We’re seeing reports on Twitter that protesters from Occupy Wall Street have marched down to the Brooklyn Bridge, and hundreds of people have begun to stream into traffic lanes, completely stopping traffic on the bridge. According to NY Times reporter Brian Stelter on the scene, “Scratch that: a LARGE # of protesters are in lanes of traffic. Traffic out of Manhattan is now completely stopped.” [Watch live video stream below]
Gawker’s Adrian Chen, who is also down there, wrote, “Shit, they’re shutting down the brooklyn bridge,” and also tweeted a picture of the Brooklyn-bound lane completely blocked. We’ll update as we hear more about what’s going on by the bridge.
Update 4:26 p.m.: Police have no arrived on the scene and have started arresting protesters en masse: “Police going to make mass arrest on Brooklyn bridge,” tweeted Jeff Rae. According to @jopauca, “Two white shirts just beat someone. Someone has video.” There are also reports that police have blockaded both sides of the bridge now and taken out the nets.
You can watch a http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution”>live video stream of what’s going on below:
Update 4:40 p.m.: Protesters are chanting “Let us go” as police seem to be going around arresting people at random. Police could be seen arresting a very young looking girl (15-17 from what we can tell), and people are screaming that they are arresting a “little girl” for no reason (at least one person identified her as 13, but we can’t confirm if that’s true). You can see a screen shot of her below.
Below, you can also see a picture, via Anjali Mullany, of protesters packing into the bridge before:
Update 4:50 p.m.: We could see Hero Vincent, who has been assisting the organizers at Zuccotti Park this week, being arrested by police. Below is another picture that shows several cops arresting a single person, surrounded by a huge amount of protesters:
Update 5:00 p.m.: Things seem to be getting more dangerous down at the bridge for everyone involved:according to @jopauca, “NYPD keeps moving line forward. Its getting really hard for ppl to breathe.” In addition,Chen tweets, “Caravan of police buses heading to the bridge. Have a feeling they arrested a bunch of stragglers.”
Update 5:15 p.m.: While many protesters have left the bridge, or made it across to Brooklyn, some are still there and are being arrested one-by-one by police. @Jopauca is live-tweeting the arrests, including his own: “I’ll be arrested momentarily. See ya’ll soon.” According to Andres Gutierrez, “#nypd taking mugshots on the spot of #occupywallst protesters on the #brooklynbridge.” You can see a pic below:
NotifyNYC is understatedly reporting: “Due to police activity, BK-bound traffic is temporarily suspended on the BK Bridge. There are also extensive delays MN-bound.”
Wikinews is also reporting that,”Natasha Lennard, a lead contributor for the New York Times, has been arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.”
Here is the first official statement from “OccupyWallStreet”
“This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street last night, around 8pm, Sept 29. It is our first official document for release. We have three more underway, that will likely be released in the upcoming days: 1) A declaration of demands. 2) Principles of Solidarity 3) Documentation on how to form your own Direct Democracy Occupation Group. This is a living document. you can receive an official press copy of the latest version by emailing c2anycga@gmail.com.
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*
To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!”
http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/first_official_statement_from_the_occupy_wall_street_movement/
It wasn’t “dozens.” It was 400-500.
Ugly, Very Ugly.
We need those military Veterans (and Everyone), Now!
Indeed,Angel.God bless us,everyone!
They’re a comin’, Angel.
How far are you from Asheville?
hey clark what’s up your from ashville no kidding that’s where my family roots are if not mistaken there’s a town called chandler that was my family here’s another last name rash just curious as soon as i saw ashville thought that was cool well to keep everybody up to date still working im the only american there and all the mexicans are racist towards me im a threat there pushing me up to management as quick as they can just happy im doing something me living in connecticut iv’e been seeing this everyday on the news newyork is right next door to me martial law is coming guys lock and load peace out brian
Is this what John Roebling ,who designed and eventually died over the building of this bridge envisioned?Perhaps so.Once when it was built/Once again when it was consecrated.This is America’s bridge,unlike no other.I wonder how nmany times the Fed has sold it to you?(and me?)
Put more simply it’s the central bankers from the Rothschilds to the Rockefellers with 500 families in between who have conspired to accumulate our stolen wealth over the span of 400 years and we want it back or you will kill us or we will kill you.Why don’t you just take retirement?I will personally draw up a plan especially for you which will far exceed Obamacare simply by giving you .00000001% of what you are presently stealing.That in place, the rest of us won’t need Obamacare as we will no longer have Obama.You can take care of your own.It’s the American way.
I can’t believe the super committee of 12 hasn’t taken care of this.Probably just waiting for Barry’s signature on some cure-all spending bill.He just can’t remember what his name is to sign it.
LOL !. Or his right Social Security number. Or what country he was born in.
Earlier on Saturday, there were 2 other Protests Marches on the Brooklyn Bridge (consisting of thousands of people). One in to Manhattan, one out of Manhattan. One was protesting genetically modified meat, the other was protesting poverty (United Way). There were NO incidents, much less arrests. WTF!
Some say the cops tricked the protesters onto the Brooklyn Bridge and blocked them from leaving. Hence, all of the arrests.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/02/1022016/-New-York-Times-changes-its-story-on-blame-for-Brooklyn-Bridge-arrests
http://i51.tinypic.com/296i2iq.jpg