Mass Arrests Swell Crowd on Wall Street

On Saturday afternoon, using the illegal crowd-control tactic called kettling, police riot squads swept the sidewalks near Union Square with orange construction nets. In the same way that ocean trawlers capture indiscriminately, officers penned hundreds of peacefully marching Occupy Wall Street protesters together with bystanders, pedestrians, reporters, and neighborhood residents. Witnesses called police targeting of detainees “random.” Freelance photographers snapped this photo of a handcuffed PBS correspondent clearly displaying press credentials on a lanyard around his neck. At least eighty of those detained were eventually arrested. Large crowds joined the protesters Sunday as reports of the arrests circulated.

Detained Women Assaulted and Maced
Citizen photographers captured graphic images of unprovoked police violence, including this disturbing 40-second clip of a police supervisor walking up to five captive women snapping photos and screaming “Oh my God,” pepper-spraying them in the eyes, and then darting away. The apparent justification? It seems the officer didn’t like them voicing their horror while the squad under his supervision tackled, beat, and dragged a pedestrian attempting to escape the net. One nonresisting woman, seated on the pavement, was yanked to her feet by the hair. Another woman was arrested for photographing the violence.

“I saw them take a woman by the neck and throw her to the concrete,” one witness told the ABC local affiliate, which broadcast graphic images of bloodied protesters shot with a smuggled cell phone inside a police van. “We are at One Police Plaza,” the detainee told ABC. “There’s sixteen of us in the back of a van and we’re sweating. There’s a man back here who needs medical attention. He’s bleeding from his head.”

Indiscriminate Detention; Arrests Without Charge
Many detainees were simply on their way from the nearby farmer’s market or the Strand bookstore–or en route to one of the five subway lines intersecting in the area.

Eventually at least eighty of the kettled pedestrians–apparently those who really “looked like” protesters?–were held in sweltering police vans on into the evening. Others were charged with “obstructing government administration” for chanting “let them go.” Reports suggest most were kept for at least four hours without food, water, sanitation, ventilation, or medical treatment.

These events follow Friday’s hilariously inaccurate and biased reports by The New York Times. (Which as most readers know, I’ve found, ahem, unreliable on issues affecting young people other than Yale undergraduates).

Seriously you’ll get more honest coverage at the NY Daily News, not to mention the Guardian. You can get updates at the Occupy Wall Street website and anonymous, or find allied actions in your area at OccupyTogether.

For my money, in addition to the Guardian, you’ll find some of the very best reporting and analysis by freelancer Nathan Schneider of Waging Nonviolence. Also see decent television coverage by, naturally, Olbermann and Moore.

xposted: chronicle of higher education

previous coverage
protests spread to both coasts
police violence escalates: day five
wall street occupation day three
occupy and escalate
big brother on campus
california is burning
will occupation become a movement?
grad students spearhead wisconsin capitol occupation
the occupation will be televised
the occupation cookbook