New arrest video is now available on: GlobalRevolution
Two eyewitnesses (see video) have confirmed that two more violent arrests. Police claim protester was told to get out of the street when he was already on the sidewalk curb. The account of the other arrest said a protester stepped into the street to ask an NYPD officer a question.
Yesterday, Tuesday, September 20th was hump day for Occupy Wall Street. It was a tough one.
According The Guardian UK and the New York Times: "One of New York's better-known billionaires, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, commented on the protests: 'You have a lot of kids graduating college, can't find jobs. That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kinds of riots here.'"
So, the word came down from on high: Use some intimidation and get these a**holes out of Liberty Plaza and out of the city.
The NYPD started with a couple of nonsense arrests on Sunday and equally easy harassment tactics.
They confiscated the gasoline needed to run the generators that supplied the power to the live video stream. You know, fire hazard, can't have that in the park.
They also intercepted resupplies of food and water. Can't bring all that stuff in the park, sorry.
They also had a thing about bullhorns (too loud), signs (can't put those up) and writing on the sidewalk with chalk (two arrests, they are both back at Liberty Plaza).
But yesterday the NYPD saw what they thought was their moment and took a shot.
Just after 7:30 a.m. it was raining. Perfect. A white shirted senior officer entered the park with reinforcements. He made a quick announcement. He wanted all the tarps and signs down in five minutes. But he didn't wait the five minutes.
Seconds later three protesters were in the clutches of some big blue shirts. One was a key media team person. These were people trying to protect the communications equipment from the rain.
The police strategy was simple: get that video feed stopped. Make a show of force. Scare the crap out of these whiners and poop this little party.
In the resulting scuffle one protester lost a tooth. There's a great photo of an officer stepping on another protester's ankle and doing a little hop with the other foot - a little dance otherwise known as the NYPD Two-Step. (I'm hoping it will become a mocking sensation across the nation.) It's all on tape and it's brutal.
This all happened with a senior officer in a white shirt watching closely. He will be the one that will testify that there was no action taken against those being arrested that was not warranted.
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