Thursday brought new life to the Occupy movement, at least for activists and many protesters, as thousands of people marched on Wall Street in the morning and later gathered at Union Square and Foley Square. Two days after the eviction from Zuccotti/Liberty Square, and amidst police clearances of protest sites in other cities, the marches --- which took up many New York avenues and intersections --- were a sign of persistence, even if aims and outcomes are far from clear.
Two days after the battle to stay in Zuccotti/Liberty Square in New York, protesters of Occupy Wall Street are marching towards the Stock Exchange today, promising to shut it down:
2118 GMT: Rumour of the Day. The hard-line Raja News claims that the President cancelled his attendance of the meeting of gas-exporting countries in Doha at the last minute because of Qatar's support for the suspension of Syria from the Arab League.
2115 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. According to the "hard-line" Arya News, MP Mahmoud Ahmadi-Bighash has asked the judiciary to publish the names of 10 legislators involved in the $2.6 billion bank fraud.
The text of the New York court decision on Tuesday allowing protesters to meet in Zuccotti/Liberty Park but preventing them from bringing in tents, sleeping bags, and tarps:
2200 GMT: Josh Harkinson and James West of Mother Jones present the climactic moments of the police raid of Zuccotti/Liberty Square early this morning:
2155 GMT: A New York court has ruled that the city can bar protesters from bringing tents, sleeping bags, and tarps back into Zuccotti/Liberty Square when it is re-opened.
Josh Harkinson of Mother Jones was one of the few journalists --- perhaps the only one --- who could get inside Zuccotti/Liberty Park as it was raided by New York police early this morning. This is his account of the moment when he witnessed the remained protesters being seized by riot police::
I just got shoved out of the park by a police officer. I'm now going to explain what I saw.
The riot police moved in with zip cuffs and teargassed the occupiers in the food tent. Then they wrestled them to the ground and cuffed them. Everyone I witnessed being arrested was resisting peacefully.
As I was observing, a cop approached me and asked me who I was. I told him that I am a reporter with a national magazine, He asked me who. I said Mother Jones. That's when he said I had to leave.
I told him I wold not. That is is my right to be here and observe what is going on. He said that all the press is in the press pen, and that's where I had to go. I said I would not,.That he would have to arrest me, but I would go peacefully. At that point he grabbed me by the arm and started hauling me away. I quickly realized he was just trying to escort me out, so I began resisting. He literally started hauling me across the park. My feet were slipping on the ground.
All around me, protesters were being pepper sprayed and zip cuffed. I realized that I could either drop to the ground and meet the same fate, or let him haul me out. I decided it would be better to stay out of jail and keep reporting on what's going on tonight, so I let him haul me out, arguing with him.
He told me if I stayed in the park I could get hurt. I pointed out that there was no chance of that. I had just been standing around. Cleanup already done for the most part.
Then he dragged me in front of a dump truck that was backing up. He said, "Look, this dump truck is backing up, you could get hurt". I pointed out that he dragged me in front of it.
Then he deposited me on the other side of the street, where I am now sitting on a bench in front of a pizza joint.
UPDATE 0945 GMT: It appears that the situation is now a stand-off as police do not show an inclination to move --- at this time --- on the protesters' central location in the plaza in Oakland.
UPDATE 0815 GMT: Gary Aronsen of Mother Jones: "Loud bangs. People retreat from the plaza as some break windows of City Hall. Vandalism all over. People are pissed about it but can't stop it."
Joshua Holland of AlterNet: "At least five loud explosions."
It appears police have advanced about two blocks, pushing back demonstrators.
Wednesday's General Strike in Oakland, and in the other cities that decide to join --- Portland is not, for the moment, citing the difficulties of organising an effective protest in such a short space of time --- could make the headlines for this week. But, as a cursory look at the Occupy protests last week throughout the US shows, it could be a different story, a different theme, in any of the hundred cities involved in this challenge to supposed corporate greed.
On Friday, St. Paul's Cathedral re-opened after a week's closure, blamed on health and safety issues related to the OccupyLSX (Occupy London Stock Exchange) tent village outside the iconic London tourist spot. While it was a significant seven days for Occupy London, with a second camp established at Finsbury Square and the printing of their own newspaper The Occupied Times, but the week was dominated by the public relations battle that has erupted around the proper role of the Church of England in social justice movements.
Let's not sugarcoat the outcome. This has been a disastrous week for not only the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral but for the Church of England as a whole, as an institution that claims to have any relevance in the modern world. There are two main charges against the Church, but both revolve around that eternal question "What Would Jesus Do?"
LiveStream from Occupy San Francisco in California
UPDATE 0730 GMT: Developments in Oakland and San Francisco in California: in Oakland, demonstrators have returned to the square which was cleared out by police on Tuesday night, although they have prevented --- through the closing of roads from marching on San Francisco.
In San Francisco, protesters are rallying on Market Street, despite rumours that police will move on the area.
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 8:17
