Reply #17: Occupy Wall St: Naomi Wolf condemns 'Stalinist' erosion of protest rights

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The feminist author Naomi Wolf has criticised the erosion of the right to public protest in the United States after she was arrested alongside Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in New York.

Wolf was led away in handcuffs after addressing protesters outside an awards ceremony held to honour New York's governor, at which she was a guest.

The author had disputed claims by police that a permit granted to the event – organised by the Huffington Post website on Tuesday night – allowed them to clear the sidewalk outside the venue in the Soho district of Manhattan.

Inside, the New York state governor, Andrew Cuomo, was being presented with the "game-changer of the year" award by the Huffington Post. A group of protesters had arrived from the Occupy Wall Street group's camp in Zuccotti Park to demonstrate against his opposition to extending New York State's "millionaire's tax", and his support of the contentious process of extracting natural gas from shale, known as fracking.

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/19/naomi-wolf-occupy-wall-street-arrested