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Another day, another Occupy Wall Street trial, another black eye for the police. Just two days after the first Occupy Wall Street protest case to go to trial ended with the NYPD's version of events unraveling, the same thing happened again in New York Criminal Court this morning.
Jessica Hall, an Occupy Wall Street protester, was arrested on November 17 at the intersection of Williams and Pine streets in Lower Manhattan and charged with disorderly conduct for obstructing traffic. Hall's charges were the same as those of Alexander Arbuckle, who was acquitted on Tuesday.
But as in Arbuckle's case, the police version of events was debunked; it wasn't the person on trial who was preventing traffic from moving, but the police themselves.
This case could have been a slam dunk for the NYPD, had it not been for one thing: the video showing police claims of disorderly conduct during an OWS protest to be completely untrue.
Hundreds have been arrested during the Occupy Wall Street protests, but photographer Alexander Arbuckle’s case was the first to go to trial – and after just two days, the Manhattan Criminal Court found him not guilty.
Supporters of the OWS protest movement have already hailed the ruling as a major legal victory.
Arbuckle was arrested on New Year’s Day for allegedly blocking traffic during a protest march. He was charged with disorderly conduct, and his arresting officer testified under oath that he, along with the protesters, was standing in the street, despite frequent requests from the police to move to the sidewalk.
They do so at a fire station that lost 11 firefighters that day on 9/11. Many of them who died because of decisions made by Giuliani, but there's nothing like using the fire station as a backdrop as you complain about the other side using backdrops.
According to an article in the village voice:
"With that kind of history, it's hardly surprising that the OEM was anything but "invaluable" on 9/11. Sam Caspersen,
one of the principal authors of the 9/11 Commission's chapter on the
city's response, says that "nothing was happening at OEM" during the 102
minutes of the attack that had any direct impact on the city's
"rescue/evacuation operation." A commission staff statement found that,
even prior to the evacuation of the OEM command center at 7 World Trade (putting the command center in the trade center was the mark of pure genius) an hour after the first plane hit, the agency "did not play an integral
role" in the response. Despite Giuliani's claim today that he and the
OEM were "constantly planning for different kinds" of attacks, none of
the OEM exercises replicated the 1993 bombing. No drill occurred at the
World Trade Center, and none involved the response to a high-rise fire
anywhere. In fact, the OEM had no high-rise plan—its
emergency-management trainers weren't even assigned to prepare for the
one attack that had already occurred, and the one most likely to recur. Kevin Culley,
a Fire Department captain who worked as a field responder at OEM, said
the agency had "plans for minor emergencies," but he couldn't recall
"anybody anticipating another attack like the '93 bombing."
"Instead of being the best-prepared city, New York's lack of unified
command, as well as the breakdown of communications between the police
and fire departments, fell far short of the efforts at the Pentagon that day, as later established by the 9/11 Commission and NIST reports. When the 280,000-member International Association of Fire Fighters
recently released a powerful video assailing Giuliani for sticking
firefighters with the same radios that "we knew didn't work" in the 1993
attack, the presidential campaign attacked the union. "This is an
organization that supported John Kerry for president in 2004," Giuliani aide Tony Carbonetti
said. "So it's no shock that they're out there going after a credible
Republican." While the IAFF did endorse Kerry, the Uniformed
Firefighters of Greater New York, whose president starred in the video,
endorsed Bush. Its former president, Tom Von Essen—currently a member of Giuliani Partners—was the fire commissioner on 9/11 precisely because the union had played such a pivotal role in initially electing Giuliani.
The IAFF video reports that 121 firefighters in the north tower
didn't get out because they didn't hear evacuation orders, rejecting
Giuliani's claim before the 9/11 Commission that the firefighters heard
the orders and heroically decided to "stand their ground" and rescue
civilians. Having abandoned that 2004 contention, the Giuliani campaign
is now trying to blame the deadly communications lapse on the repeaters,
which were installed to boost radio signals in the towers. But the
commission concluded that the "technical failure of FDNY radios" was "a
contributing factor," though "not the primary cause," of the "many
firefighter fatalities in the North Tower." The commission compared "the
strength" of the NYPD and FDNY radios and said that the weaknesses of
the FDNY radios "worked against successful communication."
A good article on Romney's new best friend's record on that day: http://www.villagevoice.com/2007-07-31/news/rudy-giuliani-s-five-big-lies-about-9-11/
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.
(For a full schedule of May Day's permitted and not permitted events, go here.)
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."
LP - That first amendment has been cancelled. As the power of the state snaps at its own citizens.
Cops rousted about 300 Occupy Wall Street protesters camped out in Union Square Park early Wednesday. [...]
The demonstrators moved into the camp on Saturday, continuing the protest against economic inequality that started this summer in Zuccotti Park. [...]
Dozens of cops — some in riot gear — surrounded the park and ushered the protesters to the sidewalk.
"I'm overwhelmed," said Amanda DeRoller, 22, a protester from Harlem. "I don't understand why we can’t be here. Usually the park is open 24 hours. Now they want us out, because Bloomberg says so. It makes no sense."
After midnight, police barricaded the park to prevent them from returning as the crowd chanted, "We are here for you too! We know what it's like to work and not have enough to eat. We don't want to fight you!"
4:19 AM: Occupier: ¨The rest of the country is going to see this in the morning!¨ Chant: ¨Oppress us, we multiply!¨
NEW YORK — Dozens of police officers cleared the park where the Occupy movement was born six months ago and made several arrests after hundreds of protesters returned in an anniversary observance and defiantly resisted calls to clear out.
Some demonstrators locked arms and sat down in the middle of Zuccotti Park near Wall Street after police announced on a bullhorn at around 11:30 p.m. Saturday that the park was closed. Officers then poured into the park, forcing most of the crowd out and surrounding a small group that stayed behind. Police formed a human ring around the park to keep protesters out.
Several people were arrested, police said. An unused public transit bus was brought in to cart away about a dozen demonstrators in plastic handcuffs. One female under arrest had difficulty breathing and was taken away in an ambulance to be treated.
LP - No word yet whether the police were able to track down the owners of Brookfield property to get them pay the taxes they owe or any of the Wall Street execs. who robbed the pention funds, were arrested. If they haven't then they might as well be the paid mercenaries of the 1%.
"First Amendment three-ring circus," yesterday's protest of the NYPD's treatment of journalists and the Constitutional rights of protesters drew only around 60 people at its peak. But with so few in attendance, why did the NYPD feel the need to block access to 79th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues entirely? And how was enacting this "frozen zone" outside of Mayor Bloomberg's residence at 17 East 79th Street legal? "It's not," civil rights attorney Norman Siegel told us. "It's illegal, unconstitutional, and a clear abuse of authority."
A half-dozen livestreamers, recording speeches and intermittent mic checks, were surrounded on the northeast corner of 79th and Fifth Avenue by more than 20 NYPD officers. A massive NYPD mobile command vehicle idled nearby, and barricades prevented anyone but residents from entering 79th street. "I'd say the NYPD's obstruction of the press is higher now than it was during the 2004 Republican convention," Occupy Wall Street press liaison Bill Dobbs said. "It's more frequent, and more severe. I spoke with an AP photographer here who said they hadn't seen things this bad in 30 years on the job."
We witnessed Siegel (who is representing Gothamist in our process to obtain press credentials) speak with an NYPD officer who told him that it's "standard procedure to create a frozen zone on 79th street during any demonstrations." The NYPD has not responded to our requests to confirm that this is in fact department policy.
Just two years ago, Siegel represented two Brooklyn High School students in a lawsuit against the city. The students wanted a permit to protest their school's closure outside Bloomberg's residence. As Siegel told reporters at the time, "The larger issue is clear: Can a public sidewalk be transformed into a private enclave because the mayor of New York lives there?" The court ruled that it couldn't. But that victory was short-lived: less than a week later on the day of the protest, the 2nd Circuit claimed that Judge Alvin Hellerstein didn't have the authority to make the decision, and overruled him. The city won on appeal. "That case troubled me then, and it troubles me now," Siegel said.
The New York police state in action. Fake reason to be in there and capture a hub of information that is reporting things you don't want the rest of the world to know.
