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Videos: Surveillance Footage Of OWS Pulling Off Free Subway Stunt
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 31, 2012
Modified Mar 31, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 31, 2012
Modified Mar 31, 2012
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On Wednesday, members of Occupy Wall Street and TWU Local 100 chained open subway entrances in several stations, treating straphangers to "free" rides. The MTA, NYPD and FBI were obviously none too pleased about it, and have been investigating the incident since. Today, they released three video clips that show suspects in hoodies and gloves pulling off the stunt.
The clip above took place around 7:20 a.m. Wednesday at the Fort Hamilton Parkway subway station. While most of the people are wearing hoodies and masks, there is one man taking photos of them who isn't wearing anything to hide his identity.
The clip above was taken around 5:55 a.m. Wednesday at the Beverly Road subway station. The clip below was taken around 5:15 a.m. at the East 166 Street and Lexington Avenue subway station.
In one email, activists described the action as "a coordinated response to escalating service cuts, fare hikes, racist policing, assaults on transit workers’ working conditions and livelihoods — and the profiteering of the super-rich by way of a system they’ve rigged in their favor."
In another email that circulated among Occupiers, one person described how the stunt was pulled off: "From what I've pieced together from several sources (and it's hard to get the full story) OWS activists got phone numbers for station booths (probably from [redacted], a retiree from the union) and called in and posed as turnstile maintainers and did the action." Based on the clips though, most of the participants don't look much like city workers to us.
Tagged
fre subway
occupy wall street
ows
subway
train
TWU 100
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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