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Matador Jumps On Cop Car By Wall Street Bull, Rodeo Clowns Arrested
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 9, 2011
Modified Nov 10, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 9, 2011
Modified Nov 10, 2011
Share
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Today a trio of protesters affiliated with left-leaning pranksters The Yes Men took on the Wall Street bull, jumping a barricade the NYPD has erected around the landmark to keep Occupy Wall Street protesters out. Dressed as rodeo clowns, Hannah Morgan and Louis Jargow scaled the barricades and "began spanking and climbing the beast, traditional ways of coaxing a bull into anger in preparation for a Castilian corrida, or bullfight."
Officers quickly grabbed both clowns and slapped the cuffs on them, according to the Yes Men. But during the arrest, the third protester, dressed as a matador in full traje de luces, jumped up onto the hood of the patrol vehicle parked in front of the bull and "boldly presented his blood-red cape to the beast." In a statement, the activist/toreador said, "I wondered whether I, neophyte matador, could bring down this behemoth, world-famous for charging towards profit while trampling underfoot the average worker. Come what may, I knew I must try."
Surprisingly, the matador escaped without being arrested. The two clowns, however, were charged with disorderly conduct and released an hour later. "This bull has ruined millions of lives!" Jargow yelled as he lay on the ground face-down. "Yet he and his accomplices have been rewarded with billions of our tax dollars—and we, here to put a stop to it all, are thrown to the ground. ¡Un escándalo!"
The bull confrontation comes a few days after Time's Up! staged a similarly whimsical protest, in which a handful of cyclists biked down to the Bull in a mock "running of the bulls." Here's the somewhat awkward video:
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occupy wall street
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wall street bull
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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