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Occupy Wall Street May Day Protests Begin With Dancing Cops, Blocked Traffic, Barricades
By
John Del Signore
Published May 1, 2012
Modified May 1, 2012
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Christopher Robbins/Gothamist
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 1, 2012
Modified May 1, 2012
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Gothamist's Christopher Robbins is currently out reporting on the various demonstrations, marches, and direct actions today—for up-to-the-second May Day reportage, follow along with him on Twitter and the #M1NYC hastag. A morning rally at Bryant Park turned into a march through midtown (mostly on the sidewalk) and Times square, with an estimated 350-400 activists converging outside the Chase bank on Sixth Avenue and 50th Street. Here are some updates from the across the field, from Robbins and others:
Dancing NYPD to peers re "hey hey ho ho" corporate greed chant: "it's got a nice cadence to it." reply: "you're an occupier now" #MayDay
— Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) May 1, 2012
NYPD allow protesters to block 51st street. Security guard in front of Banana Republic holds his nose#M1GS twitter.com/ChristRobbins/…
— Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) May 1, 2012
One construction worker to another, "I'd like to march over to O'Briens and occupy the bar" #OWS #m1nyc
— Tejal Rao (@tejalrao) May 1, 2012
Protesters beware of Agent Provocateurs within the crowd. Also beware of DHS roaming around. #M1GS
— Dee Faced (@HeavenLeeOps) May 1, 2012
Arrest at 44th and Madison. Guy was straight tackled by NYPD. He only seemed to have run across the street. #m1gs
— Andrew Katz (@katz) May 1, 2012
Construction workers on 45th street chant 'get a job!' in time to the drums #M1GS
— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) May 1, 2012
#MANHATTAN #NYPD REQUESTING BACKUP AND WAGONS TO MULTIPLE AREAS. 'LOOKS LIKE TODAY WILL GO DOWN VERY VIOLENT IN NYC' #OWS #MAYDAY #911BUFF
— 911 OPERATOR(@911BUFF) May 1, 2012
There was a brief scuffle with police outside the Chase bank as demonstrators tried to push their way into the bank, but no arrests were made. One protester, seen here, was arrested during an attempt to block traffic at 42nd and Sixth Avenue, and one witness says another protester was arrested for trying to do the same thing on Madison Ave.
Meanwhile, down at Union Square, Village Voice restaurant critic Robert Sietsema reports the park is heavily barricaded in preparation for today's permitted rally—his photo shows a barricade moat surrounding the southern edge of the park. "I don't think I've ever seen so many barricades in 1 place," Sietsema writes. "Not only 1 set but concentric circles of barricades focusing on the stage that's been setup right across from whole foods. Pedestrians coming out of the subway bewildered by the maze."
Just after 11 a.m. in Williamsburg, an estimated "few hundred" protesters are poised to march across the Williamsburg Bridge.
UPDATE: 12:05 p.m.:One witness says three protesters have been arrested on the Williamsburg Bridge so far for trying to block traffic; another says that four were arrested for covering their faces.
Update 12:17 p.m.: At Bryant Park, Jake Dobkin says protesters are now on the move toward Park Avenue. It's possible they're responding to this Tweet from the Occupy Wall Street May Day feed: BREAKING: need more ppl at 41st and park, 7 police vans full of riot police, and NYPD is starting to kettle!
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn:
NYPD has shut down Williamsburg bridge to car traffic. #M1NYC
— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) May 1, 2012
And in midtown earlier:
I'd beremiss not to note that in a mostly white crowd the guy being arrested is a person ofcolor #m1gs twitpic.com/9g13if
— Sarah Jaffe (@seasonothebitch) May 1, 2012
Update 12:40 p.m.:
Police have blocked off ALL traffic to the Williamsburg Bridge, including vehicular traffic. Line of riot police standing in the street #OWS
— OWSTactical (@OWSTactical) May 1, 2012
In midtown, Dobkin reports picketing outside the Capital Grille. Protesters are chanting, "1 2 3 4 don't go through that restaurant door 5678 until they don't discriminate" and "next stop is chipotle." (Referring to Chipotle's farmworker labor standards.)
Update 1:35 p.m.: The "bike bloc" protesters are getting the attention of the NYPD scooter brigade in the East Village, and the anarchist "Wildcat" march is staging with a giant "FUCK THE POLICE" sign in SoHo.
NYPD scooters escort protesters in a loop on Houston St. #m1nyc twitter.com/ChristRobbins/…
— Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) May 1, 2012
The Wildcat march is critical of law enforcement. #m1sg twitter.com/RDevro/status/…
— Ryan Devereaux (@RDevro) May 1, 2012
Police now violently pushing into crowd, arresting people at random. At least 3 detained #m1nyc twitter.com/ChristRobbins/…
— Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) May 1, 2012
Update 1:42 p.m.: Robbins says the Black Bloc "Wildcat" march is headed south from the park at Forsyth and Broome, with an estimated 400 protesters in the street marching against traffic. Several arrests have been made, with police protesters knocking cameras out of photographer's hands. Here's video of some arrests.
Now marching on Hester, crowd seems poised to head to Broadway. Still no NYPD #m1nyc twitter.com/ChristRobbins/…
— Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) May 1, 2012
#NYPD broke glass 1st! “@jamiekilstein: Another arrested glasses smashed to the ground and the crowd breaks into a run #m1nyc #mayday #ows”
— OWSTactical (@OWSTactical) May 1, 2012
Update 2:12 p.m.: Robbins describes the scene as "Total pandemonium. Police made two incredibly violent arrests at the western corner of Washington Square Park. Police shoved press 30 feet away to arrest two people." Trash cans and street furniture were tossed in the street throughout the march, and Dobkin reports "lots of chants of fuck the police from New York to Greece."
Update 2:24 p.m.: Most of the anarchists have either dispersed and headed to Union Square, where all today's marches are converging for a permitted afternoon rally and musical performances. James Thilman is headed down from Bryant Square park with a march, and estimates several hundred protesters on the sidewalk. (One yelled to the cops accompanying them on scooters, "Give us one lane down Fifth Avenue! You can do it!"
Update 2:42 p.m.: Protesters spilled out into Fifth Avenue on the march from Bryant Park to Union Square, and Thilman witnessed police tackling a protester but subsequently letting him go. Police set up a barricade to try and force the march back onto the sidewalk to no avail. "I think police have given up" trying to push protesters off the avenue.
Just got crazy: Protesters force themselves onto 5th Ave at 33rd. Traffic blocked, cheering! Police in a frenzy! #M1gs twitter.com/jbthilman/stat…
— James Thilman (@jbthilman) May 1, 2012
Update 3:11 p.m.: Protesters marching in the on a circuitous route from Greenwich Village to Union Square have met stiff resistance from police, with Robbins reporting at least six arrests at Sixth Avenue and Waverly. Police shoved a woman standing on the sidewalk, sending her to the ground. Protester Elliot Epstein was bleeding from the head after police arrested him. His friend, Anthony C., tells us, "Police grabbed the back of his head and smashed his face into the ground. He was bleeding everywhere. His face was covered in blood. So they wrapped his head in a sweatshirt and dragged him away."
Tagged
May Day
occupy wall street
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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