NYPD Shuts Down Wall Street To Thwart Anonymous Protests
The protests this weekend on Wall Street have led to an NYPD blockade of much of the NYSE immediate area, leaving residents unable to freely walk the streets without having to pass through illegal NYPD checkpoints and show ID and proof of residence, and discouraging NYC tourists from visiting the historic area. The New York Times writes in Wall Street Protest Begins, With Demonstrators Blocked:
[T]he demonstrators found much of their target off limits on Saturday as the city shut down sections of Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall well before their arrival. By 10 a.m., metal barricades manned by police officers ringed the blocks of Wall Street between Broadway and William Street to the east. (In a statement, Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman said, “A protest area was established on Broad Street at Exchange Street, next to the stock exchange, but protesters elected not to use it.”)
The area blocked off by the police is approximately all of Wall Street from Broadway to William:
I am personally a bit irritated at the NYPD for stepping all over the 1st Amendment, which grants protesters the right to peaceful assembly:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The police barricades make it annoying to come and go on Wall Street; having 700-1200 protesters would crowd things as well, so it’s six of one half a dozen of the other. The only thing about the latter scenario is that I would able to go home feeling proud that Americans are standing up for their rights, rather than feeling like that the police state is already upon us and there’s nothing we can do about it.
I spoke to one of the police offers last night and asked him if the police action was constitutional. He asked if wanted “protesters breaking things and wrecking your home.” I said I didn’t, but they had the right to come protest, at which point the officer said it wasn’t worth his time talking to a wiseass. Oh well….
You can follow the progress of the protest on Twitter tags #DayOfRage, #TakeWallStreet and #OccupyWallSt. Gothamist also has a nice gallery of photos, the Daily Mail rag as well.
Hurricane Irene & Michael Doomberg
I’m sick of Bloomberg’s gloom and doom about Hurricane Irene, both before and after its aftermath. For example, this morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned New York City commuters that:
“It’s fair to say you’re going to have a tough commute in the morning. There’s taxis, and some people can walk.”
I polled my coworkers at work today; NJ transit into Manhattan was running fine. Everybody to work OK, except anyone using the metronorth. Essentially, the information provided by the MTA (which lines were specifically running) proved accurate, and in general, transit was smooth and easy. But, I thought Doomberg said the class 20 hurricane battered NYC into oblivion?
Reason, in an inflammatory article Hurricane Irene and the Financial Crisis: Two disasters, partially of the government’s own making, highlights my problem with heavy-handed Mayor Bloomberg:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York order[ed] businesses to close and citizens to evacuate their homes in advance of Tropical Storm Irene.
[G]overnment actions taken were exceptional and involved depriving people of private property without the due process required under the Fifth Amendment.In Irene, the mayor and the governor took away not a company that belonged to shareholders, but rather the use of apartments and houses and commercial properties that had been owned or rented by individuals.
First the snowstorm last year, now this year’s rain storm; in either case, Bloomberg has proven himself to be a wiffle-waffler and popularist, making the wrong decisions in both cases, swaying from inaction to action in the face of criticism. Under-reaction, overreaction: when a real disaster hits NYC next, you can be sure that Bloomberg will be back to inaction.
