After promoting the Day of Rage for months it seems in the end the protest attendance on Wall Street ended up being between 700 and 1000 people even though their site on facebook touted 100,000+ people in attendance. And the mainstream media again tried to help them out when few reported on the lack of participation. One person tried to promote that story that there were 50,000 people at the event on Saturday… Watch Live – Happening Now – 50,000 Protestors On Wall Street Ignoring NYC Police Orders To Disperse
Reported on radio Saturday night from an attendee:
Caller – around 1,000 were there at there at the peak today
200 will stay overnight
2 were arrested for having bandanas on
Just like with the WH’s attempt to get Americans to spy and report on each other through the WH’s snitch website, their day of rage and hate fell flat.
And there are increasing reports that only 700 people showed up for the ‘hatefest’ or USDayofRage. Yawn… The Wall Street Protest Failed
Protesters blocked in bid to ‘occupy’ Wall Street
Hundreds of people marched near Wall Street in New York in a failed attempt to occupy the heart of global finance to protest greed, corruption and budget cuts.
Plans by protesters to turn Lower Manhattan into an “American Tahrir Square” was thwarted when police on Saturday blocked all the streets near the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan.
The demonstrators had planned to stake out Wall Street until their anger over a financial system they say favors the rich and powerful was heard.
“The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99 Percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the one percent,” said a statement on the website Occupy Wall Street.
By noon, about 700 people, many carrying backpacks and sleeping bags, had gathered near Wall Street to search for a place to camp amid a heavy police presence.
That was far less than the 20,000 people that the online magazine Adbusters, which launched the movement in July, had hoped to see “flood” the neighborhood for a months-long occupation.
The protesters who did arrive were full of zeal and righteous indignation.
“This is a protest against corporate greed and we come to Wall Street because Wall Street is the Ground Zero for corporate greed,” said Julia River Hitt, a 22-year-old philosophy student.
“We are here just to say we are fed up, we are not gonna take it anymore.”
The protesters gathered in Trinity Place, some some 1,000 feet (300 meters) from Wall Street, which they hope to turn into the US version of the famous square in Cairo that became the focal point of protests that led to the ouster of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak in February.
“No more corruption,” read one sign a demonstrator brandished. “Wall St Greed, New Yorkers Say Enough,” read another.
“I will sleep here. A lot of us we will sleep here,” said Steven Taylor, 24 a protester who arrived equipped with a backpack and a sleeping bag.
Youths shared food and discussed the economic crisis in groups of 15 and 20. Others marched around the square.
Among the group was Javier Dorado, a law professor from Spain who compared the protesters with the mass “indignant” demonstrations in his country against high unemployment, welfare cuts and corruption.
“This is a global phenomenon that is taking place in Europe and many countries,” Dorado said.
The protest came as the United States struggles to overcome an economic crisis marked by a huge budget deficit that has triggered cuts in the public service sector while unemployment hovers stubbornly above nine percent.
“There’s a war in Libya, there’s a war in Afghanistan, there’s a war in Iraq and we have cuts in education, social programs,” said a masked protester who declined to be identified.
“We know where the money is going! Revolution in America!”
Source: Yahoo
By the time I arrived at the Wall Street Day of Rage around 2:00 PM, the NYPD had Wall Street on total lockdown, with barriers at both ends, uniformed NYPD officers standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and plastic flexcuffs hanging in bundles from their belts. Clearly, the NYPD was not messing around. So the anti-capitalists and comrades and anarchists had to move their march south.
The leftist smorgasbord of a few hundred gathered on the nearby front steps of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. It was here that the Day of Rage protest hit full swing.
While its “Occupy Wall Street” concept was thwarted by the fact that they couldn’t even walk on Wall Street, the protestors remained enthusiastic about their plan to camp out for months, and their cause.
But what that cause is remains anyone’s guess. The Days of Rage protest was sort of a leftist outcry a la carte, a mishmash of grievances vaguely anti-capitalist, and anti-government. The main rallying cry was anti-banker, and there was much talk of ‘fat cats.’ After that, the message was unified only in its hatred for our current government, and the promise that we would all be better off if the system collapsed.
I spoke with many of the Day of Rage protestors. They were clearly fired up, but there was widespread insistence that this event remain non-violent. Whenever a protestor took a bullhorn out and tried to get the crowd fired up, the speech tended to drift into shapeless platitudes about ‘banksters,’ corportate greed, and references to socialism. A few secondary characters yelled out about stopping the “Tea Party,” but this passed without much noise from the crowd.
In the single most enthusiastic crowd moment, one of the organizers took the bullhorn and summarized the message of the whole event: ”The system is going to collapse,” he said, “we are here to make it collapse faster.”
There were many Guy Fawkes masks in the crows, and some more bizarre, homemade costumes milling about. The anarchists were mingling freely with the socialists. The anti-war group “Code Pink” sent a small delegation (in pink, of course). They all agreed our government should crumble, but nobody seemed to wonder if that happened, who would take the reins? Doesn’t somebody have to implement socialism?
There were a few Ron Paul fans in the crowd holding up signs that mostly supported the Congressman‘s ’end the wars’ stance. A deceptively well-groomed Larouchite handed me a flyer with “Seven Necessary Steps” outlined for America that focused on economic reform and forcing Barack Obama to resign.
Around 3:00 PM, The protest moved north up Broadway to the Chase Manhattan Plaza, not far from the site of Ground Zero.
The same organizers took to the bullhorn and repeated their slogans for a while. People started to look tired, bored, and hungry.
Then, in perhaps the most surprising turn of events all day, a counter-protest erupted from the other side of the Plaza. A full brass band bellowed out patriotic tunes, including “The Marine Corps Hymn.” This clearly stole the protestor’s thunder for a while. The best they could do in response was yell out play the Internationale” a few times.
A little after 4PM, the protestors broke up into discussion groups. They sat crossed-legged on the ground. A few turned into drum circles. In others, the more vocal members of the crowd lectured others on socialism, and Wall Street greed, and the need to ‘do something,’
The few hundred participants in the protest already appeared to be losing steam at that point. As organizers began to bring in food, one of them asked me to help him distribute sandwiches. I had avoided shaving for the better part of a week, and felt my scruffy look was validated by this. I politely declined.
I concluded that the moment the Skippy peanut butter runs out, most of these self-styled radicals will hop a bus back to campus, or their parents’ suburban basements.
This was not a Tahrir moment. Not even close.
But it is worth asking why. This was supposed to be a 20,00 person occupation to shut down Wall Street. They meant to show the world that the ‘banksters’ can be brought down, and with it the entire system of U.S. governance.
This crowd looked more like Ben and Jerry’s hippies than communist storm troopers.
From what I saw, the NYPD played no small role in keeping things in check.
When it comes to crowd control, the NYPD is widely considered the most capable police force in the country. After the U.K riots burned down whole neighborhoods, it was a former NYPD Commissioner they brought over to consult on new tactics and procedures.
The NYPD may have been the main reason the ‘Day of Rage’ protest appeared much more like a college sit-in for Earth Day, or Free Palestine, or whatever the grievance du jour might be, than a surging Madrid or Cairo riot.
Every interaction with protestors was courteous but firm. The robust NYPD presence was essentially a promise to the protestors: as long as they obeyed the city’s rules, they could yell and shout and rail against capitalism to their hearts’ content. And they did.
With my experience in both the intelligence community and law enforcement, it was obvious to me that if someone had picked up a bottle or started a fight, they would have been flex-cuffed within seconds. It was clear at all times who was in charge. The NYPD made sure even anarchists played by the rules.
That in itself may provide a critical example to other cities. The Day of Rage protests are supposed to occur in across the country, and go on for months. Politicians and police forces in other cities would be well-served to take a look at how the NYPD handled the Day of Rage as a blueprint for their own law and order efforts.
And remember– this was just a first ‘Day of Rage,’ as the protestors themselves said. “This is just a practice,” they yelled from the steps, over and over. They plan to continue these ‘direct action’ events. Perhaps next time, more radical groups will join. All it takes is a city with less police resources that fails to pay attention, or overreacts. We already have seen, in Madrid, London, and Cairo, what is possible.
The protestors say they will sleep on the streets for months. Based on what I saw, I doubt it. Maybe a core group will make it a week.
But among the signs and chants, there was real anger. And as the United States and the global economy stare at the possibility of a second recession in the months ahead, these ‘Day of Rage’ protests will probably get bigger, and their participants more brazen.
Video: #OccupyWallStreet – Saturday 17th September 2011 – Anonymous – I guess 20,000 occupying Wall Street for several months equates to 700 to 1000 for 2 to 3 days?!? They called for 20,000, tried to report 50,000 and got about 1,000. Looking at those numbers. jokes instead of reports sent to the White House snoop website and the results of the special elections last week… I’m smelling a regime change in D.C.
In the course of monitoring a number of protests around the world for the “Days of Rage” events on September 17th, I did note that there was a demonstration of sorts in Seattle. Apparently the folks at @USDaysofRage were pretty sure Glenn Beck would be interested.
The actual videos are pretty standard stuff. Semi-hearted chanting: “Corporations…are not people.” Most of the participants, I would note, seem to have purchased their clothing, and perhaps their printed demonstration materials, from actual corporations and the, um, individuals involved in the manufacturing. Particularly Mr. Dockers right in the front center.
Read full article Here
Posted by Ask Marion! – h/t to my Powder Puff Patriot Buds for all the links and info (TMH and AJ from the NoisyRoom, J. Stoner and )
Related:
Who Will Watch the AttackWathers?
Obama’s AttackWatchDotCom Campaign and Snitch Website
Through the use of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, it seems the anarchists are determined to bring the Arab Spring to the shores of the United States. Sites like #Occupy Wall Street, and US Day of Rage have been encouraging the disaffected to seize back control of the banks. “The Occupation Has Begun!”, states one site… “Beginning on September 17, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices.”
Others like Real Democracy Now!, herald a world-wide occupation of banks and ‘banksters’, and implore people to take to the streets to send their government a message. Isn’t it great to know that our government spent millions of dollars to pass out free cellphones to these folks? Read more of this post…
Instead of complaining and demending, get $600 together, perhaps with a set of friends, call Scottrade, start in pennystocks, learn about the stock market and get going. No one owes anyone of us anything. Demanding is not attractive. And you are still dependent on what “they” give.