Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Report: May Day march through East Village leads to several arrests


[Via EVG friend Heidi on Facebook]

May Day began around 9 a.m. ... as the NYPD arrived at Tompkins Square Park... ahead of the march to Union Square that was to commemorate International Worker's Day.

By 1 p.m., per those in Tompkins Square Park, about 100-125 people had peacefully gathered for the rally...



According to accounts in The New York Times and on Gothamist, the group started walking north on Avenue A around 2 p.m. ... when we received these photos from a tipster showing people heading east down East 11th Street...





Per Colin Moynihan at the Times:

At 11th Street, the marchers suddenly turned east and began running in the roadway, some of them brandishing red and black flags. The police gave chase. At Avenue C and 12th Street, an officer tried to grab a black banner with the words “Never Work” from a man, who scrambled away.

Several people taking part in the rally were reportedly arrested here.

The group reassembled and continued to East 14th Street, where they turned to keep going toward Union Square...

At Second Avenue, the crowd turned north and a moment later a police commander wearing a white shirt began moving briskly toward a young man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and walking on the sidewalk.

Then more than a dozen other officers, some uniformed and others in plain clothes, plunged into the crowd of marchers, grabbing and arresting at least three additional protesters, shoving others against a wall and pushing news photographers.

Gothamist captured part of this scene on video:



According to Gothamist, the group, "followed by at least 100 NYPD officers on scooters, in vans, and on foot, then marched to Union Square without incident."

Read the Gothamist story here. Find the Times article here.

Depending on the source, either five or six people were arrested.

Throughout the rest of the day, many people noted the presence of helicopters buzzing about the neighborhood...



10 comments:

  1. ever since OWS, the phrase "a police commander wearing a white shirt" sends a chill through my spine. and it's not a good one.

    nothing like evidence of an actual police state to silence the anti-bikesharers shouting "fascism!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. MMmmm... MayDay the day for crusties and other non-working malcontents to standup and break shit of people who actually do work.
    Blow me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. But in the case of SantaCon, basically a zero police presence. “If you have to ask, you'll never know. If you know, you need only ask.”

    ReplyDelete
  4. These are folks standing up for workers rights....there may be Anarchists among them but these are working stiffs- union kind.
    Give them a break- They're no longer allowed to rally on job sites (freedom re-moved by BLOOMBERG)
    The Verizon workers for example we barred legally from more than 150 protestors on job action site...Over that shows up..and the union is fined,,No longer a free country!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Massive show of force by Kelly's gangbangers at Cooper Union last night, they were there right at 8 sharp this morning to disperse the students who overnighted there. God bless the anarchists, of it wasn't for there sacrifices we'd still be working 12 hour days 363 days a year with only Christmas the 4th of July off.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Why don't these iditos defect to Cuba. It's a short flight. No one will miss them and there'll be 30 guys to take each of their jobs.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Circles? Where's the EV Arrow? On vacation?

    ReplyDelete
  8. a-non or should i say a-hole @ 11:24 is probably an nypd troll, they are spying on the blogz now trying to influence public opinion. LOL that they think they being are smart and or savvy about it...

    ReplyDelete
  9. I was there. Saw the hired thugs of the rich make a kids bone pop through his cheek. One day we will learn to defend ourselves better.

    ReplyDelete

Your remarks and lively debates are welcome, whether supportive or critical of the views herein. Your articulate, well-informed remarks that are relevant to an article are welcome.

However, commentary that is intended to "flame" or attack, that contains violence, racist comments and potential libel will not be published. Facts are helpful.

If you'd like to make personal attacks and libelous claims against people and businesses, then you may do so on your own social media accounts. Also, comments predicting when a new business will close ("I give it six weeks") will not be approved.