As most of us have by now read or heard that the Occupy Wall Street protesters were forced out of Zuccotti Park in downtown Manhattan (financial district) at about 1am on November 15th, 2011, after two months of occupation. I work for an independent publishing firm across the street from Zuccotti Park on Broadway, and I walk Zuccotti Park at least twice a day. It was very eerie this morning – the park was completely cleared of the tents and sleepy protesters and replaced with hundreds of NYPD with masks.
The protesters crowded the streets surrounding the park during the day before they were allowed back in under close supervision of the NYPD. I walked around after 5:45pm – the tense and ominous environment was very different than it was the past two months. These protesters weren’t just angry about abstract ideas and wikipedia explanations of economics – they were angry at something specific now.
I went back to Zuccotti Park at 8:30pm and started listening to and photographing one of their unique meetings – the protesters aren’t allowed to utilize megaphones, so their method of mass communication is for the main speaker to deliver phrases or short sentences, and for the crowd to repeat those exact words in an organized manner. It’s actually pretty impressive that this seemed to work, although many people present were like me – not really “occupying,” but witnessing without participating.
completely destroyed landscaping
the protesters wave their hands kind of like “jazz hands” if they agree with the main speaker
I heard one of the protesters near me yell in an angry tone. I wasn’t planning to use the camera on my ipod nano because it’s poor quality at night, but I suspected that his taunts will lead to something. He provoked by antagonizing the NYPD by yelling at them. I suppose the rest of the crowd assumed that the NYPD were guilty of something, and soon everyone joined him. I didn’t see NYPD respond at all, but instead witnessed the entire park lose their focus on their meeting and scream at the NYPD collectively.
Protesters and press climb the park ledge and
swarm two NYPD officers
90% of NYPD isn’t even near the park
All photographs and video copyrighted by Adrianna Grezak
Here is what I videotaped – it’s low quality but it captures what I experienced.
