Mudflats on Wall Street (Video of Arrests at Protest)
The Mudflats’ New York Bureau Chief, Zach Roberts, has been doing an outstanding job covering the movement known as Occupy Wall Street. He has been our boots on the ground since the protests began, recently putting himself in harm’s way to expose the latest happenings. We’ve posted his photos before, but his current shots, and some outstanding video footage show a decidedly different mood than his earlier coverage.
The following videos show some of the arrests that happened Wednesday night in the Wall Street area.
A quick email from Zach said:
People need to see this stuff… They threw me in front of a moving police car – sprayed another photographer in the face with pepper spray. An AP photographer got a baton in the stomach… The first video is right after a protestor tried to make a leap over the barricades in front of Wall Street.
All the cops are accomplishing is bring more and more MSM attention and footage on to demonstrations that had been previously totally ignored by MSM. The more people the public sees getting man handled and arrested for essentially nothing illegal, the more the attitude of the public will shift toward sympathy to the nonviolent protesters.
Happened in the 60’s and 70’s. No disrespect to MLK but when Americans began to see the violence the Black marchers and counter siters were enduring and the blind hatred some whites had, the more support the Civil Rights movement gained nation wide. That is the difference that TV made. Same thing with the anti war demonstrations.
Lets just hope the Government powers don’t give us another Kent State or Jackson State.
Eric Cantor should be afraid…very afraid. The people have woken up, we are the 99% and we are mad as hell, as we all should be.
cant wait to see that paper zyxomama..sounds great….
just sent another donation, this time through Code Pink who is joining..
Went to occupy site, meet up, there are 925 on the world map…every continent!
Oh yes, Zach and all, please stay safe…as we all know all too well things can easily escalate out of hand,
D’oh – my twitter handle is zdroberts
I see that there are a handful of people that are at the NYC protests – shoot me a DM when you’re there. Im on twitter pretty much until my battery runs out.
Oh, Zach, I forgot to thank you for posting! Thanks so much.
Seeing these photos of the police clearly brutalizing and intimidating peaceful protesters makes me sick. Why would they need to raise their baton against someone who is clearly outnumbered?
Thanks for putting yourself in harm’s way Zach. I appreciate your efforts.
meanwhile poor bagger’s delight Eric Canter is a scared of teh MOBS! him and Herbie ‘the unwashed brain’ Cain are too peas in a pod. this from Wonkettes:
Mincing little twit Eric Cantor was all for a bunch of heavily-armed old white sociopaths showing up at Obama speeches and Town Hall meetings about, uh, denying health care to children and working people. But if a crowd of polite unemployed people camps out in a park to politely blog about income inequality, then watch out, it’s MOBS. The thing is, the mobs will come for Eric Cantor, sooner or later, but we’re still a long way from that point —
can’t wait to throw them two peas in a pot of rice and eat them.
That would surely give you massive indigestion, bubbles my dear.
I was struck by some of the interviews in that everyone seemed to know why they were there – not all reasons were exactly the same, but fit their own circumstance. I also heard someone last night (Ed Schultz?) say that there were groups throughout the area having discussions about the issues. I find that impressive and very reminiscent of my junior year at the University of Kansas.
After the Kent State shootings, college campuses had protests and all sorts of other violence (KU’s was mostly from outsiders). But in trying to make sense of it, we had “Rap Sessions” (nothing to do with the music – this was 1970) with all the various groups on campus including professors and the administration. We were able to share our grievances with them; they were able to share their positons with the students, without it being filtered through the media. We put out a daily newsletter and distributing it to all the dorms and fraternities and sororities. I felt like more positive things came out of that process than negative, the very least of which was a clear demonstration of how important communication is when there is any sort of disagreement.
If these current demonstrations are able to stay peaceful, maybe something good will finally be done.
The Occupy Wall Street people are also publishing a newsletter: the occupied Wall Street journal. Yesterday was supposed to be publication date for issue #2. I tried to find a copy of #1 while I was there, but the crowds were daunting (and that’s a good thing).
Stay safe, Zach, and everyone. It’s hard to tell, but what seems to start the arrests and whatever else it is the police are doing? Had something happened than what had been going on? I noticed a couple of guys in suits. It seemed they were trying to get people to move back tot he sidewalk – were they part of the 99 % or were they connected with the police?
Things didn’t go well in Seattle. The police and protesters had a big confrontation the other day when people tried to set up tents. They were told to take them down and when they didn’t the police moved in. They did say, however, that people could be there, just not with the tents. Some sort of law about not camping in that area. It probably has to do with all the homeless who were camping in downtown Seattle. The weather has turned cold and rainy – without tents or tarps, it’lll be hard for many people to stick it out. Kudos to those who are braver than I am.
The good thing is that the movement has gone on long enough and has spread, so now the media are forced into talking about it.
I attended Wednesday’s march, but left before the police violence started. We are the 99%. Stay safe, mudpups. And tigerwine is correct. I saw no one who was unable to walk on his/her own (no Hoverounds), and in general, everyone was fit, polite, and understood perfectly why we were all in attendance.
I’m re-posting this from the Oyster topic, because it fits in better here, and because I’d like to add, after seeing these videos, that in addition to the other differences I noted previously, that the Wall Street bunch are also physically fitter than the Tea Partiers!
“I’m sitting here wondering (and hoping) that the Occupy Wall Street demonstration doesn’t go awry. I’m really impressed at the level of understanding and articulating the problems the demonstrators talk about. I can’t help but compare them to the early Tea Partiers, hateful, angry and some carrying guns.
“These folks seem to be a broader segment of society: all ages, not just mainly older folks; no swaggerin around with guns on hips; not just whites; they spell their signs correctly and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hate and anger out there. And whereas the TP folks were directing their animosity mostly toward Obama, these people have it right – they are protesting the greed on Wall Street.
Maybe the guy on TV was right: Occupy Wall Street is the left-wing’s answer to the Tea Partiers!”
Not a Hoveround or Rascal in sight!
September 11, 2001 has been used to such extremes. That NYPD or any other cities PD cannot recognize the real dangers among us, than once again our tax dollars have gone down another of shrub’s black holes.
My greatest hope for OWS everywhere is non=violence, passive resistence. Regardless of provocation please do not react. Document. nem
I honestly don’t understand why the police are behaving this way towards the protesters. Don’t they know that the protesters are also speaking for them? Talk about working against your own best interests.
Because they have been militarized in a post-9/11 environment.
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/banzai7-occupy-usa-monopoly-board-here
great reply !!
It’s NYC. The NYPD behave that way because they can. And they get their rocks off of it. (well most of them do anyway).
From: http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/10/06/tea.party.left/index.html
“When tea party rallies flared up across the country more than two years ago, conservative activists were mad about bailouts and their impact on the national debt. To them, government was part of the problem.
“Occupy demonstrators are also upset about the financial crisis and the economy. But they see government as part of the solution.”
Thank You Zach! Now how can we all help? What do you need and what is the best way to get it to you? the ups store address?
Oh yes, I am the 99%, YOU are the 99%, WE ARE the 99%.
Went to occupy DC. Plan on going to occupy Buffalo. We need to occupy everywhere.
We are with you…occupy wall st…..
Stay safe my friend…
Hmmm. I guess Egypt isn’t the only place that people can protest.
Stay safe, Zach, and thanks for the photos. Another mudpup joined in on Wednesday, and Mudpup Jr. Will be there in November.