to get a clear understanding on protest, who/why and what form.

Like on the subject of street 'peaceful' protests, sometimes I get the impression people are looking for police brutality, like if they get beaten up by police, they have somehow scored a victory. It becomes some kind of self-feeding machine. I hardly ever look at protests as an STO phenomena simply because I know there are alot of self-interest within the ranks of any movements.

I also fail to understand how a system can protest against itself. For example, it is not a lie that the west is way to rich and lives a lifestyle of a king at the expense of the rest of other citizens of the world and the environment, yet you still find people - who rely on this same very setup and if push comes to shove are unwilling to change - going out to protest for the system to change. I don't know, this is kind of confusing to me. My mental apparatus isn't sharp enough to see the subtlety and sophistication involved in this complex game.

I am currently reading an article that kind of shows the absurdities involved.

Some progressive and revolutionary movements have failed to openly defend the shared goals and objectives they agreed to as members of the World Mathaba. In doing so, they have allowed Libya to be singled out for punishment and destruction by imperialist forces. They were happy to receive whatever assistance they could get but remain shamefully silent when Libya needs defending. There is an African saying in the Caribbean – “ingratitude is worse than witchcraft.”

The Palestinian organizations are a tragic example. During the long years of the Palestinian struggle, every faction of the PLO had an office in Tripoli, from the pro-Syrian Al Saiqa to the Marxist oriented Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and every group in between. To date, not one of these organizations have raised their voice against this invasion of Libya, despite accepting millions of dollars of assistance when their backs were up against the wall. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, without even knowing what was happening on the ground in Libya, jumped the gun with an opportunistic condemnation of the Al Fateh revolution, while failing to utter a word on what is taking place in Syria.
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Crazy world.
 
anart said:
luke wilson said:
I am currently reading an article that kind of shows the absurdities involved.
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Have you read the entire Life Without Bread thread yet?
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At a current reading pace of 10 pages per day, I will be done in slightly over a week. Don't want to overload my mind as that will lead to quick forgetting plus always have to follow links, search up meaning of words etc which does take some time.
 
luke wilson said:
At a current reading pace of 10 pages per day, I will be done in slightly over a week. Don't want to overload my mind as that will lead to quick forgetting plus always have to follow links, search up meaning of words etc which does take some time.
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Well, I ask because you're posting all over the place today and seem to have enough time and energy to have already made it through that thread - the only thread that can actually objectively help you right now.
 
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