All of 500 people protested on Wall Street yesterday afternoon and then moved to Zuccotti Park, site of the OWS encampment that police forced demonstrators to abandon last fall. When they didn't disperse, the police moved in and began arresting dozens of protestors.
With temps in the 70's, is this all that the OWS crowd could muster to come out and protest? Not much of a mass movement if they can't attract, well, you know, a "mass."
In a painfully long and boring account of the day, the New York Times turns the "not even close" 99% actions into a heroic stand against police brutality:
By 11:30 p.m., as police officers massed on Broadway, a commander announced that the park was closed. Those inside shouted back that the park was obliged through an agreement with the city to remain open. The commander then announced that anyone who remained inside would be arrested and charged with trespassing.
After clearing the park, police officers and private security guards began placing a ring of metal barricades on the park's perimeter, as those who had been arrested were placed inside a city bus.
At one point, a woman who appeared to be suffering from seizures flopped on the ground in handcuffs as bystanders shouted for the police to remove the cuffs and provide medical attention. For several minutes the woman lay on the ground as onlookers made increasingly agonized demands until an ambulance arrived and the woman was placed inside.
By 12:20 a.m., a line of officers pushed against some of the remaining protesters, forcing them south on Broadway, at times swinging batons and shoving people to the ground.
Kobi Skolnick, 30, said that officers pushed him in several directions and that as he tried to walk away, he was struck from behind in the neck. "One of the police ran and hit me with a baton," he said.
[...]
One sergeant grabbed a woman wearing a green shirt by the bottom of her throat and shoved her head against the hood of a car. A moment later, another officer approached and forcefully pressed her head against the car before placing her into the back of a police truck.
If people ignore the police and don't follow the instructions of officers, just what is it they expect the police to do? The cops have a job to perform, there was nothing ambiguous about their commands, and yet the protestors, seeking confrontation, refused to follow the orders of the lawful authorities.
I am not a cheerleader for police. But why write a story about protestors getting manhandled by cops and fail to mention that provoking police to commit violent acts is exactly what the protestors want? This isn't a secret. How can you give an account of what happened and deliberately leave out critical information that would give the reader perspective and context as to why the police acted as they did - and why the protestors acted in the way they did?
A pitifully small group of protestors do not represent the 99%. To claim such is not only loony but arrogant in the extreme.
When there are hundreds of thousands marching on Wall Street, then we can perhaps refer to OWS as a "mass movement." Until then, it will simply be a small, embittered group of leftists whose exploits are magnified by a sympathetic media.
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