Before I tell you about this extraordinary day, I need to get something off my chest. I've been waiting since November 4th, 2000 for this day to arrive. When our election was stolen, I was ready to go into the streets, but it didn't happen. I suppose we Americans are slow to anger, but when we do, watch out.
I think we're officially angry.
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Every time NYPD overreacts and behaves like a gang of third rate hoodlums, they hand us another victory.
I was in a sea of great and courageous patriots right on the front lines in Times Square. It was both exhilarating and frightening because, for some reason, the police seemed to be itching for a confrontation. I was surrounded by very level-headed people, who kept everyone as calm as could be when the police on motorcycles rammed through the barricades where we were standing in order to get to the other side of the street.
Let me try and give you a sense of what happened. I was there from about 4:45 until around 8PM. The crowd was peaceful but resolute.
Right from the start, I sensed tension. There were around 10,000 people who had marched from lower Manhattan, they were detained South of Times Square. We could see hundred of signs and flags, but it was clear the police had corralled them below Times Square. They were effectively sealed off from us. no one was happy about this.
Those of us in Times Square were in Metal pens. It's scary when you're in a metal pen and the police are just waiting to fight. I was way too close for comfort. But I didn't know I had placed myself in a danger zone.
Let me show you what I mean. I'm downloading photos from my phone and I'll update this diary as they download.
This is a photo I took right after about ten motorcycle cops crashed through the barricades where I was standing. This was a vicious and uncalled for thing for them to do.
There were hundreds of protestors standing peacefully behind the barriers, doing nothing more than chanting. You can see the barricades in a shambles with one still on the ground. It's a miracle that many people were not hurt by this wanton disregard on the part of NYPD for us, our safety and our rights to peaceably assemble. Why did NYPD motorcycle cops do this? Who the hell knows, the people around me said they do shit like this, because they have small weenies--sick stuff like that. But they do it with impunity.
Here are the motorcycles which had just crashed through, with another barricade still lying in the street. This was scary shit, dear friends, the police on the motorcycles displayed a depraved indifference to human life.
The problems began when a battalion of occupiers approached Times Square from the East, I think they were marching West on 47th Street. When the crowd in the center saw them marching down the street a roar went up. Then the police moved into high gear. They were determined to keep the battalion approaching from the East from crossing Broadway and joining us in the center of Times Square. There was a lot of chanting, signs, flags, but nothing more. The crowd took up a wild cheer of "let them through, let them through". But the police had them firmly behind barricades on 47th Street. I could see a bunch of scuffles from my vantage point, and I gather there were a bunch of arrests.
Then motorcycle cops and the riot cops advanced from the West. I was on the West side of the street and I saw this army of heavily garbed riot police approaching, I knew this was not a good development. Here were the assembled riot police, also very scary, because I knew they were headed for the protestors on the East side of the street.
Then someone in the back of the crowd yelled for everyone to sit down. I thought this is crazy, I want to be able to run, if necessary. I asked why were we being told to sit, and the word went out that when the cops get all nervous and jumpy, the best thing to do is sit down. Sure enough hundreds (maybe 1000) of people sat down and within about ten minutes or so, you could sense the police had calmed down a bit.
UPDATE: I just found a photo on Twitter of the crowd sitting down.
But across the street, the people were really bearing the brunt of police violence. Here you see the horses amassed and it was ugly, people screaming, just truly awful. I'd never seen anything like this sort of violent force used against Americans simply exercising our First Amendment rights. Not good at all, this is not acceptable in this country. People were chanting 'this is what a police state looks like', yes, this is true.
At one point people started screaming "clear a path, an ambulance needs to come through". Well it turned out the police told us that, when in fact they were pulling a paddy wagon into their staging area.
I want to make one final point. It was clear to me the police wanted to make everything as uncomfortable as possible. When I started to leave, all the exits were closed with barricades. I finally found one small opening where literally thousands of people were trying to funnel through. It was a sea of pushing, angry people, including lots of tourists, it seemed such a vicious and unnecessary way to treat the protestors, tourists, anyone who happened to be in or around Times Square.
Our message to NYPD, we'll be back stronger than ever. Everything you behave like thugs, more people gravitate to the cause. So keep it up NYPD.
As I was walking home, I saw the paddy wagons racing up Eight Avenue, sirens blaring, and my heart went out to the peaceful protestors inside those sealed trucks. The sirens are shrill and awful in the wide open street, I can only imagine how jarring it must be to be inside the paddy wagon hearing them.
Welcome to Amerika.