Estimated 36,000 OWS-er's Converge in New York

The November 17 march began at Liberty Square (f.k.a. Zuccotti Park); proceeded to Union Square where it picked up striking NYU and other students; and then to Foley Square, where it picked up the unions. From there, they proceeded to Brooklyn Bridge.

The police presence has been massive, but they seem to have limited themselves mainly to trying to split up and divert the marchers.

Bloomberg reportedly stated he only expected 1,000 people. Maybe he just meant cops.

Best coverage today has been via TheOther99 on ustream – that's their Channel 1 (w/ Tim Pool); Channel 2 is here (w/ Henry James Ferry {sp?}) – two guys with cell phones, leaving the corp. media in the dust. (Support TheOther99 here!)

The first two window grabs are from the stream from Union Square earlier today.

The third is from near Brooklyn Bridge, at 7:04PM Eastern time; projected onto the building wall is, "99%." The fourth is from the pedestrian way on the bridge (where the cars below were honking their support).

Today was the second monthly anniversary of the beginning of OWS.

PS: Tim Pool has a documentary project, "The Occumentary," that will probably be worth checking out.

PPS: More, "real" photos here.

Came across a nice gif today:

From Agent 23, who explains, "I copied it from an NYPD chat forum. This is the sort of thing some police officers dream of doing to 'protesters,' apparently."

Prosecutions for Bank Fraud Fall

OWS New York Evicted; NYPD in Contempt of Court

At 1AM last night, police cleared Zuccotti Park, allegedly violently – again, after clearing out the media ("for their own safety"). Reports are that the occupiers' computers and other hardware, as well as their tents, were dumped into garbage trucks and hauled off.

At 7-something this morning, a NY court issued an injunction ordering that the protesters must be allowed back into the park pending a fuller hearing at 11:30AM today. Mayor Bloomberg was reportedly informed, and the protesters have one or more copies of the court order, which they showed to the NYPD.

The protesters then returned to Zuccotti, to find it still barricaded.

All times stated in this post are Eastern time.

UPDATE: Per CNN and HuffPo as of 3:33PM: the NY S. Ct. has ruled in favor of OWS.

Further update: That report proved false, at least in part. The ruling was that the protesters should be re-admitted to the park but would no longer be allowed to camp there in violation of rules imposed after the occupation began.

It would be interesting to know the source of the earlier report. {It turns out the confusion arose when CNN belatedly reported the issuance of the TRO some 6 hrs. after it issued and 1.5 hrs. after the subsequent hearing was to have begun, and OWS-er's assumed that this was the decision based on the hearing.}

To fill in a few more details: After the eviction, a temporary restraining order was issued by Judge Lucy Billings holding that OWS must be allowed back into Zuccotti pending the results of a hearing to be held later in the day. This order was issued at 6:30AM and, one source says, was served on Mayor Bloomberg by 7:50AM. The protesters returned to the park to re-occupy the park, but police had blockaded it off and refused to let them in notwithstanding the court order. For reasons as yet unclear, prior to the scheduled hearing, the case was transferred to Judge Michael Stallman. That judge held in favor of the City at approximately 4:30PM.

So for nearly nine hours, Mayor Bloomberg and the police – all of whom had no doubt sworn to uphold the Constitution and laws – were in contempt of court.

Further FURTHER update: The Guardian reports that not only did NYC authorities clear the media from the park grounds before commencing the eviction . . .

. . . the city closed airspace in lower Manhattan to prevent news helicopters taking aerial shots of the scene. Vans were used to obscure views of the park and a police cordon effectively blocked accredited media from reaching the site. Some of those members of the press who were in the park or were able to get there say they were arrested, pepper sprayed or treated aggressively.

One of the few reporters on the scene when the police moved in was Josh Harkinson, a writer for Mother Jones magazine. As police used tear gas to remove the last protesters from the park Harkinson identified himself as a member of the media and was physically dragged out of the park. He was told that reporters had to stay in a "press pen".

Reporters tweeted their frustration using the hashtag #mediablackout and said police were ignoring and even confiscating press passes.

A New York Post reporter was "roughed up" according to the New York Times' Brian Stelter. Lindsey Christ, of local cable-news channel NY1, said on-air this morning that "the police took over, they kept everybody out and they wouldn't let media in. It was very planned."

(Emphasis supplied.)

Timelapse of Earth

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken with a special low-light 4K-camera by the crew of expedition 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station, 2011. Edited by Michael König; more details here. (Thanks, Robin!)

Occupy Portland Supporters "Too Big to Jail"

Watching Occupy Portland livestream. The mayor had decreed the eviction of the camp tonite, but 7,000 Portlanders came out in support of the occupiers. Police are overwhelmed (so far).

(Image thanks to Occupy Portland livestream.)

UPDATE: Observers report that at one point, the crowd chanted to police, "You're sexy, you're cute. Take off your riot suit!"

FURTHER UPDATE: AS OF 4PM the next day (Sun.), the police are back, determined to clear park; media have been evicted; police have announced they WILL use gas and projectiles if necessary.

Further FURTHER UPDATE: (9PM Sun.) The park has been cleared, but protesters are holding a General Assembly nearby to discuss where to reconvene, etc.

Occupy Dallas: Artists for Teachers, Teachers for Arts March

Maybe 50 protesters, not bad for Dallas, considering the camp conducts marches daily, so there's probably a certain burn-out rate.

It's hard to imagine any actual crime occurring in or near the camp, as alleged, given that our march was surveilled by at least eight cops in or on 5 vehicles, wielding still and video cameras – nearly one cop per each half-doz. protesters! If only they watched the bankers so well.

By the way, the camp was (again) immaculate.

Photos by Ben Britt (thanks, Ben!)

The Art Guys Strike Back

Received today:

“No Show”

a non-exhibition featuring nothing at all by Seth Mittag

at

icetsuoH Contemporary Museum of Modern (iCMM)

This non-exhibition will not open on Tuesday, November 15, 2001, 7-11 p.m.

Said The Art Guys, icetsuoH Curators of Modern and Contemporary Activities, “Well, Seth was going to do a show but then he got too busy and had to cancel so we thought that rather than canceling the show, which sounds so, like negative, you know, we decided that we should press forward and go ahead and do this non-show.”

Said Seth Mittag, “I have nothing to do with this.”

For less information, contact icetsuoH Contemporary Museum of Modern

713-409-4750

http://www.theartguys.com/icetsuoH.html