"I just got out of jail. Was arrested despite screaming over and over that I'm a journalist."

[mzflux]

More Than 180 Arrested on Occupy Wall Street's First Anniversary

The Nation
September 18, 2012 - 10:35 AM ET

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In the early morning hours Monday, Occupy Wall Street activists marked the first anniversary of the movement by protesting in the financial district. Hundreds gathered on Water Street and hundreds more in Zuccotti Park, the birth place of

Comments

[metanoiame]

Good article. I like the much-needed emphasis on how incredibly violent and arbitrary the NYPD are, and how they target journalists and protestors indiscriminately. I was completely surprised to find out that the US's Press Freedom Index (from Reporters Without Borders) dropped twenty-seven places in 2011-2012, and RWP attributes it to the handling of Occupy protests. http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html

...that being said, the protests yesterday were pretty disappointing to me. Less than two thousand people, total? No major business interruptions? I expected a lot more from Occupiers. I guess even the mainstream media can figure that out.

[mzflux]

Keep in mind, that was only in Zuccotti Park the night before. Satellite protests happened all over the country on Monday. Even Ottawa, Canada joined in on the festivities.

But yes, the numbers have thinned and communities of protest are more scattered than they were prior to the raids. People are frightened and I don’t blame them, especially in areas where local police have historically targeted communities of color. I may be half Mexican but I have fairly pale skin due to my father’s Native Alaskan heritage. As a result, whether or not I’m mixed in with a crowd, I’m probably not as much of a focal point for racial profiling as I would be if I had a darker complexion.

Mostly though, I just think people are wrapped up in the U.S. presidential election. Which is important, but not nearly as important as keeping political protest alive on a massive scale.

[redstar826]

Even without police presence, it seems hard to maintain big protests. I went to an Occupy protest on its first day. The police presence amounted to one officer who pretty much just wandered through the crowd chatting with people and asking us to not run out into traffic. After the first day of hundreds of people, the crowds faded away pretty quickly (didn't help that the Occupy movement started just as weather here started turning colder and wetter). I was going to school very close to their camp (which I think lasted through the winter) but I never saw any sign of them and there were no efforts to reach out to students (I never saw any posters on campus or anything like that advertising occupy events after that first protest

[mzflux]

I live in Northern California, specifically the Bay Area. Occupy Berkeley mostly consists of students and professors, Occupy Oakland is racially diverse and has a strong anarchist presence, and Occupy San Francisco is organized by a great deal of seasoned activists and veterans.

Admittedly, the weather's warmer than Detroit, but the police presence is also unnecessarily heavy-handed.

Right now though, it seems that the presidential election is in the forefront of everyone's mind. It's hard to avoid, even when you live in a state as blue as California.

[chimbleysweep]

I was watching this via Molly's tweets yesterday.

Just gross.