Tag Archive: manhattan
“As the Occupy Wall Street protests continued for a fourth day on Tuesday, little more than 50 protesters braved the cold and rain to decry the nation’s economic structure.
The protesters occupied Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan — filled with tarps, singing and a strong police presence.
An unnamed police officer told the IBTimes the protests had mostly been peaceful, but protesters claimed that police officers were nonetheless acting outside the law.
One protester, Justin Ferguson, said he was arrested on Monday for having an “Anonymous” mask on the back of his head. Ferguson said he was ultimately released and not charged after going down to the station, but the event shows part of what the protesters are fighting back so hard against.
Ferguson indicated a strong background in computer security and was an ideological supporter of Anonymous. He believed there were about five to 10 Anonymous members at the Occupy Wall Street rally at all times — peaking at roughly 30 members on occasion.
Anonymous is most well-known for its hacking of huge businesses and government organizations, but the free flowing organization has focused in on social justice missions of late.
A group of Anonymous members garnered nationwide attention for the San Francisco protests over a man killed in a Bay Area subway station. The movement, dubbed “OpBart,” generated increased interest in that aspect of the organization, and Ferguson and others are hoping to bring that sort of success to the East Coast.
At the time of the early OpBart protests, Anonymous supporter Michela Marsh told the IBTimes that more supporters unfamiliar with hacking were joining the movement. Marsh indicated that the hackers could expose governments for injustices and the rest could use the information to start a revolution.
“I think we’ll see a lot more government activity exposed by the skilled hackers and many more protests that incorporate not just Anonymous but people who just want to stop corruption, oppression and related injustices,” Marsh told the IBTimes.
The group has been criticized for some of its hacking efforts, including recently for releasing information on BART customers, but Marsh hopes that the social justice efforts ultimately garner more attention and win out over unnecessary hacking.
“The newer members (of Anonymous) are the ones trying to organize protests, the ones going out and doing real-world work,” she told the IBTimes. “Fortunately, I think the real-world activities will end up being the ones that get the most attention.”
A man who identified himself only as an Anonymous supporter, said he hoped that the success of OpBart can get East Coast residents out of their homes and into the streets to protest.
The ultimate hope, the man said, was to get 30,000 or more people out on the streets to generate a lot of attention for the movement.
But that could be an issue for protesters if New York police officers continue to curtail the movement. The unidentified man with Ferguson noted that police officers came to the park area early on Tuesday morning and ripped off the tarp covering the group’s electronics.
The group has heavily utilized Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets to push the Occupy Wall Street message, but had an apparent setback when the equipment was exposed to the rain when the tarp was taken off.
The man said the group scrambled to protect the equipment as quickly as they could, but that police “did it when we were more or less unguarded.”
The Occupy Wall Street group, including Anonymous members, hopes to stay in the park for as long as it takes for change to happen.
Ferguson admitted that staying out there for five years to see change wasn’t realistic, but that the group was very determined to create reform.”~Source: International Business Times «click to re-read or to watch their video))
I hear they need these tarps NOW..as in NOW….the wall of lulz will be ruined as well as electrical equipment if they don’t get some tarps. I also heard they need donations of gasoline for their generator…if you are near them and can donate any of the things on this list.. please do. ❤
here’s the link to the reddit page: http://www.reddit.com/r/occupywallstreet/comments/kjp1i/urgent_what_is_needed_right_now/
quick update: some are saying permits are needed for tarps? I have no idea about that…Maybe they just mean to put one over the entire area..I’m just thinking it would be nice if they could shelter the cardboard (walloflulz) and the electrical equipment.
Occupiers Stop by Wall Street During a March A group departed base camp at Liberty Plaza to march around Wall Street and Lower Manhattan on Sunday, 9/18/11. You’ll notice one guy rubs his head. That’s because he got hit with an egg that seemed to come from the window of a building by Wall Street.
Wild #Anons (epicfailguise) ❤ in NYC today #takewallstreet #sept17 #occupywallstreet
and the last guy for extra lulz.
“In a movement meant to rival change wrought by the Arab Spring, Kalle Lasn of the counterculture magazine AdBusters, organized a Twitter led protest Saturday called Occupy Wall Street.
In response, thousands gathered in New York’s Financial District.
The Wall Street subway station stairwell was closed on one side, as multiple blocks around Broadway and Wall Street were cordoned off and bound by a heavy police presence.
Endorsed by the hacking group Anonymous, the police were taking no chances. But looking at an army of bored officers racking up overtime, the general response was summed up by one young New York City officer: “If you find the protest, let us know, because we haven’t heard a thing about it since we got here.”~All credit for short article and pics to Business-insider
Thousands march on Wall St protesting corporate greed, chanting “Pay Your Share!” #takewallstreet #sept17 #usdor
A couple more videos of the march in NYC located here: http://www.youtube.com/user/brucesreed#p/u
“Hundreds of people marched Saturday near Wall Street in New York, but the city thwarted their bid to descend into the heart of global finance itself to protest greed, corruption and budget cuts.
Protesters had planned to stake out Wall Street until their anger over a financial system they say favors the rich and powerful was heard, but police blocked all the streets near the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan long before they arrived.
“The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99 Percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the one percent,” said a statement on the website Occupy Wall Street. The movement was launched by the online magazine Adbusters in July.
Organizers hoped to turn all of Lower Manhattan into an “American Tahrir Square,” in reference to the public town square in Cairo that became the focal point of protests that ousted Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak in February.
By noon, about 700 people, many carrying backpacks and sleeping bags, had gathered near Wall Street to search for a place to camp amid a heavy police presence. That was far less than the 20,000 Adbusters had hoped to see “flood” the neighborhood for a months-long occupation.
“This is a protest against corporate greed and we come to Wall Street because Wall Street is the Ground Zero for corporate greed,” said Julia River Hitt, a 22-year-old philosophy student, explaining that most of the organizing took place online.
“We are here just to say we are fed up, we are not gonna take it anymore.”
Banners brandished in Trinity Place, the site finally chosen by the protesters some 1,000 feet (300 meters) from Wall Street, read “No more corruption,” “Stop the cuts” and “Wall St Greed, New Yorkers say enough.”
The protest came as the United States struggles to overcome an economic crisis marked by a huge budget deficit that has triggered cuts in the public service sector while unemployment hovers stubbornly above nine percent.
“There’s a war in Libya, there’s a war in Afghanistan, there’s a war in Iraq and we have cuts in education, social programs,” said a masked protester who declined to be identified.
“We know where the money is going! Revolution in America!”~Source:RawStory
However, NYC is still on…keeping it peaceful and classy.
@AACina Handing out flowers at #occupywallstreet yfrog.com/kgvy8qrj
kwikset0 