byline | beat Occupy Wall Street

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Sarah Palin

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Occupy D.C. celebrates one-year anniversary with K Street protest

Occupy D.C. threw itself a one-year birthday party Monday, and to celebrate, protesters vowed to “storm” K Street — the symbolic heart of the nation’s lobbying industry.

But the day of marches and teach-ins around downtown unfolded with relative calm. About 50 protesters took to the streets waving signs, chanting and singing. They were trailed by a large cadre of D.C. police, in vans, on foot and on Segways, who obligingly shut down streets for them.

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More than 180 Occupy Wall Street arrests in NYC

Occupy Wall Street protesters celebrated the movement’s anniversary on Monday by clogging intersections in the city’s financial district, marching to the beat of drums that were a familiar refrain last year. Protesters roamed around the lower Manhattan financial district all morning in groups of a few dozen each, from one intersection to another and back again, chanting loudly about the ills of Wall Street. In total, there were a few hundred protesters scattered throughout the city. More than 180 of them were arrested by early Monday evening, mostly on disorderly conduct charges.

Photo Credits: (Marcus Yam/The New York Times), (John Minchillo/AP), (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP), (John Moore/Getty Images), (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Twitter must produce Occupy protester’s tweets or face contempt

Twitter must hand over the tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protester to Manhattan prosecutors by Friday or face civil contempt and a hefty fine, a New York City judge said on Tuesday. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino told a lawyer for Twitter that the San Francisco-based social media company had had 73 days to comply with his June 30 ruling ordering it to produce nearly three months’ worth of tweets from Malcolm Harris. The Occupy member was arrested during a mass march across the Brooklyn Bridge last October. “You have until Friday to cure any potential contempt,” Sciarrino told Terryl Brown, the lawyer representing Twitter. If the company does not comply by then, he said, he would consider Twitter’s earning statements for the last two quarters in determining the appropriate fine. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is seeking the information to combat Harris’ defense that police led the march onto the roadway before turning around and arresting people for disorderly conduct and impeding vehicular traffic. Lawyers for others among the hundreds arrested October 30 on the bridge have echoed that statement. Prosecutors say the tweets, which are no longer available online, may demonstrate that Harris knew police had told protesters not to walk on the roadway. In two separate rulings, Sciarrino has denied attempts by both Harris and Twitter to quash the prosecutors’ subpoena for his tweets, based on privacy and other claims.

Image Credit: (telegraph.co.uk)

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NATO protest takes aim at wars and other issues Demonstrators and diplomats were divided by a matter of blocks as the NATO summit began Sunday. But they might as well have been on different planets. At a noontime Grant Park rally and then on a march to the shadow of McCormick Place, where President Barack Obama held court with NATO leaders, thousands of protesters made abundantly clear their disdain for the Western military alliance and all it stood for. “The people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria and Iran should not be in the cross hairs of NATO,” said Meredith Aby, of the Anti-War Committee, who traveled from Minnesota. “NATO should not get to decide whether the people of the world die or suffer under occupation. From Afghanistan to the Middle East, we demand justice, we demand peace.” Condemnation of war was an overarching theme at the rally, but it was far from the only one. Speakers also railed against economic injustice, climate change and bank foreclosures while pushing for green jobs as well as gay rights, immigration rights and Palestinian rights. “I think we’re seeing a lot of different concerns,” said rally participant Lillian Moats, 65, of Downers Grove, as she looked out over a diverse sea of people including self-described anarchists dressed in black and people made up as clowns. “If we weren’t spending such outrageous amounts on war, we’d have money for human needs. It seems like our country’s priorities are upside down.” Photo Credit: (Eric Thaye/Reuters)

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NATO summit protest photos: Sunday, May 20

Photo Credits: (Chicago Tribune)

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Men accused of plotting attacks around NATO summit

Three activists who traveled to Chicago for a NATO summit were accused Saturday of manufacturing Molotov cocktails in a plot to attack President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home and other targets. But defense lawyers shot back that Chicago police had trumped up the charges to frighten peaceful protesters away, telling a judge it was undercover officers known by the activists as “Mo” and “Gloves” who brought the firebombs to a South Side apartment where the men were arrested. “This is just propaganda to create a climate of fear,” Michael Deutsch said. “My clients came to peacefully protest.” On the eve of the summit, the dramatic allegations were reminiscent of previous police actions ahead of major political events, when authorities moved quickly to prevent suspected plots but sometimes quietly dropped the charges later. Prosecutors said the men were self-described anarchists who boasted weeks earlier about the damage they would do in Chicago, including one who declared, “After NATO, the city will never be the same.”

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The suspects are Brian Church, 20, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, N.H.; and, Brent Vincent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park, Fla.

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Photo Credit: (Chicago Police Department/AP)

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Chicago cops’ new weapon This week, Occupy Chicago welcomes allies from around the country and the world as they descend on the Windy City to protest the weekend’s NATO summit. The Chicago Police Department is ready: Not only has the city passed strict new protest ordinances, but it’s been stockpiling serious riot gear in anticipation of conflict with the protesters. According to a report from the Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt, in recent months the Chicago police have spent over $1 million on riot equipment, including purchasing a controversial LRAD (long-range acoustic device) — a sound cannon designed to cause extreme pain to those in its path. The Chicago Police Department is pitching the LRAD largely as a means to communicate with large crowds: “This is simply a risk management tool, as the public will receive clear information regarding public safety messages and any orders provided by police,” Chicago Police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton told the Guardian. Photo Credit: (toronto.ctv.ca)

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OWS: Cheap shot on cop in Los Angeles

Police say the officer was hospitalized with a concussion.

Video Source: (YouTube.com)

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May Day: Occupy Protesters Take to Streets and Parks

Alex Cacioppo — Contributing Editor — @ BylineBeat

(Brooklyn, New York) The police helicopter buzzed, swooped, and hovered over the gathering to mark what used to be called Labor Day in the United States until the post-WWI hysteria against anything deemed “red” separated this land from the rest of the world, which still commemorates the struggle for labor rights as May Day. It was only natural that Occupy Wall Street got involved. Observing and tagging along through a blazing hot afternoon, a massive column funneled out from Byrant Park and spilled out onto Broadway—against the wishes of fellow ninety-nine-percenter cops, who were seen beating back a few onto the sidewalks until, in an evitable crush, the swarm could not be contained.

Not that the police had anything to fear. Nearly all of the few thousand or so marchers were peaceful. As this reporter ran through the streets to catch up or keep pace, and at times the column of protesters stopped and started, a gaggle of guitarists strummed the strains of “This Land is Your Land,” an anthem of a bygone era that held resonance for those who attended and gave cover to the myriad causes for which they marched: immigrant rights, jobs that pay living wages, peace activism and other strands that tied together at the northern edge of Union Square in the form of a sculpture whose sign read “All of Our Grievances Are Connected.”

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Occupy Wall Street - LIVE STREAM

(Source: @TimCast/Twitter)

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Occupy Movement - May Day March

Photo Credit: (@weeddude/Twitter)

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Occupy protesters march down Broadway in New York City for May Day

Video Source: (@weeddude/Twitter)

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Students pepper-sprayed for protesting at Santa Monica College

Student protesters demonstrating against the rising cost of classes at Santa Monica College in California were met with a barrage of pepper spray late Tuesday.

Around 30 people were attacked, including a small child and a congressional candidate.

Source: (rt.com/YouTube.com)

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Occupy Wall Street urges May 1 strike over arrests Occupy Wall Street activists are calling for supporters to skip work on May 1 to protest what they are calling police brutality during 73 arrests in New York during the weekend. Protesters and members of New York’s City Council held a news conference on Monday to complain about police tactics. On Saturday, police forced hundreds of activists out of Zuccotti Park while they were marking the sixth month of the movement. For the one-day strike in May, Occupy supporters across the country are encouraging supporters to stay out of work and school, and to refrain from spending money. In New York, a coalition of unions and worker justice groups plan to march through the city. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says police were respectful of people’s rights during the arrests. Photo Credit: (Mike Segar/Reuters)

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OWS Woman Elbows NYPD

Activist Cecily McMillan, 23, is seen elbowing her arresting officer in the face as she is lead from Zuccotti Park in video released by police.

Source: (nydailynews.com)

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Occupy protest anniversary ends with police sweep

Chanting and cheering down Wall Street on Saturday to mark six months since the birth of the Occupy movement, some protesters applauded the Goldman Sachs employee who days ago gave the firm a public drubbing, echoing the movement’s indictment of a financial system demonstrators say is fueled by reckless greed. “I kind of like to think that the Occupy movement helped him to say, `Yeah, I really can’t do this anymore,’” retired librarian Connie Bartusis said of the op-ed piece by Goldman Sachs manager Greg Smith, who claimed the company regularly foisted failing products on clients as it sought to make more money. Carrying a sign with the words “Regulate Regulate Regulate,” Bartusis said the loss of governmental checks on the financial system helped create the climate of unfettered self-interest described by Smith in his piece, although Goldman’s leadership suggested he had not portrayed the bank’s culture accurately. “Greed is a very powerful force,” Bartusis said. “That’s what got us in trouble.” On Saturday, six months after the protesters first took over Zuccotti Park near the city’s financial district, the protesters gathered there again, drawing slogans in chalk on the pavement and waving flags as they marched through lower Manhattan.

Photo Credit: (USA Today)