In New York the Occupiers rampaged caused trouble clashed with police and partook of chaos and mayhem to protest the police clash with the Oakland protestors rampaging causing trouble and partaking of chaos and mayhem to protest whatever the hell it is they're protesting.
New York Daily News:
Occupy Wall Street protesters in NYC proclaim solidarity with demonstrators in Oakland, Atlanta
Protesters stormed through downtown Manhattan on Wednesday night to proclaim solidarity with fellow demonstrators who were forced out of encampments in Oakland, Calif., and Atlanta, Ga.
The drama unfolded when about 400 Occupy Wall Street protesters marched from Zuccotti Park to City Hall only to be met by a swarm of cops about 9 p.m.
The crowd quickly rerouted and began walking up Broadway towards Union Square only to be met by a police barricade near Reade St.
As organizers tried in vain to call off the march, scores of demonstrators splintered off and broke through a wall of cops - some of them even swiping a roll of orange netting used to kettle the large crowd.
"We wanted to go to City Hall to show solidarity with Oakland," said Katama Rose, 22. "We wanted to come out and talk about how that wasn't okay."
But when protesters were held at bay by cops, "that's when everything broke loose," Rose said.
At least 10 people were arrested as the wild mob took to the streets towards Union Square chanting, "Oakland to NYC, stop police brutality."
The group clogged traffic for several blocks in Soho and Greenwich Village after some urged fellow protesters to disobey police orders to stay on the sidewalks.
"We were blocking traffic, linked arm to arm," said Patrick Bruner, 23.
Andy Davenport, 26, encouraged protesters to ignore police "because it's in direct contradiction to the law," he said. "This is how you fight the police state."
The protesters dispersed once they made it to Union Square about 11 p.m. and many took the subway back to Zuccotti Park, where tensions had died down considerably.
The demonstrators were rallying for support after hundreds of protesters were pushed out of their encampment near the Oakland city hall by an army of cops and tear gas.
Several people were injured during the clash, including Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, who suffered a cracked skull in the chaos.
The 24-year-old Marine was in critical condition after he was struck by an unknown object. It was not clear who threw the object, but Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said the incident would be probed as vigorously as a fatal police shooting, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile in Oakland they say they're all about rampaging causing trouble and partaking of chaos and mayhem to protest whatever the hell it is they're protesting.
San Francisco Chronicle:
. . .But the street confrontations are bringing focus to a central question that those in the Occupy Oakland camp debated repeatedly during their 15 nights outside City Hall - whether demonstrators should opt for violence against police, meeting force with force.
The majority has supported nonviolence, and many are frustrated that some in the crowd threw bottles and paint at police. But some protesters favoring aggression are determined to continue the tactic. At the heart of the debate is what message the movement wants to project and in what way.
David Hartsough, who helped lead civil rights sit-ins and marches in the South in the early 1960s, said he has urged Occupy participants in Oakland and San Francisco to redouble nonviolence efforts.
"If people had fought back when police put the dogs on them in Selma and Birmingham, they wouldn't have gathered the support they got," said Hartsough, who founded the San Francisco-based Nonviolent Peaceforce.
When Tuesday's protest devolved into a volley of rocks and tear gas, some organizers took to bullhorns. "If you throw something, you're as bad as a cop," one speaker said to the applause of several hundred people.
A chant followed, conveying the same message, but then someone from the back of the crowd lobbed a glass bottle that shattered on police helmets. Officers responded, lobbing tear gas again.
Occupy Oakland protester Casey Jones, 28, wore a T-shirt Wednesday reading "thrash and burn," and skateboarded up and down Broadway yelling, "Bring it on!"
"I'm all about the riot - we need to be violent," he said. "We need more numbers. We'll just keep marching on."
Back in New York, there's a minor revolt in the "revolution' when it's decided that while they want to replace capitalism with socialism rob the rich feed the poor they DON'T want to help feed the real homeless, professional or otherwise.
New York Post:
Occupy Wall Street kitchen staff protesting fixing food for freeloaders
The Occupy Wall Street volunteer kitchen staff launched a “counter” revolution yesterday -- because they’re angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for “professional homeless” people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters.
For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad.
They will also provide directions to local soup kitchens for the vagrants, criminals and other freeloaders who have been descending on Zuccotti Park in increasing numbers every day.
To show they mean business, the kitchen staff refused to serve any food for two hours yesterday in order to meet with organizers to air their grievances, sources said.
As the kitchen workers met with the “General Assembly’’ last night, about 300 demonstrators stormed from the park to Reade Street and Broadway, where they violently clashed with cops.
Officers made at least 10 arrests when rowdy demonstrators refused to get out of the street and stop blocking traffic. A dozen cops on scooters tried to force them back to the sidewalk.
There were no reported injuries.
The demonstrators said they were angry over the violence in Oakland.
After making their way to Union Square, many of the protesters returned to Zuccotti.
The Assembly announced the three-day menu crackdown announced earlier in the day -- insisting everybody would be fed something during that period.
Some protesters threatened that the high-end meals could be cut off completely if the vagrants and criminals don’t disperse.
Unhappiness with their unwelcome guests was apparent throughout the day.
“We need to limit the amount of food we’re putting out” to curb the influx of derelicts, said Rafael Moreno, a kitchen volunteer.
A security volunteer added that the cooks felt “overworked and underappreciated.”
Many of those being fed “are professional homeless people. They know what they’re doing,” said the guard at the food-storage area.
Today, a limited menu of sandwiches, chips and some hot food will be doled out -- so legitimate protesters will have a day to make arrangements for more upscale weekend meals.
Protesters got their first taste of the revolt within the revolt yesterday when the kitchen staff served only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips after their staff meeting.
Organizers took other steps to police the squatters, who they said were lured in from other parks with the promise of free meals.
A team of 10 security volunteers moved in to the trouble-prone southwest section of Zuccotti Park in a show of force to confront them.
“We’re not going to let some members of this community destroy the whole movement,” a volunteer said.
Some arguments broke out as the security team searched tents -- but no violence erupted.
Overall security at the park had deteriorated to the point where many frightened female protesters had abandoned the increasingly out-of-control occupation, security- team members said.
Rumors swirled that one homeless man had pulled a knife in a dispute the night before -- and that there had been yet another case of groping.
But protesters and a cop on duty told The Post that most of the crime goes unreported, because of a bizarre “stop snitching” rule.
“What’s happening in there is staying in there,” said the cop.
Ok. Got it.
You know, these protestors are eating better than we are here at economic Ground Zero.
Just sayin'. . .
The article on them not wanting to feed the "PROFESSIONAL" homeless is one of the funniest things I have ever read.
ReplyDeleteThey probably don't even understand whose point they are making.
OWS - where hypocrisy meets ignorance in filth.
Yeah, when they don't have to look at them or be around them they're the oppressed, knocked and kept down by the banks and the man or the banker man or whatever.
ReplyDeleteBut when they show up to get some grub they're "derelicts".