Many years ago I was an activist in New York City, and when we staged nonviolent sit-ins against the war, police used to come after us with batons and brass knuckles. They had a special squad of anti-demonstration police called the Tactical Patrol Force (TPF). We called them the “Tasmanian Pig F*ck*rs”, which unfortunately became shortened to “pigs”, and in later years, applied to police in general, most of whom do not deserve it. Sadly, when it comes to New York police and demonstrators, the only thing that seems to have changed is that the batons and brass knuckles have become mace and TASERS.
At least 80 people protesting in New York against the US financial system and Wall Street practices were arrested in the first big crackdown since demonstrators began camping on city streets a week ago.
"About 80 arrests were made," a spokesman for the New York Police Department told AFP. Most of the detained protestors were accused of blocking traffic and government facilities, and resisting arrest.
One person was charged with assaulting a police officer and one officer suffered a shoulder injury, the department spokesman said.
The main protest website, occupywallst.org, said between 80 and 100 people had been arrested, most of them in the Union Square area of Manhattan. Footage on the site showed police corralling a crowd with orange plastic mesh.
The Occupy Wall Street protest began on September 17 in the vicinity of the heavily guarded New York Stock Exchange. A week later, a hardcore of demonstrators remained camped around the clock in a small nearby park…
Inserted from <Raw Story>
I have run across many individual claims of brutality, but virtually I none are making their way to the media. I did, however, find a video clip. Take a look and decide for yourself.
To me it appeared that a woman got close enough to take cell phone photos of a demonstrator, who judging from crowd reaction, was being beaten on the ground, out of the videographer’s view, and received a face full of mace for her trouble.
I urge the demonstrators to remain nonviolent in the face of such brutality. Nonviolence underlines the truth of your cause.
24 Responses to “Police brutality on Wall Street”
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Here’s one in slow-motion showing the cop in the white shirt walk up to the group of women – who were peaceful, compliant and cordoned off – and without hesitation draws his canister, sprays, turns and walks away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ05rWx1pig
the slo-mo is frightening!
Amen! I hope that the young ladies will press charges against the police and have this video as evidence. That was totally uncalled for. Thanks Nameless for the video.
Does everyone realize that this is the same incident as the video I posted? This is a better video!
Don’t you wish that the police would go after the real criminals in their offices?
A wonderful dream!
Here is another one. It is the best one I’ve seen and is put out by Occupy Wallstreet.
While just a blog, ABC does have this.
Thanks for the links, Leslie.
And still no media attention ??
That has changed.
The mainstream media has devoted little attention to the Wall Street protests, but alert media outlets and bloggers have been providing much of the coverage. The mainstream media NEEDS to pay attention to this!
Ahab, I agree. They are beginning to.
I beg to differ with TomCat – the cops of NYC are still pigs – I’ve never been protected by these SOB’s and wish nothing but ill toward them! On two separate occasions when I actually needed assistance I was denied – I don’t trust them, and I certainly believe the majority of them are corrupt – I don’t know where you get such a sweet point of biew about this force of blue – but I can tell you = I’d sooner be given the chance to carry a gun than to depend on their “protection”! If it had only been once II might have considered it to be a fluke, but when a patrol car was opposite a gun point robbery, and I went to tell them what they had witnessed while the perpetrator was running – (this patrol car was on the opposite side of the street while I was being held up) they smiled and said it was “”out of their jurisdiction”, that the street was a division of 2 precincts, which I never knew before! So no – I think these guys are pigs and to say that most of them are unworthy of such a designation is giving them too much credit!
Lee, you have a right to your own opinion, but my experience with police I have had contact with has been mostly positive, including in NYC, except for the TPF.
It is OUTRAGEOUS that ANY arrests of these peaceful protesters were made at all! These are not wild-eyed radicals, but rather genuinely concerned citizens and disaffected unemployed students and college grads holding high amounts of student loan debt who are legitimately using their First Amendment rights in an effort to stop corporate greed and lunacy!
Perfect summary, Jack!
Interesting! Watching the video, it is quite evident that there are cell phone photographers, professional cameras/recorders, and then there are those being used by police to not only attempt to cover their butts, but I’m sure also identify protesters.
I watched the slo-mo video that Nameless linked and it is apparent that the police were overly agressive, using unwarranted tactics (pepper spray) on a peaceful group of protesters that would only inflame the situation. The one young lady had been video taping the police takedown of another protester in the street. I can only guess that she must have captured his bad side to so provoke him to pepper spray her.
In an interview with Keith Olbermann a few days back, Michael Moore told a story of being in New York to do a piece about Wall Street. He was putting yellow ‘police crime’ tape around the NYSE building one evening when he was approached by police. As Moore tells it, he was a little apprehensive about the approach. He said he told police he was making a little comedy movie. The officer replied (not a word for word quote) that’a ok, you should see what these guys did to our pension fund. Take all the time you want. Here’s the link to that video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dejEEaS8Ifo&feature=colike
I hope that the protesters will remain non-violent because violence only cheapens the cause and this cause is too important to debase with violence.
Some quotes from Mahatma Gandhi —
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. — just because the mainstream media doesn’t happen to cover the protests, doesn’t mean they aren’t happening. Keep watching. Keep talking. Social media will get a story around very fast.
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. — If violence is done to you in the form of pushing, shoving etc, don’t respond in kind. Protect yourself but to not be agressive.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. — Keep at it!
Excellent Lynn. Thanks especially for the Gandhi quotes. King was a student of Gandhi. I was a student of King.
There was no reason to spray her with mace. That stuff really hurts and takes a long time to wear off. I’m lucky, I live in a smallish town and the cops here are very nice and have a 2 minute response time. But they don’t fuck around if you’re being an asshole.
I was incorrect. It was pepper spray, but that’s no better. Your cops are more efficient than our cops, but they also have no tolerance for back talk.
I’d sure like to see a couple thousand more protestors on “The Street!”
That would certainly help!