At the new Occupation of Union Square, a pattern is emerging. For five days, since the NYPD attacked the attempted re-occupation of Liberty Square, hundreds of people have Occupied the park in midtown Manhattan. For the past two nights, using the pretext of ¨midnight park cleaning¨, NYPD has responded with heavy-handed tactics to enforce a curfew on the park for the first time in history since it opened in 1882. Twice, NYPD has come under cover of darkness to harass and intimidate the peaceful Occupiers.
Last night, thousands of New Yorkers converged on Union Square for the #MillionHoodiesMarchto demand justice for Trayvon Martin and all victims of racist terror. The NYPD also turned out in massive numbers and attacked the marchers, who responded with chants of ¨no justice, no peace, no racist police!¨ In a scene reminiscent of the September march for Troy Davis during the early days of the Liberty Square Occupation, the NYPD once again stole the show, turning a march against the killing of a Black 17-year-old into yet another scene of police brutality against protesters.
The crowd was split into several smaller marches by police assaults. One group filled Times Square with chants of ¨We are Trayvon Martin!¨, while another headed to the Brooklyn Bridge, and a third converged on Liberty Square (which NYPD had already barricaded). Nearby, top NYPD brass were caught on livestream violently arresting and swinging batons at peaceful protesters.
As the march arrived in the financial district, protesters overturned the barricades on Wall Street and climbed the iconic Wall Street bull that NYPD has vigilantly guarded ever since #OWS began, long a symbol of the banking and financial industry´s greed. The police were quick to rush to defend the symbol of the Stock Exchange, receiving chants of ¨Whose cops? Wall Street´s cops!¨ In the United States, police attack nonviolent protesters for challenging economic inequality, but killers of unarmed youth of color are left alone.
After the Million Hoodie March, many Occupiers returned to Union Square for the night. They were met with an even larger police presence. Occupiers were doing nothing except socializing, playing music, and resting when hundreds of police, with many high-ranking officials and riot squads present, set up barricades. As though trying to incite a riot, the NYPD forced them from their peaceful encampment once again, formed a human chain around protesters, and threatened to arrest anyone who sits in the park.
For two nights now, in a display of wishful thinking, local corporate media has claimed that Occupy Union Square was evicted. But we´re still there. Last night, after being kicked out temporarily, Occupiers merely marched around the perimeter and waited in a tense stand-off until police finally left. Given the increasingly aggressive temperament of the NYPD commanders on the scene, many expected a violent mass arrest which, luckily, did not occur - most likely because literally 100s of thousands of people had been watching the night´s events on Livestream.
It is yet to be seen how long the NYPD will continue this nightly dramatic waste of city resources. While it would cost nothing to allow homeless protesters to sleep in a 24-hour public park, it costs a lot to kick them out. And it is a waste -because every time the city has attacked, protesters have stood their ground nonviolently and returned as soon as the police leave and rush hour traffic wakes up. The NYPD is waging an unwinnable war on dissent.
Stay tuned - there is a lot planned for the coming days!
