NYPD & Media Reports Attempt to Link OWS to Crime (Again)

The OWS Public Relations Working Group has issued the following statement regarding the recent arrest of two Greenwich Village residents charged with possession of weapons/explosives [emphasis mine].

Re: the alleged link to Occupy Wall Street (OWS) in media reports about the arrest of two Greenwich Village residents charged yesterday with possession of weapons/explosive material.

Since its beginnings in September 2011, Occupy Wall Street has vigorously used its Constitutional rights to protest Wall Street greed, and is firmly committed to non-violence. Nonetheless, Occupy has been subjected to extensive surveillance and repression, and the NYPD takes every opportunity to link OWS to crime.

There is nothing in the news stories to support a link between OWS and the individual arrested; his name is unfamiliar to many OWS activists. A very large number of people came through Zuccotti Park, and there are countless Occupy-related groups nationwide, so it is very difficult to ascertain if one person participated in anything related to OWS.

We urge members of the media to refrain from spreading rumors and misinformation.

There are many things that send up red flags about this case to me.

First, one of the suspects is the daughter of a NYC real estate broker working for Douglas Elliman, a firm dealing regularly with multimillion dollar apartments.

Now, I'll take as many allies from as many walks of life as I can get, but the FBI document dump shows that the wealthy elite, local law enforcement, and the FBI have been working in collusion to quash the Occupy Movement nationwide, and while I'm not going as far as to say that this is a false flag PR hit, even if these suspects really are acting totally independently, the NYPD are chomping at the bit to find any connection between these two and OWS that they possibly can, much in the same way that they tried to link a bike chain holding the Metro Gate open with a 12 year old murder case, which turned out to be exactly that-- an attempt to smear OWS not to mention total bunk, as the link they'd found in DNA evidence turned out to be contamination by a Lab Tech who had worked both cases. To rush to claim a link between OWS and the murder was not only unfounded, it was irresponsible. The only explaination for such reckless behaviour on the part of the NYPD, is that they were participating in a PR campaign against the Occupy Movement.

NYPD Officer Speaks Out Against Police Corruption

Top NYPD Cop tells his officers that in a perfect world, the community would be a ghost town with all the bodies in jail.

NYPD cop secretly records evidence of a ticket and arrest quota system .... A must see:

Police Violence Greets Guitarmy Drummer arriving in Zuccotti

via MrPotatoheadProductions

Lauren (Blue Hair) challenges the NYPD to a rap battle

This is exactly the creative, nonviolent, provocative shit that I love to see.

Hipter Cop Hates Music, Ironically

"Hipster Cop," a plainclothes detective with a love for Ralph Lauren, became an internet sensation last fall when he was spotted looking very fashionable while patrolling an Occupy Wall Street protest. Naturally, his photo spawned an internet meme a fake Facebook profileand even a GQ profile about his fashion sense. Well now, Hipster Cop, a.k.a. 45-year-old Rick Lee, is returning with the Occupy protests this spring. Check out this video of him yelling at musicians to turn down the music and threatening to revoke their sound permit. It looks like Lee wants to be less like a hipster and more like a cop now.


from Occupy.com

March 17th - ReOccupy: Raw Footage

At 4 minute mark. NYPD are violent and predictable animals, but we'll continue to feed them bodies.

h/t to TimesUp's Brennan Cavanaugh

NYPD roughs up Food Bank of America at #OWS

Protesters throw a party outside a bank where they give away food for free.

The Police show up and tear down the tents, throw all the food into the street.

The Police ride away, the protesters arrested, the food despoiled in the street gutter.

That's capitalism for you.

A friend of mine commented sarcastically (it's hard to tell these days):

Damn hippies. Lookin for a handout. Why don't they just get one of those millions of jobs we have that pay just enough to over-qualify them for state assistance, but not enough to pay rent and feed themselves? Bunch of freeloaders. I wish the Almighty White Jesus Christ would come back right now and send all these heathens to the abyss.

NYCLU weighs in on rules used against OWS

New York Civil Liberties Union
125 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004
www.nyclu.org

CONTACT:
Jennifer Carnig, 212.607.3363 / jcarnig@nyclu.org
NLG Contact, Gideon Orion Oliver, 212.766.8050

Rights Groups Urge City to Halt Illegal Restrictions at Zuccotti Park

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 9, 2012 - Arbitrary and inconsistently applied rules and security
measures restricting the public's access to Zuccotti Park violate city
zoning laws, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Center for
Constitutional Rights, and the New York City chapter of the National
Lawyers Guild argued today in a letter to the New York City Department of
Buildings.

The groups urge Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri to promptly address
the violations and ensure that Zuccotti Park is open and accessible to all
members of the public on an equal basis.

"Right now, Zuccotti Park is a public space in name only," said NYCLU
Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "The metal barricades, security
checkpoints and selectively enforced rules not only raise serious
constitutional concerns, they violate city zoning laws. We expect the city
to ensure that the park is managed in a manner consistent with its own
laws."

Metal barricades have encircled Zuccotti Park since the NYPD cleared the
Occupy Wall Street encampment there on Nov. 16. The public can only enter
the park through two gaps where security personnel selectively subject
people to searches.

The groups maintain that these security measures and the constantly
changing, selectively enforced and unwritten park rules violate zoning
laws, longstanding city policies, and park-owner Brookfield Properties'
legal obligations under a 1968 special zoning permit that established the
park as a "permanently open park" for "the public benefit."

In its letter, the groups present a list of these violations. Among them:

* The metal barricades encircling the park violate a city voting law
requiring at least 50 percent of the plaza's frontage be unobstructed with
unrestricted access to all walkways through the park.

* The barricades and checkpoints interfere with the public's use and
enjoyment of the park, in violation of Brookfield's legal obligation to
maintain the space as a "permanent open park." People are reluctant to
enter an area encircled by metal police barricades.

* The barricades constitute a major design modification to the park.
Under zoning law, such modifications must go through a city approval
process, which has not occurred.

* Security personnel have prohibited individuals from bringing an
ever-changing list of items into the park, including food, cardboard signs,
musical instruments and yoga mats even though the park's written rules do
not prohibit any particular items from entering the park. The written rules
only apply to prohibited conduct.

"In a statement issued by Mayor Bloomberg explaining his decision to evict
peaceful protesters from Zuccotti Park, the mayor noted that 'we must never
be afraid to insist on compliance with our laws,'" said NYCLU Senior Staff
Attorney Taylor Pendergrass. "That is precisely what we are asking the City
to do now-comply with its own laws and restore the park to its role as a
functioning public space open to all New Yorkers."

"First Amendment freedoms are particularly vulnerable to selective
enforcement by the government," said Baher Azmy, legal director of the
Center for Constitutional Rights. "Like the constitution, City zoning law
also recognizes that in New York City's public plazas, members of the
public cannot be selectively targeted for the enforcement of patently
unreasonable restrictions."

"Brookfield and the City must remove these restrictions and restore Liberty
Park to the people immediately," said Gideon Orion Oliver, president of the
National Lawyers Guild - New York City Chapter. "Every day they refuse to
do so, they compound the irreparable harm they have done - and continue to
do - to our First Amendment freedoms."

In addition to the complaint filed today, others have made similar
complaints to the Department of Buildings. The Department of Buildings'
online complaint website shows an open complaint regarding the barricades
at Zuccotti Park, and the group "whOWNSspace" states that nearly 100
additional complaints have been filed by other individuals asking the
Department of Buildings to investigate the ongoing zoning law violations at
the park.

To read the full letter, visit
http://www.nyclu.org/files/releases/NYCLU_letter_to_LiMandri_1.9.12.pdf.

My OWS New Year's Eve

NYPD officer to civilian - Get out of my face, "I have a gun on me, okay?"

via ThinkProgress

Arresting 18 members of the 99 Percent Movement, hundreds of New York City police displayed tense and angry behavior in response to a peaceful #D12 protest in the Winter Garden atrium, owned by Brookfield Properties, at the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan. “Don’t get in my face,” one officer told a citizen trying to observe the arrests. “I have a gun on me, okay? I don’t want any people coming that close to me.”

Retired Police Officer explains Police Brutality

One cause of police brutality explained here by OWS protester and retired Philly Police Captain, Ray Lewis at Zuccotti Park. This interview took place 3 days after his arrest on November 17, 2011.

This video compiles multiple angles of citizen journalists.

Occupy Lincoln Center

Yetta Kurland, Attorney for #OWS talks about NYPD raid on Tuesday

Undercover Cops assaulting #OWS protesters

The Plainclothes Officer on the left is the man who @LukeRudkowski videotaped after being punched in the stomach by him.

This is a common police tactic, in which plainclothes cops assault peaceful protesters in an attempt to spur them to violence, giving the police the excuse they need to legitimately (in the public's eye) start mass arrests.

They tried performing Mass Arrests earlier today, but ended up quitting half way through when they were unable to spur #OWS protesters to violence.

#OWS Stay strong.
SOLIDARITY

Footage of arrests at #OWS that the NYPD didn't want you to see

Tear gassing in Kitchen:






Marine Sgt Thomas was there:

NYPD assaults man, punches woman in face, laughs while doing it

There is a court order that protesters be allowed back into the park. That means that the NYPD are illegally blockading the park.

They proceed to illegally assault a man, and punch a woman in the face.

NYPD continues to use violence against #OWS

Brooklyn Bridge Arrests as they happen

From The Free Change Collective:

Click the spotlight in the video immediately below to subscribe.

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The Brooklyn Bridge Arrests

They just told us to hold hands and walk off the bridge

The Police forcing the Media To Leave so that they don't report on the arrests:

Video update from Free Change Collective

These are from back on September 19th, two days into the protest.

White shirt NYPD aggressively shoves peaceful protester for no reason:

Police leave after being confronted with... peace signs:

The guy in the blue poncho encouraging people to "Get Y' Peace Signs UP!" is from the Free Change collective. He was arrested yesterday on the Brooklyn bridge, and may not be released until his scheduled court appearance, months from now.

Sept 26th, day 9

Police try to block the sidewalk, but then relent

You can view all of the Free Change Collective's videos here: http://www.youtube.com/freechangecollective

NYPD Dept Inspector Anthony V. Bologna SHOULD BE FIRED! #occupywallst

From CommonDreams.org

09.26.11 - 9:38 AM

Identified: NYPD Officer Who Maced Peaceful Protesters

A photographer has identified the cruel and cowardly NYPD supervisor who point blank maced a penned in group of young women and then slinks away Saturday at the Occupy Wall Street protests:

Deputy Inspector Anthony V. Bologna of the NYPD Patrol Borough Manhattan South.

TAKE ACTION
If you think Deputy Inspector Bologna should be fired and prosecuted for his abuse of power, file an on-line complaint with:

• Mayor Michael Bloomberg: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
• and, NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly:http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mailnypd.html
• and, the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board:https://www.nyc.gov/html/ccrb/html/complaint.html
  

UPDATED: The Guardian is reporting tonight that Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna also stands accused of false arrest and civil rights violations in a claim brought by a protester involved in the 2004 demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Then, 1,800 people were arrested during protests against the Iraq war and the policies of president George W Bush. Alan Levine, a civil rights lawyer representing a protester at the event, told the Guardian that he filed an action against Bologna and another officer in 2007. The case is expected to be heard next year.

Photo/ http://davidscameracraft.blogspot.com

Photo/ http://www.thevillager.com/villager_113/afteryearsoftrouble.html

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Chief Police Spokesman, Paul Browne, said that the policeman used pepper spray "appropriately."

It's appropriate to mace people for doing nothing?



Lawrence O'Donnell's commentary on MSNBC: