Occupy Wall Street live - Day of Action

[Riot]

Originally Posted by MaTH716

Not sure if that's what you are talking about.

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

You try make everything seem very cut and dry, but that really doesn't seem to be the case.

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'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.

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.

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?

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.

Let's see what the commute home brings.

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