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Hundreds of protesters have been occupying Zuccotti Park, a private park, nearby Wall Street as part of a planned Occupy Wall Street action. The police have put up blockades around Wall Street and prevented protesters from being on the sidewalk areas of Wall Street they hoped to occupy.
The protesters have committed to a long-term occupation action. Last night, the owner of Zuccotti Park agreed to let protesters sleep in the park. Anywhere from 50 to 200 slept in the park. This morning, however, it appeared the owner wanted the protesters to vacate. Hard to tell what the protesters are expected to do now.
What is known is that the UN General Assembly starts tomorrow. President Obama will be in New York City. This means counterterrorism units along with the Secret Service will be in the city. Do NYPD really want to patrol an occupation action is the key question? And what do protesters plan to do?
Just now there are reports that rap artist Lupe Fiasco has donated tents to protesters to camp in the park. But, erecting tents is illegal and the police may come in and take down all the tents at any point. So, what kind of courage do the protesters have and how willing are they to invite confrontation?
The live blog resumes now and will bring you the latest on what happens with the action this evening. [And, also, here's a Twitter list I put together that you can keep checking to stay up to date on the action.]
12:10 PM Silent candlelight vigil goes right up to the blockade. The vigil was in honor of victims of Wall Street.
11:10 PM Paul Weiskel has posted a number of photos to Flickr. This is a very good photo of the occupation in the park tonight:
And, a photo of the organizers ordering pizza from Liberato’s, which if you didn’t hear is going to name a pizza the Occupy Wall Street pizza and let the protesters decide what toppings to put on the pizza. They made $2,800 from orders placed from around the world. Their website also crashed. They were sold out of pizza. Protesters had to move on to chicken wings orders:
11:07 PM Forget the police — Here’s a video put together that may inspire others to come down and join the action:
11:04 PM Now, no music is allowed.
10:52 PM Anyone wearing a mask is likely to be arrested – a specific, credible but unconfirmed threat from NYPD officers on guard.
10:41 PM David Hunsicker, Democrat running against Republican Eric Cantor in Virginia’s 7th District, has been sending many tweets in support of the Occupy Wall Street action. He (or whomever he has doing social media for his campaign) is even tweeting at media outlets asking why they haven’t covered US “day of rage” on Wall Street.
10:38 PM Nice summary of the General Assembly tactic [For information on the GA, go here.]
10:30 PM Protesters are holding their General Assembly. They are deliberating over what to do tomorrow.
9:40 PM And, another update on the police:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
9:22 PM @jeffrae & @lacymacauley report from the scene: Cops say that protesters are not allowed to use megaphone anymore. Signs on the wall of the park have to be taken down.
9:09 PM Planned candlelight vigil is about to begin.
8:55 PM Much anticipation for tomorrow, lots of hope that the protest will be able to move into Wall Street:
8:50 PM A flyer being used to promote the action:
187 Comments
Funny sign:
http://twitpic.com/6n3jv6
Just an fyi, everything I read this morning said there were at least 100 (some estimated as high as 300) in the park last night.
Okay. I will just put a range of 50-200 in instead.
Earlier someone had mention a 9:30PM candlelight vigil march to Wall Street.
If the weather was warmer and clear, tents wouldn’t have been a good decision since pitching them invites police intervention. However, with rain coming, tents are really the only hope for keeping the action alive.
Groovy.
Good pic from 7:30 PM NY time:
http://twitpic.com/6n2ng9
Good to see that this action is now gaining traction on the blogosphere and in the local news in NY !
With a little time , as more people become aware of the event we may well see the numbers swelling exponentially .I will be there on Thursday with my family as I am doing business on the east coast presently .
A look at the crowd reveals the largest group[ present is in their 20′s and early thirties which is appropropriate IMHO .
Current forecast is 20% chance of showers on Monday night.
“Faceoff at 55 Wall St.” (video, uploaded Sept. 18, 2011)
Livestream is up, cop making them take signs down.
Cop on livestream: you have till 9:30 to take all the signs down or I’ll take them down mysel.
Cop also told them they can’t use the megaphone anymore, so they’re going to go back to the primitive PA system (aka, chanting).
Cue ACLU lawsuit !
Crowd tonight on live stream looks and sounds at least twice as big as the one from last night. Maybe 500 people?
I love those activists.
(“People’s megaphone” is the chanting system you hear on livestream.)
If they can keep it going and avoid any incidents and it continues to grow, they could conceivably over whelm the system.
Wonder if anyone is calling union members in the NYC area or others in order to drum up some solidarity ?
Groups such as churches , labor unions, environmentalists, Greens, etc. could be solicited by concerned citizens and encouraged to participate over the next several days.
Any suggestions who could be asked to participate ? This should be done for the Oct. 6th action as well !
They’re asking livestream to STOP filming for a minute while they come up with the plan for tomorrow. Smart.
Yes. They started trying to organize with the local unions this afternoon.
Put that on the previous live blog post. But, thanks for posting here for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.
You have to pick your battles wisely. I don’t know if it is good to challenge the police on this. If they do, they will get run out of the park, I think.
Request from a protester:
Word of mouth is not proactive enough to produce enough bodies on the streets.
Phone calls and door to door inquiries within perhaps a hundred mile radius could help swell the croud size !
I got the impression that the cop was just going to take the signs down himself if they didn’t. He was being a dick, but not threatening. Just “You have them down by 9:30 or I’ll start taking them.”
Before livestream died again, they were 33/33/33 over how to handle it:
1) take them all down
2) fuck the police! don’t take them down!
3) let every signowner decide what to do with their own sign
I agree , even chanting loudly at 11 o’clock at night will provide an excuse to bring the action under heel .
Sounds like an unwise move by the police unless the signs are being hung on private or city property .
Excellent. Just tell them American flags and other patriotic regalia are welcome. This isn’t the ’60s.
We take back the flags and the patriotism; we take back the argument because the Tea Party has proven itself to be empty tri-corner hats. Woody Guthrie knew this. The Women’s Suffrage movement knew this. The Civil Rights movement knew this.
For my information, how do you know this?
Guess some combo of opinions 2&3 “won” in the vote.
That’s a good idea.
Every sign should have an American flag on it, or attached to it, or just the flag and chanting.
Let them take it down then. Maybe the corporate media whores will pay attention then.
It was one of the topics of discussion at the general assembly earlier today, broadcast on livestream. They formed a whole action committee and everything.
What was that about being arrested?
It completely changes the framing. The more so the degree to which it is authentic, which was easier to call forth in Wisconsin. Especially from farmers, labor, firemen, and teachers.
Which reminds me, some off-duty union firemen among the protesters would be very helpful. Help ease relationships with the police.
What is DHS?
Who? When?
Sounds like the cops are trying to get the people to leave or instigate a reason to disperse them before tomorrow morning.
Department of Homeland Security — I’ll wait to post that as a confirmed update but not surprised especially with UNGA in NYC tomorrow.
Homeland Security?
Does NYC have its own department?
thanks.
I missed that.
Livestream’s working again. Well, sorta. Cuts in and out for a second sometimes.
I was hoping there was another possibility (besides department of human services.)
The taking down of posters is, one, to remind protesters who is in control. It also can have the effect of getting under the protesters skin. And, if just one person reacts wrong, if one person gives the NYPD shit, that is all it takes. It gives the police a good reason to move in and disperse.
The livestream. They were chanting shame! NYPD shame! and something said about being arrested. A practice for something to come, maybe? I missed it.
As expected. “OK, kids, you’ve had your fun, now go home.” Remember Mubarak’s speech? To the diversity of ages that actually were in Tahrir Square.
Another good idea.
The protestors are correct, they’re doing this for everyone, even the police.
And although the police may have a union, the NYPD will soon be up when the PTB is killing jobs in this country. The police are not protected. They are like us.
I have no proof but heard that vets were going to participate. They are still tourqed up over active military being foreclosed while stationed overseas.
Homeland security .
Like the Department of Human Sensitivity? Yeah, not so much.
Sounds like this is anonymous’ alternative livestream feed we’re getting atm, according to the comments of the guy filming.
Excellent. More American flags.
Framing: What Wall Street has been doing is unAmerican.
Somebody organized pies for the crowd. If this holds a few days, maybe organize American flags too? Prob best to find someone outside NYC to buy in bulk, then just hand them out in person upon arrival…
Aahh…my livestream is in and out because my computer keeps freezing up.
The DHS most likely around the UN General Assembly are Secret Service. They constantly have to balance security and crowds. If they didn’t have a problem with folks with guns outside a Presidential venue in New Hampshire and Arizona, why other than paranoia, should they affect this demonstration in any way?
Livestrem cuts in and out for me as well and it’s hard to hear.
Tis what happened in Egypt and Libya.
Not that anyone is saying cops are great, but I think there should be less attention paid at protests in general to what cops want. I completely understand avoiding unnecessary confrontation with the police–sometimes it’s not a good idea to make the authorities angry. Let’s not forget, though, that at this protest and so many others, the police don’t even allow peaceful protest in certain areas acting as the personal security force for elites and their institutions (Wall Street, WTO, G20, etc). The police do need to be challenged, there’s just a time and place for it.
New pic of general assembly:
http://twitpic.com/6n4mrf
The beat cop types are just following orders, for the most part. Give ‘em pizza and get to know them. It may help when HQ orders the square cleared.
And yet another picture from the GA:
http://twitter.com/#!/SabzBrach/status/115606136614420480/photo/1
Agree
http://twitpic.com/6mx58o
“Your govt haz fucking failed you!”
Hell yeah!
Speaker:
Let’s march on the offices of MSNBC!
(no wild cheers, tho. weird.)
The way to challenge them is when you have a court order and enough people willing to go to jail all at once. In Madison, they had the court order but not enough people willing to go to jail to make it stick. Now, they’re having the same fight there again.
And you have to do it in such a way that it does not bring out large numbers of cops as backup. You won’t have the division between the police and military that the protesters in Egypt benefited from.
Finally, you have to have the public on your side when you do oppose the police (and a good number of police on your side as well; they’re just trying to keep their jobs).
From twitter, a call for people in and near NY to print and distribute this:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/65445172/Occupy-Wall-Street
Exactly what I was thinking.
“The CIA Hates Us for Our Freedom” (by emptywheel, Sept. 17, 2011) and other of her great posts that day.
An invitation to lose focus. And split the forces prematurely. I wouldn’t have cheered either- even if it was FoxNews the speaker said instead of MSNBC. The crowd is either tired or smart.
Speaker: If we give the unions support, we will triple in numbers. Wait till our numbers grow before engaging in civil disobedience and risking arrest.
And they go around in clearly identifiable vehicles? No wonder nothing is getting done.
Damn smart move.
That was very close to the gist of what a speaker at the GA just said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904106704576579291495261236.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Damn network latency.
The People’s Microphone is awesome.
Yeah, I see what you mean.
I know. It’s grown on me.
Yes, that was an excellent post. Also there is this if anyone wants to know and I think they should know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGHU8btqrrU&feature=youtube_gdata
This is interesting.
Looks like the authorities are going to try to wait it out. Call that the Saleh strategy.
Good. Build the crowds. Then start in other cities.
another pic:
http://yfrog.com/klgl6dtj
A working group on civil disobedience acts to take place tomorrow AM is being formed.
They have satellite protests in California. Stop Wall Street is happening there as well.
A little “guilt by association” when there might not be any association. Someone is doing oppo on Cantor’s behalf.
Have you seen what he’s been retweeting? This guy is running for Congress? Pretty great.
Wells Fargo?
Running to take down Eric Cantor?
Another pic:
http://twitpic.com/6n4ykq
lol. Our peeps in NYC have the benefit of having seen what’s already happened around the world.
Yes. Neither side wants to be viewed as The bad guys© in this situation.
All of them. You can find film at You Tube of the LA ones.
Yes
Are these “take and hold” protests?
I think it helps if you have a court order that backs you. I would argue that people should also feel free to occupy without one, provided the group has prepared for the repercussions. People shouldn’t have to ask to occupy public spaces (and will need to occupy private ones also) so when an action occurs that isn’t sanctioned in some way by the state, I think that action becomes more powerful.
That doesn’t mean that getting a court order or other forms of government approval is always a bad thing because sometimes it’s the only realistic way to go. It also doesn’t mean that they should be doing it in NYC right now either. In fact, it seems like they’re handling police good for the most part. They will always be an impediment to these types of things and have to be neutralized as much as possible.
No peaceful protests.
Yep. It’s a matter of strategic situation and informed consent. Folks have to understand what they are getting into and how to handle the consequences.
Are they intended to go on as long as the NYC folks stay at theirs?
LOL
Labor rarely needs to be “agitated” when it gets active. Invited. Persuaded. Next I expect a chorus from Les Miserables.
But it sounds so cool. And so separated from labor.
They are in a private park right now.
I have no idea. I wish this could happen in Charlotte at BOA headquarters.
could be useful if a sympathetic civil liberties attorney was down there to give advice on possible / likely consequences of civil disobedience. If I were there, I know I’d want to know that stuff before getting thrown in the paddy wagon!
Wait until next summer. That is, if BoA is still around. There might be some folks in Charlotte planning something right now as far as I know. I’ve been away from there for 20 years.
If I can remember correctly from our past conversations you are in the Raleigh area now, right?
I think they have some of that expertise there. So far the facilitation has been pretty prepared even if they have had a few things fall through the cracks. A message from the police about signs apparently was not delivered completely. And asking for fuel for the generator raises some logistical problems. Best move there is to have sympathetic fuel company trusted by the police deliver it. Don’t want the paranoia to get out of hand.
More or less.
That’s what I thought. No, I wouldn’t ask for the exact location. It is up to you to share it. I was born and raised in the state. Moved across the border when I married.
Which border?
Well, a lot of them are unemployed. Might as well volunteer as intelligentsia.
lol.
Sounds like they want to disrupt it but not looking like Gestapo in the process.
SC, just below Charlotte.
I suspect NYPD is hoping to disarm the protesters of everything but the clothes they’re wearing and their voices so it’ll be hard for them to be noticed from far away. Won’t be surprised if they’ll do everything they can to ensure protesters are nowhere near the parking areas and stations closest to Wall Street, depending on crowd size.
This is a cool video if you haven’t seen it yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzVAw9DvMVA
Too much at stake for them to be pushed that far. I know they are doing all to be peaceful, but I don’t see that happening.
Laws passed with the support of the socially liberal Manhattan/NJ/Williamsburg bourgeoisie to “get rid” of the homeless are, not surprisingly, convenient in allowing NYPD to “get rid” of protesters. Either way, the could care less. They have a job and live the good life, until they lose it and can’t afford to live in the city, by then their opinion is irrelevant.
If it’s just south and had a printing and finishing company and now has a college, my parents met each other there in 1938.
pic:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31167233@N08/6160760477/
Not sure what’s up with that, but the tweeter is super-reliable.
KOOL! Yeah, that area.
Right, but there are other areas (that are public) that protesters have wanted to occupy but haven’t been able to. I guess it doesn’t much matter if the property owner approves your presence.
Tomorrow will be very interesting. They can walk the sidewalks just like anybody else. I certainly hope the vets and union members show up without changing it into a Union or Vet protest. It should remain the pure Money grabbers/cheaters that brought down America meme.
I agree. I understand the frustration with corporate media, but they are not the root of the problem. Wall Street is much deeper into the heart of the problem, MSNBC/CNN/Fox News are distractions that much of the population cares less about. It would completely confuse the message.
Local news video:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=8358943
Haven’t watched it yet.
eta:
watched it. not too bad.
But the media is part of the money in politics problem. But you have to have enough momentum to have multiple actions of protest. Another part of the problem is K Street in DC.
Tweet from a super-reliable tweeter:
It is true that they have been denied access to the public sidewalks they had planned to set up legally permitted gatherings of less than 20 people throughout the Wall Street area.
Livestream is up and live again.
Aaaand…livestream is down again.
I don’t know about the message. I think it should be less, “what’s wrong with you???” I think we all know why a city full of rich people and cool kids, and the combination of both (yupsters), are not busy hanging out in a street, surrounded by cops when parties, music events, etc. are happening everywhere. There’s possibly more hope reaching the working class population in the north (Harlem, Bronx, Queens). They can also try to inspire some of the many local “indie” and/or hip hop artists to come out and play for free. Tokyo has had bands play on moving trucks during their recent anti-nuke demos (major one happening Monday).
Slightly off topic, but if our Occupiers need a little motivation, found this link on Drudge:
Tony Blair ‘visited Libya to lobby for JP Morgan’
Documents found by The Sunday Telegraph published this weekend showed Mr Blair had made at least three visits to Tripoli, twice in the lead-up to the release of the alleged Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Megrahi in 2008 and 2009 and once last year. On the first two occasions he was flown to the country on planes arranged by Col Gaddafi.
So JP Morgan hires Tony Blair to presumably lobby his former colleagues to let the Lockerbie bomber out of jail, in turn getting them some lucrative deal?
And isn’t Geithner supposed to be BFF with all The Banksters?
Set of photos (detail,size=big)
http://cryptome.org/info/occupy-wall-st/occupy-wall-st.htm
thanks (day2) kevin and athena
Thanks.
Alright. I’ll be up early with a new live blog post to follow what happens next. Thanks everyone for keeping the discussion alive in the comments threads of these posts.
I do not expect much to happen (I guess, unless some officer or protester does something stupid). I think the police are done asserting themselves and the protesters can sleep. Candlelight vigil is coming to an end. The chatter on my Twitter list is drifting from #OccupyWallStreet to who knows what?
Good night.
I hope the families of that flight become aware of Blair’s lobbying… and that some activists are currently trying to hold Wall Street accountable…
Seriously… what are the chances that Blair wasn’t discussing everything with the White House??
Livefeed’s back…they’re having the candlelight vigil now.
Good night!
As I’m reading more of the article, it appears that Tony Blair was representing the USA in an official capacity.
If it’s any inspiration, this is happening now in Tokyo https://playfoursquare.s3.amazonaws.com/pix/PHCTQBKTNCKECOHTOYWIRBBB0BZOZKCWEHQNENPT30DOPIER.jpg
where there’s a growing anti-nuke movement. Not exactly the same issue, though the root cause of the problem is similar (political corruption, politicians being bought out by wealthy companies and industries against what is best for their population). Tokyo-ites were not known for protesting prior to 3/11. These protests started small and keep growing.
Vigil’s over…they’re marching (silently) to Wall Street on livestream now.
Thanks Kevin. Good night.
I guess I’m gone as well.
Cops walking along beside the marchers with the plastic cuffs out.
They’ve made it as close to wall st as the cops will let them, lit candles, and have sat down.
Livestream says they’re almost out of batteries. The protesters are doing some quiet thing where one person tells a story at a time about how they or someone they know got screwed by Wall Street.
Livestream gone. Out of batteries.
If the picture is associated with an article, I’d love to have the link.
Anti-corruption music. I like Lagartos” (“Lizards”) myself.
arrr..ackk..hurmph
International Talk Like a Pirate Day is on Monday, September 19, 2011
LOL!
Also, Kevin, where did you get that vigil pic from?
ETA; n/m. Lacy. How did she get behind the line? Media pass?
I like it!
Yar!
athena1 @ 150: “Le Pouvoir Secret” – Rockin’ Squat (riffing off of Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells“)
http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LRQEAC1A74E901-077URSBAUQIFGNBO0RHC0J96AS
Re: Futures
Tilting downward more. S&P doubled in last 4 hours.
Europe sitting in positive territory.
DJIA INDEX 11,285.00 -161.00
S&P 500 1,191.60 -20.20
NASDAQ 100 2,273.50 -33.75
“Gird Your Loins, This Is War Against Capitalist Bloodsucker America: New Black Panther President Shabazz Tells Harlem Audience To Fight War Here At Home” (TheBlaze.Com, embedded video, Sept. 16, 2011)
Video yanked.
I like this part:
Did you find the copy?
Nope.
I was thinking the crowd looked a whole lot bigger than last night’s.
I think this is it.
“2011-09-17 @TakeTheSquare release: Why we are marching in Paris on September 17 #Antibanks #Sept17” (WLCentral.Org, Sept. 16, 2011)
Did anything actually happen in Paris?
Speaking of financial centers … Apparent link between Gianpalo Tarantini, Rupert Murdoch and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi:
‘Taranto: “Murdoch offered me money after D’Addario scandal.” But Sky denied‘ (IlFattoquotidiano.It, Sept. 18, 2011)
Articles on opponents urging Berlusconi to resign (Sept. 19, 2011)
Cool! Thanks!
Livestream is back up.
eta: nevermind. old footage.
Great, new comprehensive article:
http://wagingnonviolence.org/2011/09/another-liberty-plaza-taken-and-held-near-wall-street/
Here’s a video of Saturday’s solidarity protest in San Fransisco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFxHt-3eQks
This is a really great set of pictures from Saturday:
http://juancarloshernandezphotographe.blogspot.com/2011/09/crime-scene-do-not-cross-photos.html
I’m guessing the protest, if it holds on, will stay roughly like today until next Saturday. That’s what’s happened with a lot of the other big protests (Friday being the big day in the Arab world, since Friday is the beginning of their weekend.)
There was a solidarity protest/camp in Barcelona over the past couple of days.
New tweets:
About the Barcelona protest:
pic:
http://twitpic.com/6n90ki
Newer tweet:
Fucking riot police.
eta:
pic of riot police eviction:
http://twitpic.com/6n7zvc
Barcelona protest video, uploaded Sept 18:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5fsWtdwZZA&feature=share
Not in English, but you can see #occupywallstreet signs all over the place.
New tweet from wall street…it’s 4:30 AM there now:
Looks live again (no audio) …
Correction: Audio up.
OT– “Oil spill clean-up continues in Sweden” (TheLocal.SE, Sept. 18, 2011):
Good morning — New live blog post will be up shortly.
Buenos días, Kevin.
In front of Bank of America: “Day of Rage – Portland Oregon Protest” (video, Sept. 17, 2011)
Great vocalist singing “Imagine” by John Lennon.
From yesterday. Captions often lag video feed. Back to live video.
Democracy is a culture!
The culture of corruption is what ruins life for everyone …
From “Canada is low-tax haven, Flaherty tells Wall Street” (DigitalJournal.Com, by Andrew Ardizzi, Jun 16, 2011):
{ snip }
OK here’s the fact check on that mythical job creation for Canadians plus more.
OT– “Thousands march against nuclear power in Tokyo” (Indepedent.Co.Uk, Sept. 19, 2011)
Short segment of Zuccotti Square. Folks are getting breakfast. Good.
Segment of suited security apparently stopping videographer from raising the camera so no faces photographed of the people on Wall Street.
Looks like the livestream is back at Fuccotti Park. { LOL } Visual joke of windows within windows. Yeah audio up!
Apparently there have been arrests. Waiting to hear more.
In ten minutes a video up of the 5 – 8 seemly random arrests. Apparently there might be a Channel 7 spot too so look for that. Apparently NYPD barricaded themselves in so much that they choked movement in the financial district, got freaked about it and took it out on the demonstrators.
OT– Canadians angry about government spying petition Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews:
More at Stop Online Spying.
Serious amounts of pizza (just shy of $3k worth) Tweeted in for the demonstrators!
Couple visiting from Denmark review sidewalk display of anti-greed/anti-corruption signs. Chatting with videographer. A bit hard to hear everything being said.
OT– Tokyo anti nuclear protest demo begins (video, uploaded Sept. 18, 2011)
Anti-Nuclear Protest Tokyo (photographs, Sept. 11, 2011)
“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVqM-SbgbWU“>Surviving Japan – A volunteer’s documentary after tsunami” (video circa Mar. 11, 2011, Japanese with English subtitles, by Chris Noland, uploaded Sept. 1, 2011)
—–
6.8 Richter-scale earthquake in Sikkim; incoming reports of over 50 people killed and injured in India, Nepal and Tibet. (Phayul.Com, Sept. 19, 2011)
OT– Serious ruh-roh:
“Radioactive ‘hot spots’ discovered in Tokyo” (RawStory.Com, Sept. 19, 2011)