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==Media response==
==Media response==
⚫
Several commentators in the media and financial sector raised fears of unrest in the run-up to the event despite the organizers' insistence that the occupation would remain non-violent. In an interview with ''[[The New American]]'', Ron Arnold of the [[Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise]] claimed that, "American [[Political radicalism|radicals]] are planning hundreds of simultaneous violent uprisings to topple our system of [[capitalism]]... I'm talking about [[Anti-capitalism|anti-capitalist]] terrorists in our own country."<ref>[http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/8967-day-of-rage-wall-st-occupation-sparks-fears “Day of Rage” Wall St. Occupation Sparks Fears], ''The New American'', September 13, 2011</ref> Five days into the protest [[political commentator]] and [[writer]] [[Keith Olbermann]] criticized mainstream media for failing to cover Occupy Wall Street, saying, "Why isn't any major news outlet covering this? ... If that's a [[Tea Party movement|Tea Party]] protest in front of Wall Street ..., it's the lead story on every network newscast."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://current.com/shows/countdown/videos/will-bunch-author-of-the-backlash-on-mainstream-medias-failure-to-cover-wall-street-protests |title=Will Bunch, author of 'The Backlash,' on mainstream media's failure to cover Wall Street protests |publisher=current.com |date=September 21, 2011 |accessdate=September 22, 2011}}</ref> An article in the [[Boston Globe]] stated, "It’s hard to take a protest fully seriously when it looks more like a circus – some participants seem to have taken a chute straight from [[Burning Man]]."<ref>{{cite news|title=The right way to get heard|url=http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-27/bostonglobe/30209075_1_tea-party-protest-female-protesters-liberal-rage/2|newspaper=Boston Globe}}</ref>


⚫
Several commentators in the media and financial sector raised fears of unrest in the run-up to the event despite the organizers' insistence that the occupation would remain non-violent. In an interview with ''[[The New American]]'', Ron Arnold of the [[Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise]] claimed that, "American [[Political radicalism|radicals]] are planning hundreds of simultaneous violent uprisings to topple our system of [[capitalism]]... I'm talking about anti-capitalist [[terrorism|terrorists]] in our own country."<ref>[http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/8967-day-of-rage-wall-st-occupation-sparks-fears “Day of Rage” Wall St. Occupation Sparks Fears], ''The New American'', September 13, 2011</ref> ''[[The Blaze (web site)|The Blaze]]'', a conservative news website, criticized U.S. Day of Rage's involvement in the demonstration and compared the event to the violent "[[Days of Rage]]" protests in 1969.<ref>[http://www.theblaze.com/stories/seius-stephen-lerner-invokes-bill-ayers-days-of-rage-to-take-down-wall-street-this-september/ Who Is Behind the ‘US Day of Rage’ to ‘Occupy’ Wall Street this September 17?], TheBlaze.com, August 19, 2011</ref> Five days into the protest [[political commentator]] and [[writer]] [[Keith Olbermann]] criticized mainstream media for failing to cover Occupy Wall Street, saying, "Why isn't any major news outlet covering this? ... If that's a [[Tea Party movement|Tea Party]] protest in front of Wall Street ..., it's the lead story on every network newscast."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://current.com/shows/countdown/videos/will-bunch-author-of-the-backlash-on-mainstream-medias-failure-to-cover-wall-street-protests |title=Will Bunch, author of 'The Backlash,' on mainstream media's failure to cover Wall Street protests |publisher=current.com |date=September 21, 2011 |accessdate=September 22, 2011}}</ref>
In a September 27 article, the liberal [[Mother Jones (magazine)|''Mother Jones'' magazine]] strongly criticized the movements lack of a clear message that can carry the movement forward and the tactics of the Anonymous group. In their opinion, the movement has not yet been able to draw in a wide swath of Americans: "So far, this is more a movement for dreamers than for [[American middle class|middle-class Americans]] trying to make ends meet."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/09/occupy-wall-street |title=Is #OccupyWallStreet Working? |publisher=Mother Jones |date=2011-09-27 |accessdate=2011-10-03}}</ref>
-

On October 1, during a segment on ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'', a [[Fox News]] reporter remarked of the occupation that, "if you put every single left-wing cause into a blender, this is the sludge you’d get."<ref name="mediaite">{{cite news|title=Bill O’Reilly And Sean Hannity Send Film Crews To Occupy Wall Street Protests|url=http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-oreilly-and-sean-hannity-send-film-crews-to-occupy-wall-street-protests/|newspaper=Mediaite}}</ref>
Five days into the protest [[political commentator]] and writer [[Keith Olbermann]] criticized mainstream media for failing to cover Occupy Wall Street, saying, "Why isn't any major news outlet covering this? ... If that's a [[Tea Party movement|Tea Party]] protest in front of Wall Street ..., it's the lead story on every network newscast."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://current.com/shows/countdown/videos/will-bunch-author-of-the-backlash-on-mainstream-medias-failure-to-cover-wall-street-protests |title=Will Bunch, author of 'The Backlash,' on mainstream media's failure to cover Wall Street protests |publisher=current.com |date=September 21, 2011 |accessdate=September 22, 2011}}</ref> On October 1, in a segment on ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'', a [[Fox News]] reporter remarked of the occupation that, "if you put every single left-wing cause into a blender, this is the sludge you’d get."<ref>{{cite news|title=Bill O’Reilly And Sean Hannity Send Film Crews To Occupy Wall Street Protests|url=http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-oreilly-and-sean-hannity-send-film-crews-to-occupy-wall-street-protests/|newspaper=Mediaite}}</ref> [[The New York Times]] reported increased media coverage increased after the arrests on September 24 and October 1, with the story appearing on all network morning news broadcasts on October 3.<ref>{{cite news|last=Stelter|first=Brian|title=Coverage Grows for Wall Street Protest|url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/coverage-grows-for-wall-street-protest/|accessdate=October 6, 2011|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=October 5, 2011}}</ref>
On September 28, an article published in the ''[[New York Daily News]]'' described the protesters as a "bunch of spoiled brats"<ref>{{cite news|title=Occupy Wall Street protesters are behaving like a bunch of spoiled brats|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/09/28/2011-09-28_pray_for_snow.html|newspaper=NY Daily}}</ref> while another in the [[Boston Globe]] wrote that, "It’s hard to take a protest fully seriously when it looks more like a circus – some participants seem to have taken a chute straight from [[Burning Man]] – and when it’s organized by a Canadian magazine and a computer-hacking group.".<ref>{{cite news|title=The right way to get heard|url=http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-27/bostonglobe/30209075_1_tea-party-protest-female-protesters-liberal-rage/2|newspaper=Boston Globe}}</ref> An article in the [[Wall Street Journal]] wrote that, "the protests last week were a bust."<ref>{{cite news|title=Media Non-Coverage of Occupy Wall Street Gets Lots of Media Coverage|url=http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/09/media-non-coverage-occupy-wall-street-gets-lots-media-coverage/43013/|newspaper=The Atlantic Wire}}</ref>
Early support for the demonstration amongst mainstream liberal groups varied. On September 17, the liberal blog ''[[Crooks and Liars]]'' commented on the demonstration, with blogger Susie Madrak writing, "I have a feeling this might be a good one.".<ref>[http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/occupy-wall-street-not-one-day-demons Occupy Wall Street: 'This Is Not A One-Day Demonstration, We're Not Leaving'], ''Crooks and Liars'', September 17, 2011</ref> [[Blog]]ger Zaid Jilani, writing for ''[[ThinkProgress]]'', wrote that the protesters' anger against Wall Street banks was not unreasonable "because Wall Street’s actions made tens of millions of people dramatically poorer through no fault of their own."<ref>[http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/18/321844/why-people-protest-wall-street/ Why There Are Protests On Wall Street: Their Actions Impoverished More Than 60 Million People], ''ThinkProgress'', September 18, 2011</ref> However, the liberal [[Mother Jones (magazine)|''Mother Jones'' magazine]] was extremely critical of the demonstrations. In a September 27 article they strongly criticized the movements lack of a clear message that can carry the movement forward and the tactics of the Anonymous group. In their opinion, the movement has not yet been able to draw in a wide swath of Americans: "So far, this is more a movement for dreamers than for [[American middle class|middle-class Americans]] trying to make ends meet."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/09/occupy-wall-street |title=Is #OccupyWallStreet Working? |publisher=Mother Jones |date=2011-09-27 |accessdate=2011-10-03}}</ref>
On October 1, a segment on ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'' a [[Fox News]] reporter remarked of the occupation that, "if you put every single left-wing cause into a blender, this is the sludge you’d get."<ref name="mediaite">{{cite news|title=Bill O’Reilly And Sean Hannity Send Film Crews To Occupy Wall Street Protests|url=http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-oreilly-and-sean-hannity-send-film-crews-to-occupy-wall-street-protests/|newspaper=Mediaite}}</ref> In a segment on ''[[The Sean Hannity Show]]'', [[Sean Hannity]] alleged that, "All the talk the protesters were giving about class warfare came directly from President Obama" while [[Kimberly Guilfoyle]] who also appeared on the segment called the protestors "people with absolutely no purpose or focus in life."<ref name="mediaite" /> In an article in [[Gothamist]], [[Michael Bloomberg]] criticized the protesters for lacking nuance in their arguments.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bloomberg Implies Occupy Wall Street Protest's Days Are Numbered|url=http://gothamist.com/2011/09/30/bloomberg_implies_wall_street_prote.php|newspaper=Gothamist}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 10:37, 6 October 2011

Occupy Wall Street
Part of the impact of the Arab Spring
Poster depicting a female ballerina pirouetting on the back of the Charging Bull statue on Wall Street; on the street behind her, a line of gas-masked rioters struggle through smoke. Text on the poster reads: "What is our one demand? #OCCUPYWALLSTREET September 17th. Bring Tent."
The above file's purpose is being discussed and/or is being considered for deletion. See files for discussion to help reach a consensus on what to do.
A poster created by Adbusters[1] promoting the start date of the occupation, September 17th.
DateSeptember 17, 2011 (2011-09-17) (Constitution Day) – ongoing
Location
Zuccotti Park/"Liberty Park",
New York City, USA

40°42′34″N 74°00′41″W / 40.709385°N 74.011323°W / 40.709385; -74.011323
Caused byWealth inequality, Corporate influence of Government, inter alia.
Methods
StatusOngoing with "occupy" movements spreading to other cities, including San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Portland, Maine, Portland, Oregon , Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver
Number
Zuccotti Park/"Liberty Park":

Several hundred "core" demonstrators[2]

Other activity in NYC:

  • 2,000+ marchers
    (march on police headquarters, 2011-10-2)[2]
  • 700+ marchers
    (crossing Brooklyn Bridge, 2011-10-3)[3]
Casualties and losses
Arrests: 780+[3]

Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City[4] based in Zuccotti Park, formerly "Liberty Plaza Park". The protest was originally called for by the Canadian activist[5] group Adbusters; it took inspiration from the Arab Spring movement (particularly the Tahrir Square protests in Cairo, which initiated the 2011 Egyptian Revolution) and from the Spanish Indignants.[6][7]

The participants of the event are mainly protesting against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government, among other concerns.[8][9] Adbusters states that, "Beginning from one simple demand – a presidential commission to separate money from politics – we start setting the agenda for a new America."[10] The protest's organizers hope that the protesters themselves will formulate their own specific demands, expecting them to be focused on "taking to task the people who perpetrated the economic meltdown."[11][12][13]

By October 1, similar demonstrations had been held in Washington, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Miami,[14] Portland, Maine,[15] Portland, Oregon,[16] Seattle,[17] and Denver.[17][18][19][20]

Background

After the late-2000s recession that left many countries on the edge of bankruptcy, with weakened economies and unemployment at very high levels, a Canadian-based group, the Adbusters Media Foundation, best known for its advertisement-free anti-consumerist magazine called Adbusters, proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street in protest against the current U.S. political leadership and the failure to prevent or make effective changes regarding the global financial crisis. According to the senior editor of the magazine, “[they] basically floated the idea in mid-July into our [email list] and it was spontaneously taken up by all the people of the world, it just kind of snowballed from there.”[21]

Although it was originally proposed by Adbusters magazine, the demonstration is leaderless.[22] Activists from Anonymous encouraged its followers to take part in the protest, which increased the attention it received.[6] Other groups followed, including the NYC General Assembly and U.S. Day of Rage.[11] The protests have brought together people of many political positions.

Prior to the protest's beginning on September 17, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press conference, "People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we'll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it."[11]

Demands and goals

The protesters set up camp in Zuccotti Park. Locals and protesters call it "Liberty Plaza", the park's former name. Brookfield Properties, the owner of the public space, instituted new rules on September 26 to make life more difficult for the people staying in the park.[23]

According to Adbusters, a primary protest organizer, the central demand of the protest is that President Obama "ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington".[10] Liberal commentator Michael Moore had suggested that this is not like any other protest but this protest represents a variety of demands with a common statement about government corruption and the excessive influence of big business and the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans on U.S. laws and policies.[24]

Peripheral demands such as raising taxes on the rich, raising taxes on corporations, ending corporate welfare, support for trade unionism, and protecting Medicare and Social Security in their traditional forms are expressed by some participants.[25] Occupy Maine is asking for an investment in public transportation infrastructure and the return home of Maine National Guardsmen from wars overseas.[15] Some protesters are calling for an audit or the elimination of the Federal Reserve.[26][27]

Despite the various lists of demands, some non-partisan groups and supporters of the protest have expressed concern that the proposed agenda items are not addressing some of the root causes. Political activist, Lawrence Lessig argues that the problems on Wall Street is because of corruption in Washington that has been perpetuated by a deep conflict of interests. Because both parties depend on Wall Street's money to fund their campaigns, they will not dare to cross the interests of Wall Street.[28][9][29][30]

The desire to form a more coherent agenda was evident around the 13th day of the occupation, with sentiment in the encampment generally split along two lines: those who want to draft focused demands about the unequal distribution of wealth in the United States; and those who want the protest to remain amorphous and to grow through spectacle.[31] Participatory online discussion forums have been emerging for citizens to submit and vote for specific agenda items.[12][13]

A "proposal" forum post on occupywallst.org[1] submitted by a single user was misreported as an official list of demands.[2] According to the admin-edited forum post, "[the] content was not published by the OccupyWallSt.org collective, nor was it ever proposed or agreed to on a consensus basis with the NYC General Assembly. There is NO official list of demands."

The protest has been criticized for its lack of focus and actionable agenda. In an article that was critical of the protesters, Ginia Bellafante wrote in The New York Times:

"The group’s lack of cohesion and its apparent wish to pantomime progressivism rather than practice it knowledgeably is unsettling in the face of the challenges so many of its generation face — finding work, repaying student loans, figuring out ways to finish college when money has run out."[32][33]

Glenn Greenwald responded to this criticism, writing,

"Does anyone really not know what the basic message is of this protest: that Wall Street is oozing corruption and criminality and its unrestrained political power—in the form of crony capitalism and ownership of political institutions—is destroying financial security for everyone else?"[34]

A small grassroots political party suggested the protesters could call for a 50-cent Wall Street stock-trade surcharge, which the party's founder told United Press International would boost the U.S. economy at least $350 billion a year. "The Republicans say we don't want to spend more money because it will incur more debt," Light Party founder Da Vid Raphael said. "So where is the money? On Wall Street."[35]

On October 1, former White House adviser Van Jones, announced he and other progressives would support and build upon the wall street protests and launch an "October Offensive" to "Rebuild the Dream" by focusing on job creation.[36][37]

Participants

In late September, the Occupy Wall Street protest spread to Boston and other cities

General breakdown

The movement is leaderless,[38] centered upon the statement: "The one thing we all have in common is that We are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%."[39] The protests have brought together people of many political positions including liberals,[40] political independents,[41] socialists,[40] conservatives,[41] anarchists,[41] and libertarians.[40] Religious beliefs vary as well including, but not limited to, Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists.[40]

Union support

Various unions, including the Transport Workers Union of America Local 100 and the New York Metro 32BJ Service Employees International Union have pledged their support for demonstrators.[35] On October 3, Transport Workers Union bus drivers sued the New York Police Department for ordering their buses to drive to the Brooklyn Bridge to pick up detained protesters. Union President John Samuelsen said, "We're down with these protesters. We support the notion that rich folk are not paying their fair share. Our bus operators are not going to be pressed into service to arrest protesters anywhere."[42]

On October 5, representatives from more than 14 of the country's largest labor unions intended to join the protesters for a mass rally and march.[43]

Celebrity support

Educator and author Cornel West addressed the frustrations that some critics have expressed at the protest’s lack of a clear and unified message, saying, "It’s impossible to translate the issue of the greed of Wall Street into one demand, or two demands. We’re talking about a democratic awakening."[44] Canadian writer Naomi Klein supported the protest, saying, "This is not the time to be looking for ways to dismiss a nascent movement against the power of capital, but to do the opposite: to find ways to embrace it, support it and help it grow into its enormous potential. With so much at stake, cynicism is a luxury we simply cannot afford."[45] Filmmaker Michael Moore spoke against Wall Street, saying, "They have tried to take our democracy and turn it into a kleptocracy."[46][47] Rapper Lupe Fiasco donated tents and a mobile sound system for the occupation; he also wrote a poem to help inspire the protesters.[48] Comedienne Roseanne Barr spoke to protesters during the first day of the demonstration calling for a combination of capitalism and socialism and a system not based on "bloated talk radio hosts."[49] Susan Sarandon spoke at the demonstration saying, "I came down here to educate myself.... There's a huge void between the rich and the poor in this country."[50] Other celebrities lending their support were Russell Simmons,[51] Anti-Flag,[52] Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges, Alec Baldwin, Radiohead,[53] and George Soros.[54] Nobel Economist Joseph Stiglitz and New York Times Columnist Jeff Madrick also gave a teach-in on October 2.[55]

Support from elected officials

U.S. Congressman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) expressed his support for the core demands of protests.[56] Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, appearing on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, supported the protests saying, “We desperately need a coming together of working people to stand up to Wall Street. We need to rebuild the middle-class in this country and you guys can’t have it all."[57] The Democratic co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Representatives Raúl Grijalva and Keith Ellison announced their solidarity with the movement on October 4.[58] In an interview with The Washington Post, Former Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin endorsed the movement on October 5, stating "This is like the Tea Party — only it’s real...By the time this is over, it will make the Tea Party look like ... a tea party."[59]

Opposition

In an editorial in Commentary magazine, Abe Greenwald referred to celebrities who supported the protests as "self-demonizing millionaires."[60] Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain accused the movement of being "anti-capitalism" and argued "Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself!" while Mitt Romney called the protests "dangerous" and "class warfare."[61]

Conservative opinion columnist Ann Coulter wrote, "They say they want Obama re-elected, but claim to hate 'Wall Street.' You know, the same Wall Street that gave its largest campaign donation in history to Obama, who, in turn, bailed out the banks and made Goldman Sachs the fourth branch of government." In comparing them with the tea party protestors, Coulter wrote, "Tea partiers didn't block traffic, sleep on sidewalks, wear ski masks, fight with the police or urinate in public... Then they picked up their own trash and quietly went home. Apparently, a lot of them had to be at work in the morning."[62]

Chronology of events

Main article: Timeline of Occupy Wall Street
The protesters march toward a police station and various other targets

Planning for the event united disparate groups of protesters throughout the month of August, uniting a loose coalition set up around the Adbusters time and date with allies of the Spanish protests, members of Anonymous, and a group discussing the United States debt-ceiling crisis, which introduced the term "General Assembly" to the organizers. On September 17, 1,000 protesters marched through the streets, with an estimated 100 to 200 staying overnight in cardboard boxes (tents being prohibited by the NYPD).

The New York Police Department made the following arrests in the first few days:

  • Four protesters were arrested for wearing masks.[63]
  • One protester was arrested for crossing a police barricade and resisting arrest.[64]
  • Two protesters were arrested for entering a building belonging to Bank of America.[64]

At least 80 arrests were made on September 24,[65] after protesters started marching uptown and forcing the closure of several streets.[66][67] Most of the 80 arrests were for blocking traffic, though some were also charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Police officers have also been using a technique called kettling which involves using orange nets to isolate protesters into smaller groups.[66][67]

Pepper-spraying incidents

Protests on 15th day of the occupation

On September 24 witnesses said they saw three women collapse on the ground screaming after they were pepper sprayed in the face. The incident took place near the intersection of 12th Street and University Place in Greenwich Village, during a march between Zuccotti Park and Union Square. Officials said that the protesters did not have a permit for the march. A video posted on YouTube and NYDailyNews.com shows uniformed officers had corralled the women using orange nets and one suddenly sprayed the women before turning and quickly walking away.[68][69]

Activists later published the name and contact details of the officer seen spraying the women with pepper spray, and encouraged members of the public to complain about his conduct.[70] The police officer who used the pepper spray was identified[71] as Anthony V. Bologna, a Deputy Inspector of the New York Police Department,[72][73][74][75][76] who was appointed C.O. of New York's First Precinct in 2005.[77] Bologna was previously named in a lawsuit alleging false arrest and civil rights violations after he ordered another officer to arrest a protester at the 2004 Republican national convention who had allegedly harassed a man and struck him with a rolled-up newspaper. [72]

Another woman who had been caught up in the net and pepper sprayed reported other incidents that she believed to be unnecessary use of police force.[78] Responding to the allegations, one police official said that Bologna was not aiming at the female protesters, but rather at male protesters who he believed were pushing officers and causing a confrontation that put officers at risk of injury.[79][80] The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said the police had used the pepper spray “appropriately." According to the spokesperson, “Pepper spray was used once after individuals confronted officers and tried to prevent them from deploying a mesh barrier—something that was edited out or otherwise not captured in the video.”[80]

A second video posted on the political blog Daily Kos appeared to show another pepper spraying incident. According to the photographer, who was wearing his press card, he had been on East 12th Street and saw officers drag a woman from behind a net and throw her on the ground. He photographed the scene and then started walking away when he was sprayed. The photographer said that he was not sure who had sprayed him.[79]

Deputy Inspector Roy Richter, head of the Captains Endowment Association, a union representing high-ranking officers, said, "Deputy Inspector Bologna’s actions that day were motivated by his concern for the safety of officers under his command and the safety of the public. The limited use of pepper spray effectively restored order without any escalation of force or serious injury to either demonstrator or police officer." New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said that the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau would examine the incident, but also criticized "tumultuous" protesters whom he called "disorderly" and "intent on blocking traffic" as they marched on University Place. The use of pepper spray is primarily limited to use against those resisting arrest or for protection, but is allowed to officers with special training for use in "disorder control".[79]

On September 25th, the hacker group Anonymous released a video in which they threatened to launch a cyber-attack against the NYPD in response to the incident.[81] Both New York Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau, and the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, Jr., opened investigations on the pepper-spraying.[79]

March on Brooklyn Bridge

On October 1, 2011, protesters set out to march across the Brooklyn Bridge. The New York Times reported that more than 700 arrests were made.[82] The police used ten buses to carry protesters off the bridge. Jesse A. Myerson, a media coordinator for Occupy Wall Street said, “The cops watched and did nothing, indeed, seemed to guide us onto the roadway.”[83] However, some statements by protesters supported descriptions of the event given by police: for example, one protester tweeted that "The police didn't lead us on to the bridge. They were backing the fuck up." [20] A spokesman for the New York Police Department, Paul Browne, said that protesters were given multiple warnings to stay on the sidewalk and not block the street, and were arrested when they refused.[3] By October 2, all but 20 of the arrestees had been released with citations for disorderly conduct and a criminal court summons.[84] The following day, drivers of the City Bus program sued the New York Police Department for "commandeering their buses" and forcing them to cart detained protesters.[85]

Megamarch and melee

After a massive march on 5 october where numerous unions, activist groups and students joined there was a police melee where officers were recorded beating protestors with night sticks and using pepper spray. [86][87]

Media response

Several commentators in the media and financial sector raised fears of unrest in the run-up to the event despite the organizers' insistence that the occupation would remain non-violent. In an interview with The New American, Ron Arnold of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise claimed that, "American radicals are planning hundreds of simultaneous violent uprisings to topple our system of capitalism... I'm talking about anti-capitalist terrorists in our own country."[88] The Blaze, a conservative news website, criticized U.S. Day of Rage's involvement in the demonstration and compared the event to the violent "Days of Rage" protests in 1969.[89] Five days into the protest political commentator and writer Keith Olbermann criticized mainstream media for failing to cover Occupy Wall Street, saying, "Why isn't any major news outlet covering this? ... If that's a Tea Party protest in front of Wall Street ..., it's the lead story on every network newscast."[90] - Five days into the protest political commentator and writer Keith Olbermann criticized mainstream media for failing to cover Occupy Wall Street, saying, "Why isn't any major news outlet covering this? ... If that's a Tea Party protest in front of Wall Street ..., it's the lead story on every network newscast."[91] On October 1, in a segment on The O'Reilly Factor, a Fox News reporter remarked of the occupation that, "if you put every single left-wing cause into a blender, this is the sludge you’d get."[92] The New York Times reported increased media coverage increased after the arrests on September 24 and October 1, with the story appearing on all network morning news broadcasts on October 3.[93]

On September 28, an article published in the New York Daily News described the protesters as a "bunch of spoiled brats"[94] while another in the Boston Globe wrote that, "It’s hard to take a protest fully seriously when it looks more like a circus – some participants seem to have taken a chute straight from Burning Man – and when it’s organized by a Canadian magazine and a computer-hacking group.".[95] An article in the Wall Street Journal wrote that, "the protests last week were a bust."[96]

Early support for the demonstration amongst mainstream liberal groups varied. On September 17, the liberal blog Crooks and Liars commented on the demonstration, with blogger Susie Madrak writing, "I have a feeling this might be a good one.".[97] Blogger Zaid Jilani, writing for ThinkProgress, wrote that the protesters' anger against Wall Street banks was not unreasonable "because Wall Street’s actions made tens of millions of people dramatically poorer through no fault of their own."[98] However, the liberal Mother Jones magazine was extremely critical of the demonstrations. In a September 27 article they strongly criticized the movements lack of a clear message that can carry the movement forward and the tactics of the Anonymous group. In their opinion, the movement has not yet been able to draw in a wide swath of Americans: "So far, this is more a movement for dreamers than for middle-class Americans trying to make ends meet."[99]

On October 1, a segment on The O'Reilly Factor a Fox News reporter remarked of the occupation that, "if you put every single left-wing cause into a blender, this is the sludge you’d get."[100] In a segment on The Sean Hannity Show, Sean Hannity alleged that, "All the talk the protesters were giving about class warfare came directly from President Obama" while Kimberly Guilfoyle who also appeared on the segment called the protestors "people with absolutely no purpose or focus in life."[100] In an article in Gothamist, Michael Bloomberg criticized the protesters for lacking nuance in their arguments.[101]

See also

2

References

  1. ^ Rapoza, Kenneth (July 15, 2011). "From Tahrir Square to...Wall Street?". Forbes.
  2. ^ a b "Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested". BBC News. October 2, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "700 Arrested After Wall Street Protest on N.Y.'s Brooklyn Bridge". Fox News Channel. Retrieved October 1, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |datemade= ignored (help)
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