Several people have asked that I repost this article here. Here it is in full reprinted from OpEdNews.
Saturday morning the sun arose over Wall Street rousing the recent Occupants of Federal Hall. Unstirred by what over the week had become hectic routine the individuals rose to make way for the repeated ritual of power-washing the stone steps on which they successfully sought refuge from eviction from the street by the NYPD. This morning instead was quiet. A smaller police presence and no one armed with a hose to spray their roost came to the site.
What a difference a day makes.
Photo by Julian Kliner
Friday morning began in stark contrast: the Occupiers frantically rising to gather and transport their belongings amidst the chaotic herds of "suits" flocking to their Wall Street lairs. Having successfully endured another sleepless night, strictly enforced by a large contingent of police officers, they gathered their signs and other possessions and made the trek east to 60 Wall Street where a few took the opportunity to close their eyes for a few moments relaxed in the surrounding atrium. Throughout the previous nights periodic "raids" by the NYPD ensured no one remained on the steps who may have closed their eyes and potentially nodded off for a moment. The tactic of sleep-deprivation and its consequences did not go unnoticed; a few times the generally amicable Federal Park Police offered to obtain assistance and contact a shelter to provide a bed for those clearly showing the eroding signs of its effects.
While most took advantage of the brief respite from their vigil a few remained behind to symbolically maintain their continued physical presence while documenting this surreal ritual. Up and down, back and forth, and then do it again. Over and over a sole worker would slowly shift the condensed stream emanating from the hose repeatedly cleaning to a meticulous degree the steps fronting Federal Hall and facing out onto Wall Street.
The unprecedented concern for cleanliness was not only viewed by the throngs of financial district employees and the handful of early-rising tourists; it was also "streamed" globally via the internet to a viewership which tended to rise steadily throughout the day and approached two hundred logged in at any one time. A small, but significant, contingent of viewers and chatters endured the previous sleepless night in solidarity with them, on the Occupiedair Ustream video stream with its accompanying chat. Those often thousands of miles away participating directly by purchasing coffee and pizza for those braving the hardships of this increasingly symbolic vigil in defense of the foundational rights covered by the First Amendment.
"This never happens," stated one local resident referring to the now-daily scrub-down, "except now that you're here." Two more later confirmed the suspicions harbored by the team of streamers and chatters who debated the issue since the practice started Tuesday, their second day on the steps, after similar attempts to deter and then forcefully remove them from the neighboring sidewalks via early morning "hosings" failed. It was only NYPD's Monday about-face on the first-amendment protected right of "sleep" as a means of protest, confirmed by the previous District Court ruling in Metropolitan Council v Safir, 99 F.Supp.2d 438 (2000), that caused the Occupiers to flee for sanctuary under George Washington's shadow on the site where the Bill of Rights was successfully jockeyed through the first US Congress. At this historic location the stalwart Occupiers successfully obtained refuge under the protection of Federal Law, particularly the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, to defend the First Amendment. New York's Mayor and NYPD's jurisdiction stopped at the sidewalk. A showdown was imminent.
This group of Occupiers succeeded after eight months of the movement to literally in addition to figuratively "occupy" Wall Street, successfully maintaining their 24-hour vigil in the shadows of the Stock Exchange -- month's after Bloomberg used the NYPD to forcibly break up the aptly renamed Liberty Square a few blocks to the north.
By early morning the Occupiers returned to the steps now so meticulously scraped and scrubbed that one could safely perform surgery on them. The habit became so engrained that by Friday the Occupiers did not rely on the "friendly" wake up message delivered by a uniformed Federal Officer and simply began their chores autonomously at the crack of dawn. Sparkling in the early morning sunlight the steps were systematically repopulated while herds of "suits" emerged from the nearby subway heading to work.
The first objective of the day was to unfurl a bright yellow banner with black letters signaling simply "Occupy Wall Street" in the direction of the New York Stock Exchange building on the adjacent side of Wall Street.
Eventually a myriad of other signs simply drawn with black marker on cardboard boxes populated the right side stairs to Federal Hall. They had by then been told, however, that there was a limit to the numbers who could be present on the steps. Out of this the "Occupy 25" emerged -- a conglomerate of diverse voices, ages, sex, race, and religion of a few hundred individuals who would alternate without any clearly defined shifts yet established to "fill" the stairs to their "legal" capacity.
The evenings were different. While some nights went remarkably without a hitch, including several nights during which the Occupiers amused themselves with what they coined "OccuTheater," where a computer was used to project videos initially onto a wall of a neighboring structure, but when the barricades came they utilized that to their advantage by propping thereupon a large white board to serve as a screen. Thursday night was the last such event, during which they screened the movie "V for Vendetta," which features its main character, disguised in the Guy Fawkes mask often associated with Occupy events, confronting corrupt government and corrupted officials. Other nights, by contrast, were replete with tension as NYPD officers would continually confront individuals within the group threatening, and several times effecting, arrests for things such as violations of the City's alleged noise ordinance after 10 p.m.
These repeated threats occurred in what can only be described as arbitrary and unpredictable waves. One evening an officer even threatened to have the ASPCA forcefully take Ava, a dog that has affectionately come to be known as "OccuPuppy," from her owner, Jack Amico, stating it was unlawful for dogs to sleep on New York's sidewalks, and that to avoid the loss he would have to continually hold her in his arms while present on Wall Street.
At other times, in what defies rational explanation, the members of the police took a more lax and stand-offish approach and let the Occupiers gather with little interaction both on the steps and out into the street through much of the evening. They would often share stories, engage in tactical discussions, or simply chill out to the tunes provided by the many talented musicians in the group. A notable stand-out in this category, visible at a distance by her short-cropped metallic blue hair, is the Occupier named Lauren who has been present since the first day of the sleepless protest two weeks ago. She is exemplified by a voice that would cause Janis Joplin to tear up complemented by her accomplished guitar accompaniment with powerful renditions of songs like Lynerd Skynerd's "Simple Man." The group often joined in with the singing without once being threatened, in contrast to those other nights, with noise ordinance violations.
Something odd, however, occurred on Friday morning. Although a Sergeant in the Park Police agreed that the metal barricades erected by the NYPD on the steps of the Hall were neither necessary nor appropriate for the site, during a productive conversation displaying the mutual respect of the two groups with Brando, an occupier originally from the Tampa area in Florida, who operated the video camera while standing vigil during the previous day's washing. Even going so far as to agree that as long as the productive dialogue and the cooperation of the Occupiers continued he couldn't see why they couldn't remove those offensive barriers -- with the exclusion of those separating the Hall from the street, where NYPD's jurisdiction resumed -- within the next few days. Despite the evolution of this productive relationship Friday morning witnessed a number of Park officials measuring the steps on the right side of the building. They actually mapped out a "Free Speech Zone" within this small area and published it officially on their website, whereupon a few days prior they had alerted visitors that due to their efforts to not interfere with "those participating in 1st amendment activities," that they would instead be utilizing the back entrance for visitors for as long as those activities continued.
It is not certain why this was done and there are many legitimate questions and concerns about the implications of such a formal area (is there then, by definition, a dominant portion of space that is "unfree"?). But as a significantly larger deployment of police forces, including SWAT and Counterterrorism Unit officers, mobilized on the Street that morning, it appeared possible that the zone, although a formal recognition of restrictions on liberty, was established for the protection of the rights of the Occupiers. It served to formally declare a border that existed between two, literally, armed camps of the two police forces now facing each other. It established a zone, thereby, where the NYPD had no authority to evict or threaten arrest.
It was apparent before noon that something was clearly brewing.
Shortly after lunch, at Zuccoti Park (nee Liberty Square), another large gathering of Occupiers formed and engaged in educational and training seminars before breaking into four groups that headed out on a mission to "capture the flag," several of which had been strategically located in the many Privately Owned Public Spaces -- or "Pops" -- scattered throughout the downtown business district.
Back at Wall Street, however, there were other actions and activities of the City's police that were new to the scene, including the erection of barricades that appeared designed to keep the Occupiers away from the public. The Occupiers named their penned-in area the "Freedom Cage" which, ironically, only seemed to draw more attention from those on the street. In prior days, by noon and continuing through dusk, a circus like atmosphere evolved -- with tourists and "suits" both seeking to have their pictures taken with Occupiers. Crowds gathered at the foot of the gated steps listening to the chants and songs of the group and at times engaging in one-on-one or group discussions on issues ranging from corporate corruption to the essential role of education in a democratic society. Many would stand there for an hour or more deep in conversation with those behind the gates. Often the visitors to the "Cage" brought food which was to be shared among the Occupiers, several of whom had by this point gone several days without sleep and with very little to eat. They good naturedly joked to the public with chants of "Please don't feed the Occupiers."
By the end of Thursday's business Wall Street actually appeared to be smiling as a carnival feeling descended with guitars and a sax player ringing out songs such as "America The Beautiful," the Occupiers in numbers far exceeding twenty-five spread throughout the street and sidewalks mingling with traders and tourists, and a conga line danced carrying the long yellow banner on a tour around the public spaces outside of the Stock Exchange.
But Friday was different. The significantly elevated police presence seemed displeased at the early morning "shenanigans" of the Occupiers and by noon were erecting not just one additional barricade but two -- this time, however, to limit the flow and access of members of the public on the streets, significantly limiting their ability to stand and engage those on Federal Hall's steps. Penned in like cattle being led to the slaughter the pace and flow of pedestrian traffic was significantly elevated, while at the same time their liberty of movement was substantially hampered.
In contrast to previous days individuals felt uncomfortable stopping, while those who did pause to snap a portrait or engage in conversations found themselves bunched up and impeding the flow of traffic. With Wall Street always already permanently closed to vehicular traffic this served no visible purpose other than to remove the majority of the street from access to members of the general public. The Street's center was vacant or alternatively, and over time in greater proportion, filled with a long line of multiple police vans with numbers of armed officers standing at the ready. It was as if an army were preparing for a siege on an enemy encampment.
It was readily apparent from the start that this tactic would in fact accomplish, even if not actually by design, scenarios where the officers would be given the appearance of "justification" for intervening and instructing the individuals in the gathered groups to instead "move along" and stop their engagement and discussions with the denizens of "the Zoo" or what also obtained the playful moniker of "OccuZoo."
With the NYPD in dark blue, its senior officers in their notorious "White Shirts," lined up and gathered at the center of the street, others in either the brown of Park Rangers or the light blue of Federal Park Police stationed themselves around the perimeter of the "Free Speech Zone." The center of American capitalism took on an appearance more like that of a demilitarized zone precariously situated between two hostile nations.
Eventually, as could also have been predicted from the start, individual police officers took umbrage with those who did not as fully or quickly comply with their orders to disperse as they wished. They manhandled several individuals without necessarily distinguishing between those deemed protesters from others more "legitimately" present on this street on any given day.
By three o'clock tensions were running high and one could sense that arrests were imminent. It was just then that for what appeared no apparent reason a number of armed SWAT members, garbed entirely in non-reflective black gear, along with several Counterterrorism Unit officers, charged one individual and forcefully rushed him up the stairs, to the left of the statue of Washington where the Occupiers were not permitted, and began struggling with him to physically conduct a search.
It appeared the day's first arrest had taken place when suddenly to everyone's surprise he was released and walked back down the steps. "What was the charge?" one bystander called out. "They accused me of rolling a joint," said the victim, who during what appears an unlawful search and seizure, was found to be without any drugs or paraphernalia. As he wound his way back into the anonymity of the gathering crowd, now being joined by the "marchers" concluding their "capture the flag" challenge, several people wondered whether the NYPD were making assumptions based on the coincidence that the date was April 20th, or "4:20" an informally recognized "holiday" making reference to a time of day generally associated with smoking marijuana and even coming to serve itself as yet another synonym for the vilified weed.
The reasonable resolution of that affair, however, would not fit a description of what was shortly to follow.
As the crowd swelled, and the room to move grew ever more stifling, the NYPD officers stationed at the center of the street became more impatient and began more forcefully to engage with those walking past. As a group appeared to pause, not necessarily to stop for any particular reason beyond having no particular place to go and little room to maneuver, several officers charged in and forced a few individuals violently to the ground. Now the arrests had truly begun in what appeared to be an entirely arbitrary fashion. This action incensed the crowd -- Occupiers and "other" pedestrians alike -- and shouts and chants began to ring out. The police activity grew in scope and became more frantic.
It was then that several participants in Occupy Wall Street's "Spring Training" March, yards away from those who occupied the steps, lay down on the sidewalk -- without actually blocking anyone's movement or access -- and held signs above their heads in a clear act of Civil Disobedience. A large number of officers, far more than necessary, moved in to affect the arrests. Again these actions were met with complaints of unnecessary and unwarranted brutality from those aligned with the Occupy movement and even many unconnected bystanders.
Tensions were now running extremely high as the remaining portion of the hyper-inflated and over-armed force moved in to cordon off all the remaining pedestrians. Those occupying Federal Hall's steps were ironically left untouched in this moment of chaos and became substantially isolated from the billowing throngs filling the street -- apparently secured and surrounded by the blue-shirted Federal officers, a few of whom were strategically perched on the building above and behind them, facing the street in what appeared almost as a stand-off between the City's uniformed officers and the Nation's. The Park Police, throughout this turbulent period, remained at their stations and stood straight and calm steadying their gaze down onto the frantic activities on the street below.
Drums began pounding, wind instruments were blowing, and guitars strumming as people throughout the street chanted and sang in protest of the police action. It appeared a large number of arrests would now emerge from this dual agency face-off and a group of about twenty protesters, isolated in the middle of the street, danced frenetically while pushing up against the barricades. A black flag with the single word "Occupy" in white waved over their heads as they moved rhythmically to the beat of the chanting and drumming.
This matter remained as tense as such for what seemed an eternity with no movement one way or the other. Wall Street had been shut down. Not by protesters -- but by the police. Tensions remained high throughout the stand-off, several times NYPD officers appeared ready to take action to evict or arrest those constituting the Occupy 25 of the moment stationed and standing their ground on the steps.
Each time the NYPD appeared ready to move in, however, a ranking member of the Park Police would walk up to the gathered officers apparently engaged in the planning with a piece of paper in his hand. The paper's function was to communicate to the members of the City's force that the Occupiers in fact had a right to be there, guaranteed by the First Amendment, recognized by the Park Service, and that the Federal officials were there to protect that right. New York's finest, it effectively pointed out, had no authority on the Federal property.
Witnessing all of this, once again, were the livestreamers accompanied by their viewers and chatters from across the country and around the world. Occupiedair has seen regular viewers from Florida, to Oklahoma, to California and the Pacific Northwest and even Hawaii. They have also had participants join in from places such as Germany, Sweden, and Brazil. This is the only accurate way to describe what in traditional media would be simply the "viewer" or mere receiver of information. This is by contrast a fully interactive medium for the user.
On Friday afternoon, Occupiedair was joined by at least four other streamers -- each boasting that their viewership rose throughout that day into the range of four to five hundred at a time. Something was happening here. And it was being captured for the world to see -- both in live and recorded video -- by a new generation of "citizen-journalists" who pride themselves on delivering to the public what the "mainstream" media fails to show.
Thorin Caristo, of Occupiedair, has employed three other young Occupiers, Tony and Brando recently from Occupy Florida and Yuri -- who is originally from Russia and often adds a comic sense of humor to his "streams." They have collectively covered the days since the group took refuge on the Federal steps providing nonstop 24-hour access.
Prior to this, during the period the "sleepless" protest took place on the nearby sidewalks, two young women, recently relocated to the City for Occupy, calling themselves the "Pink Ladies," Sarah Nicole and Nina, spent a seemingly endless string of sleepless nights documenting the event. Famous for their combination of documenting the news with a sense of humor, or "lulz" as the new internet lingo refers to it, they were getting much needed rest when Friday's events took place.
Joining Thorin and his crew that eventful day was a native New Yorker named Matt, who goes by the handle "stopmotionsolo." This musician turned "citizen-journalist" actively documented the movement through his streams from its humble origins in Zuccotti Park through its historic rise last Fall and beyond what this Spring's events demonstrate clearly was not its Winter demise.
Also streaming events that day was a native of Turkey who now hails from New Jersey. Known among streamers for his insightful commentary this former diplomat is affectionately known as "Rocky" -- a play on his real name, Recai Iskender. Each of these crews provided a unique perspective on the events as they unfolded that afternoon. If nothing else were demonstrated in this event, the means was shown by which an emerging generation has tapped into new and affordable technology and taken advantage of what has come to be know as "social media." The results are radical changes not only to how citizen demonstrations are conducted but also the means by which they are covered. Using non-traditional methods independent of traditional industry gatekeepers and approaches often at odds with established norms of journalism they recorded these historic events in vivid detail at a level unprecedented at any time in the past.
By early evening the stalemate began to erode. Those on the Street who had been detained there for the previous few hours were once again set free to roam the street at will. While the majority of the crowd then disbursed the number of people who remained, a mixed group of Occupiers and unrelated but curious pedestrians, continued for the next hours in numbers substantially larger than was seen on Wall Street at any previous time during this two-week old protest. The scene was anything but the jovial carnival atmosphere of the previous afternoon and evening but it remained loud and lively. The officials' actions, rather than deterring the protests, instead served to breathe additional life into them. The party atmosphere continued through sunset.
The scene on the steps, however, did incur some noticeable changes. Gone was the larger yellow "Occupy Wall Street" banner and the numbers present were strictly monitored to ensure only and exactly twenty-five individuals stood beyond the barricade at any one time. As each new person arrived another was forced to leave.
On most prior days, although tending around twenty-five and theoretically capped at such, there tended to be a more relaxed enforcement of this policy by the Federal Park Service. Their approach was noticeably different today as Park Police heavily guarded the sole entrance/exit to "The Zoo." If a new individual sought entry they would have to make an exchange for another currently inside who would then join the throngs of people filling the streets. Many of the numerous possessions of the Occupiers, which included items such as medical supplies and a library, were also now visibly absent.
Promptly at 5 p.m. a representative of the Federal Park Service delivered to the Occupation a six page document purporting to be new rules that were now being put into effect to regulate the presence of protesters within the now formally established "Free Speech Zone" on the steps along the eastern side of the building. These rules were noticeably and substantially different than the ones the Occupants had been previously informed of and authorities had enforced since the taking of the steps at the first of the week.
Among the new rules were limits on the size of permissible signs to three feet by four feet obviously rendering impermissible the primary, and only professionally made, sign of the Occupation -- the highly visible and effective yellow banner. Also it was now claimed that strict enforcement of a noise policy would ensue, outlawing any sound above a 60 dB limit, often the level of a normal conversation, between the newly established hours of 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. The City's ordinance with its 10 p.m. cut-off was no longer to be in effect.
Personal possessions, they now further asserted, could only be kept if they fit into something the size of carry-on luggage, and if left at any time "unattended" would be confiscated and discarded. It even appeared to state that video and still photography would be prohibited without a special permit, a rule that caused several Occupiers a great deal of consternation given the significance the wealth of audio-visual evidence has played in challenging arrests on false charges going back as early as the Occupies emergence last Fall. The September 24th march made infamous by the multiple pepper-spraying of innocent bystanders by NYPD senior officer Anthony "Tony" Balogna not only exposed widespread abuses of authority to suppress dissent but catapulted the Occupy movement into the National spotlight and indeed gave it a voice on the world-stage. But perhaps the most absurd contents emphasized in the new rules delivered that evening were the prohibitions on Occupiers having aircraft or snowmobiles on the property.
The rules were also interpreted to forbid the Occupants from having either sleeping bags or blankets on the site. Clearly this would have a marked effect making it less comfortable, if not additionally unsafe, to endure the 24-hour ordeal in what were often cold and wet Spring nights. Of further concern many of the "new rules" appeared clearly by design to seek to limit the successes Occupiers had achieved in communicating their message to those passing by on Wall Street and even shared around the world. This raises serious questions regarding the ongoing struggle to preserve unabridged the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment -- which has become the central struggle in this particular Occupy action.
With the list of inconveniences growing an ultimatum was then given, early Friday evening, that NYPD officers would begin confiscating property that did not fit the new rules or was determined by them to be unattended. This caused the majority of those who had and were committed again to brave the elements through the night to flee, in a frantically hurried escape, so as to not lose their possessions -- many being from out of town and thus without a nearby home in which to store their items.
At one point an NYPD officer even forcefully took possession of one Occupier's red sleeping bag, which was resting on a set of boxes along the street waiting to be moved, and stated he was going to dispose of it as he briskly walked away toward a trash pile despite the presence and persistent cries of its owner. It was only the rising calls of those observing this unnecessary injustice that led the "White Shirt" to begrudgingly return the item to its rightful owner.
With the steps now Occupied by the smallest contingent present all week it looked as if finally the police authorities had broken the back and the spirit of the Occupiers. For a significant portion of the evening as the sun set on Wall Street less than ten remained on site with only a few small possessions if any.
The steps sparsely populated with Occupiers the stage was now set for what turned out to be the most outrageous arrest of the prior two weeks.
With the Sun set, and but a handful of Occupiers still defiant and entrenched on the steps, amidst signs that a few were returning, having found a place to secure their goods, without reason or cause a "White Shirt," well known to the Occupants for his open displays of anger during the prior two week stand-off, approached an individual standing on his own on a middle level step.
The Occupier, Richard Lynch, known within the chat streams as "Angry Pacifist" -- a personal statement of his deeply held philosophical beliefs -- had been with the group from the beginning. Resting at his feet was a sign that he carried, with his pseudonym on it, continuously during the past seven months of Occupy events.
The senior NYPD officer aggressively charged towards Lynch without a word of warning then a member of the Park Police forcefully seized his sign and began to run off down the steps where he eventually discarded it in a police vehicle. Shocked by what occurred Lynch cried out, in a not unreasonable volume and fashion given the circumstances, only to then face the enraged officer lunged back at him threatening to arrest him.
This was no idle threat as moments later the officer escorted Lynch as he was taken down the stairs and outside of the barriers separating Federal land from the City's streets, where he was taken into custody by the Park Police who were the sole enforcers of the assumed rules allegedly violated. This marked the first and only instance in which the Park police were engaged in an arrest of a citizen.
Although their subsequently taking him into custody was out of character with the approach of the Federal Park Police throughout the week, their treatment and handling of him, in stark contrast to that of the NYPD officer, was both professional and courteous. He was charged among other things with violating the newly imposed noise regulations, uttering a sound above 60dB after 8 p.m., although no decibel reading was ever taken, and taken to a holding cell on Staten Island where he would spend the night and into the next day.
Once again the services of the streamers proved invaluable, perhaps no more significantly than to the legal fate and well-being of Richard Lynch, as the events were captured live as the unfolded and stored in a video archive by another streamer who arrived later in the day and remained, as the other three retired for the night to get some long overdue rest, as the sun went down over Wall Street and what may have appeared to some as the last vestiges of a dying protest played their hand. This time it was another New Yorker named Tim, whose stream is entitled Timcast, who captured the historical moments for all to see and judge for themselves. Without these video archives Lynch would have faced his charges with no more evidence than a "he said / he said" dispute - arguments that even juries of one's peers tend more often than not to find in favor of the authorities assuming that they would not lie.
What a difference a day makes indeed.
What is of significant concern to anyone observing these events carefully and with a critical eye is the troubling, and clearly unlawful, idea of imposing a new set of rules -- designed primarily to limit speech and explicitly suited to the particular successes of the ongoing demonstration -- and thus the arbitrary change to the rules in the middle of the game. Even more troubling are a few facts that stand out when reading the document carefully.
While the origin of the content of these rules is clearly a legitimate source, taken from the Code of Federal Regulations applicable to a National Memorial, the specific limitations are clearly taken out of context and applied in a manner unintended by the actual Code. Unambiguously stated on page two of the document supplied to the Occupiers is the fact that the specific limitations referenced fall under "activities that require a permit."
A requirement that although offered to the Occupiers on Monday afternoon, was rejected on both principle and practical grounds and never subsequently required for their presence and the recognition of their free speech and assembly rights by the Park officials. Signing a permit for free speech, they believed, would be selling that fundamental right short and doing it injustice -- implying that one needed to be granted permission in order to exercise the right. Additionally indicating that, thereby, it would be recognition of the government authorities' legitimate power to either deny the permit or limit arbitrarily those rights.
One other practical consideration was that in signing on to such a permit a single individual would be accepting personal liability for the group. The Occupiers also continuously chanted and held signs, apropos to the historical significance of their location, that "The Bill of Rights is Our Permit."
So no permit was sought or signed and none required before the Federal authorities publicly declared and accepted that the activities of the Occupiers were those covered under the First Amendment with its legal guarantees and protections. Yet when reading, for example, the specific language of the new noise regulations it becomes clear beyond question that these are only applicable to activities that legally, thereby, required such a permit before being authorized.
The same held true for the claimed limitations on the use of video and still-photography as well as being the direct source for the language referring to leaving property "unattended." Although in this latter case, contrary to the statements and practices of the officers, such unattended property would not be disposed of as trash but instead would be merely "impounded for inspection." The rule was clearly referencing the legitimate concern, not at issue in this context, of public safety and also clearly implying that the property rights of the owner remained intact and that they would be reunited with their property so long as it did not, itself, constitute a contraband item.
Perhaps most troubling in the double-speak and sleight-of-hand attempts of government officials to dupe the citizens using the false garb of claimed legality is revealed when looking to the details of the noise regulations which were used to arrest Lynch in clear violation of several of his rights (not only of speech and assembly but others such as the right to be free from unlawful searches and seizures, the right to property, and the right not to be disposed or that property or liberty without due process of law to name a few of the others).
The explicit language, which makes reference to the permitted decibel levels and what constituted "audio disturbances" that were then applied to the new "Quiet Hours" substantially more restrictive than the applicable City laws to the area, also is clear as to its intended target.
That target absolutely was not intended to be any form of speaking let alone First Amendment protected political speech of a protesting citizen. The language of the Code establishes these particular restrictions specifically for cases where either an individual or group seeks to employ a radio, public address system, or other amplified device and wishes to get permission to step outside of the normal limits for a limited and specific period of time and a particular purpose -- such as the holding of concert or other entertainment event that seeks the prestige and atmosphere provided by the context of a National Monument.
Alternatively another explicitly envisioned scenario for the permit requirement is construction or repairs and the related use of heavy machinery and equipment that will cause noise that may be disturbing and thus over the generally normal 60 dB level of ordinary conversation.
These facts actually are the law. Only a deliberate attempt to deceive the citizens or falsely twist the law to meet the objectives of the authorities could have mistaken these purposes so as to claim their applicability to both normal public speech and Constitutionally protected political speech.
This degree of open dishonesty and contempt for the law by government authorities raises several of the concerns central to the message and theme expressed by the Occupy movement such as accountability of government officials under the law and the equal and fair treatment of citizens by such authorities as guided solely by law, rather than the mere might of authority, and limited by the protections instituted in the highest form of our laws.
The arbitrary nature of the enforcement of the laws, however validly applied, also raises great concerns regarding the right to due process and the preservation of justice. And the excessively forceful approach of the NYPD officers in claiming to be enforcing those laws all raise serious questions that should concern any American who values the Constitution and the notion of a Nation governed not merely by men but by the Rule of Law which limits such men in their legitimate actions.
The overly-simplistic interpretation and, when taken out of context, often unreasonable consequences that are implied therefrom are also brought into view when looking at how easily the Occupiers could take the language of the law, even if this were its valid interpretation and legitimate application, and use it to openly defy the intent of the abusive authorities, and themselves then claim, using the same language and interpretation, that the law actually protects their actions.
This can be seen when considering the very noticeable elimination of the Occupiers highly visible banner by the implementation of these new rules. To what reasonable effect would such a rule, if legitimately enacted, actually play in practice if it could easily be overcome with a little ingenuity and creative thinking. Nothing, for example, could stop the Occupiers from recreating the very same image -- including not only its look and message but also its exact physical size and dimensions.
All they would have to do, under the existing but flawed interpretation and application of these rules, is to create several individual three by four foot signs, with a fragment of the whole on each sign, and stand several individuals in a row each holding an individual sign in its respective order. The simplicity whereby the effects of the stated rule can be thoroughly overcome only serves to show that the current claims and application of the rules are arbitrary and capricious and serve no genuine public interest.
A further point of interest and public significance revealed by these recent protests is that they demonstrate that like the old adage goes "the rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."
The Occupy Movement, and its particular branch of Occupy Wall Street, is and has remained very much alive despite reports of its death and the predictions of many critics that it could not survive the Winter. Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement are here to stay, for the moment at least, and they have a powerful and resonating message that is sure to again capture the attention of the general public if they are exposed to these facts through the Nation's major media outlets.
And if they fail to inform the public Occupy has also shown that they have not only the will but the way -- the technology and skills -- to eventually deliver that message themselves widely across the Nation without the need for the middleman of the establishment they so thoroughly criticize.
Occupy Wall Street is clearly alive and well, taking a stand and making an impact on the streets of New York City.
If fully reported to the general public the outrageous behavior of the authorities and the abuses of police power in this stand-off over First Amendment rights will stand out unambiguously for all to see and judge. This struggle has ironically found the cause of the Occupiers championed by Federal Police authorities, whose actions clearly upset and interfered with the intentions of the local New York City police to quash the protest and silence the movement.
The Occupation of Federal Hall, although initially an unintended consequence of a quick thinking decision in the face of a questionable police crackdown, has the potential, no less than the abuses of police authority associated with the iconic image of an officer pepper-spraying a group of innocent girls caged behind orange netting by the police, to place the Occupy Movement once again in the center spotlight of national social and political discourse.