There were groups all over the place this morning. Obviously every access point around the NYSE were locked down. The big group seemed to located at the corner of Pine and Broad St. about 2 blocks north of the exchange.
Not sure if that's what you are talking about.

You try make everything seem very cut and dry, but that really doesn't seem to be the case. I'm not a cop (and don't desire to be one), but I really don't think that this is easy situation for them either. They have a orders and a job to do as well. Obviously it's a very high pressure/high tension situation, throw in the fact that everyone has a camera (besides the media) and is looking to crucify the police for trying to do their job. I'm also guessing that you're probably not seeing everything that's really going on, from the feeds that you are watching. I think that the majority of the protesters are their in peace trying to spread their message. But please don't be so naive to think that everyone involved is a choirboy.

So they held everyone in the park for a half hour, big deal. The protesters tried to keep us from getting to work this morning. Are you saying that the cops locking down the park is wrong, but the protesters trying to keep people from getting to work is acceptable?

Let's see what the commute home brings.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m...oJYCdedLgh4rwL



"At about the same time, a contingent of protesters decided to storm City Hall, but unknowingly ran to the Department of Education building on Chambers Street. Once there, they comically chanted, “Bloomberg must go! Bloomberg must go!”

Finally, one of the clueless demonstrators realized the mistake and told the others: “This isn’t City Hall?”

They then ran to 1 Centre Street, where one exclaimed: “There it is! That’s City Hall!” and the chanting resumed."


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m...#ixzz1dztogA00

Wonder if the protesters realize they have become a cash cow for NYPD officers in the form of overtime? Or that Mayor Bloomberg donated over a half billion to charities last year?

The protesters should take a few minutes off in silence this afternoon and think of what contributions they each made last year.

Then realize while the world defines 'poor' as earning $1.25/day or less, the U.S. defines poor as earning $11,344/year or less or just over $31 a day. Earn under that and in the U.S. you're qualified for food, shelter, healthcare, cell phone, WI-FI subsidies plus a plethora of private and state giveaways. Instead of crying for what we don't do, celebrate what we do! Grow up and stop the whining.

This was a little splinter group of about 50. There was no reason not to let them walk on this block. It was weird.

The fact that peaceful legal protest is ... legal seems to have perhaps changed a bit since the Patriot Act. Or maybe it was never a right we really had. Although people literally carrying guns at a rally near the President was tolerated. You'd think unarmed people wouldn't be a threat!

I don't think the protesters should occupy Bank of America lobby. I don't see anything wrong with keep the street in front of NYSE blocked (as it pretty much as been since 9-11). Protesters should not be allowed to block a street (so others can't use it) without a permit.

But, hundreds of people in a 24-hour a day park is LEGAL. Walking along a sidewalk is LEGAL. Chanting and carrying signs is LEGAL. When a hundred extra cops surround Zuccotti, because they are going to arrest the guy who was kicking barriers, and someone says, "please let me out", and they say, "sorry" - that's simply not right.
I have every sympathy for cops. I worked years with cops. Love 'em. Terribly hard job. I have no sympathy for the few losers that get through, that push protesters off 4-foot tall walls, who shove a baton into the belly of a 100-lb 18-year-old girl, or who destroy property with illegal seizure, or prevent free Americans from peaceful assembly.

There are nearly a hundred Occupies in the US right now - and some are there with the blessing of the city, and some are fraught with disaster (Oakland). But everyone has the right to free speech, freedom of assembly, etc.

No. The police kept people from getting to work this morning, around Zuccotti. People trying to get into Wall Street for job interviews were not allowed in (they had no corporate ID), and people trying to get into the subway stop there this am were not allowed past unless they were wearing suits, etc. One young guy (wearing a nice sweater, tie, neat) wasn't allowed through into the subway because he looks like a protester, and he was complaining to the cameraman that now he'd be late to work, had to go blocks out of his way to another stop - the protesters were not in that area.

They are not supposed to block the Brooklyn bridge until 7:00 or so ... we'll see.

Dell, you need new material. You express the same old tired mindset. You have no right to complain about inequality because others are worse off...reminds me of words from Bob Dylan's "Only a Pawn in Their Game"..."A south politician preaches to the poor white man. You got more than the blacks don't complain..." Meaningless attempt to divert attention from reality.

:zz: What does that have to do with corporate ownership of our government, and lack of government response to the wishes of the citizens?

Of course, you being a self-professed Libertarian, you will defend to the death the right of your fellow Americans to protest without infringement on their strict constitutional rights or being the brunt of police brutality? Right?

The crowd just had a General Assembly, now they are going to march down 5th Avenue to Washington Square Park, then Foley Park. They have 3,000 - 4,000 people are the estimates.

Live stream with ongoing narrative from independent press (multiple "mainstream news" sources were broadcasting this stream today)

http://www.ustream.tv/theother99#utm...medium=9488285

Is blocking a bridge legal?

Check the live stream - there are masked anarchists knocking over police barriers, trying to incite. The rest of the protesters are marching peacefully.

Not without a permit, but they said they would stick to the sidewalks and pedestrian walk of the bridge, no permit needed, and not block the bridge. But they have thousands of people here ....

So because there are 'thousand of people', the millions of citizens that live in the city must be continously subjected to marches and actions that negatively affect them and the quality of their life?

Let's call what they are doing what it is, being obstructionists in order to gain attention. Regardless of the cause being worthy or not it is unreasonable to normal people for this to be never ending.

Their lives are not negatively affected, when streets are not blocked, when protests are peaceful, when others are not blocked from their daily activity.

FTFY. You mean like the Tea Party taking over all the healthcare town halls in 2008? God, that was awful! Yes - the protesters are trying to draw attention. And it's not because they are narcissists.

I dont recall the tea party storming bridges

From the NY Daily News blog today

"Over 700 protesters - mostly in their early 20s - are taking part in an energetic rally in Union Square, where our Kerry Burke is on the scene.

Free education is a theme of the speeches. It seems this particular protest was organized by Occupy Wall Street protesters from the New School.

When a young man shouted, "We are the students of New York City and we demand a free education!", the crowd exploded in cheers.

When a young woman from Pratt declared, "Education should be as free as air and water," she was received with big cheers."


Are they aware that:
1. Someone has to pay for all the "free" things in life
2. There is no charge to attend public schools k-12 grade?

The chick from Pratt is particularly galling considering it is about 40k a year to attend. With roughly 5000 students that would be in the $200 million neighborhood that tax payers would be directly responsible for so she can get her degree in something like Fashion Design. I'm guessing that a she comes from a family of 1%'ers

and therein lies the rub. it's not exactly easy for the cops to say yes, no, no, no, yes as far as who is a real protester, and who isn't. so, they tell people to move along, and then the problems start. people get arrested, pepper sprayed, injured, etc, and then the cops are the bad guy.
and people sit at home, watching on their monitor or tv and bitch about protesters getting picked on.
it reminds me of the military. people are all gung ho to get in a war, and then they start bashing the soldiers when everything doesn't go just right. easy to judge from the easy chair.
so, the foot soldiers and beat cops put their lives on the line, and the generals and chiefs of police give the orders, and people bitch at the guys on the street-cause they're all worthless, no good sob's.

No, they did storm public meetings indoors, though, didn't they? And create "gauntlets" people had to run through. And scream and yell and curse opposing views at the same protests at times.

Oh, yeah, and carry guns in public.

Oh, yeah: when there's multiple video views, start to finish, with no editing, it is sure easy to pick out when the police screw up. After all, even a police chief reversed his ruling after viewing one citzen-taken video on YouTube, that contradicted his officers stories.

And some of the hangers-on to the protests, too. For example, the guy they took down today in Zuccotti - I think he deserved it (he was probably Black Bloc tactics) When the protesters are calm, and peaceful, but you have a group of people dressed in black, wearing hoodies, and facemasks - which doesn't fit?

Several thousand converging on Foley Square
 

http://www.ustream.tv/theother99#utm...medium=9488285

Livestream from the head of the march towards Foley.

we have a constitution that grants us the right to do that.

just like protesting.