I’m reading about the (note: those at work should turn off the volume before clicking) so-called violent protests in lower Manhattan yesterday, but it sounds to me as if the only ones who got violent were the police. And get this video —
A cop uses pepper spray on a woman for no apparent reason and walks away while she screams. The Village Voice has her side of the story.
The thing is, the financial district on a Sunday usually is about as deserted as anyplace ever gets in Manhattan. Even many of the bars and restaurants close on Sunday. So who’s it going to hurt if some people get a bit rowdy? I haven’t seen any accounts that the protesters were damaging property or doing anything menacing.
I also understand the group marched north to Union Square, but on a weekend there’s always a big crowd protesting something at Union Square. It’s traditional.
The thing is, this kind of overreaction will likely give the group a focus it didn’t have before.
You’re right about that part of town, maha. When I lived in NY City, there was no lonelier place than the Financial District on a weekend day. You could practically walk down the street naked, and no one would notice.
So, why the violence?
It appears to me that the powers that be think that the cute little protesting fun and games should be over, and sent the cops out to send a message.
This time – a little spray.
The next time, it may not be pepper spray, or rubber bullets, but the real thing.
The murder of the protesters at Kent State put a damper on the anti-war protesting around the country. And sure, we haven’t seen that level of violence at a protest in over 40 years – but that doesn’t mean that the powers that be don’t want any, or be not be happy to provide some, if it means that “proper order” is restored.
Having said that, I hope the protesters stay there, and I wish them all the luck in the world. I think what they’re doing is important.
A police spokesperson said that the police acted “appropriately.”
“Nothing to see here folks. So, move along, move along.
***spray***
I SAID MOVE ALONG!”
What a waste of energy to hold a protest at a time when nobody’s there to be confronted by it. If a tree falls in the forest, but no one’s there to hear it… I’m either missing something, or these people really don’t know what they’re doing.
Well, the area has been becoming more residential for years. Zuccotti Park is over by the WTC site, Battery Park City, and the World Financial Center. Not quite as dead as it used to be at night or on the weekends. It’s a funny mixture now. Quite a few of the older office buildings have also been turned residential.
“A police spokesperson said that the police acted “appropriately.—
See how that a$$hole responds to assault charges in court. Hopefully, someone got his badge number.
This is off topic but a really interesting article on the hypocrisy of the Republican Presidential wannabes:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2011/09/conservatives_who_hate_governm032420.php
There was one cop who used what I believe was pepper spray. He was angry because people were yelling at the police not to beat on a teenage boy that tried to run when they drug him off the sidewalk for yelling at them. This is a demonstration of some of the police having the restraint to do the job and one moron who was trying to act tough by spraying some young girls with pepper spray. The article by the Village voice, who interviewed some of the girls who were sprayed, said that this over reaction by this one less intelligent policeman actually helped their cause with public sympathy and their donations increased since the incident. They were demonstrating without a permit on a deserted street which had almost no traffic, foot traffic or vehicles but the arrests were mostly for blocking traffic and resisting arrest (some tried to run when being attacked by the police). Several young people were drug off the sidewalk and beaten with night sticks Rodney King style while one of the policemen was trying apply plastic handcuffs to all of them. One teen was picked up by the back of his belt and shirt and thrown over a bench on his face and would have been beaten and kicked but some of the police stopped the policeman who was over reacting to name calling. Basically what I saw in all the videos and reports is that there were a bunch of over excited, bored police who probably wanted to go home or back to Dunkin Doughnuts and instead had three days of protesting. The police are human too, and this is an example of why they should have better leadership in a crowd control situation. Evidently the testing for the ability to take verbal abuse that is expected by the new brand of police who are educated, trained in psychological control to handle stressful situations, and higher IQ, trained in how to handle situations without using more than Due Force Necessary showed control but some older white shirt (who knows what that means? rank? what?) thought pepper spraying some young girls who didn’t do anything (except it seemed to me he aimed it at the redhead with the camera) aggressive towards the police, to take out his frustration, was merited and as usual, the NYPD will stand behind their officers, no matter what. It was just one guy with the pepper spray and he didn’t even warn the officers because one of them was reported to have said, “Thanks for the warning”, as he was trying to wipe some off of his face with his eyes watering. The young woman with the long hair and tank top gave a long description of what that felt like. She said it burned and hurt her whole body and her nasal and throat mucus membranes closed up so that she couldn’t breathe for a minute. That type of spray, if you are taught to use it properly, (I attended a blockwatch training camp.) is supposed to be sprayed over the heads of approaching attackers so that it falls in a cloud like a light mist that they run into, and instead these young girls were hit with a concentrated direct spray, you could see the liquid splashing off of them. Luckily there was some medical staff there who flushed their eyes and skin immediately afterwards or they could have been injured seriously enough for a law suit. Picture a mason jar of concentrated Louisiana Hot Sauce thrown in your face. They said he kept spraying it after everyone was already on the ground like he was spraying a can of room deodorant. Psssst, Psst, Pssssssst. My dad was a policeman and said he would rather be tasered. It feels worse than chemical mace but without the permanent damage. The postal department are the only ones who are supposed to use mace now on attacking dogs. But, as you said, the only ones we see getting violent were the police which is probably why he sprayed the girl with the camera. He seemed to notice more cameras filming him just before he turned, walked away, and holstered his spray can. The Huffington Post did a good article on the incident at Occupy Wall Street Demonstation .