The word is entrapment. The NYPD punished protesters for the exercise of 1st Amendment rights.

[backscatter712]

We all know that NYPD deliberately corralled OWS protesters onto the Brooklyn Bridge for mass-arrests. It's a fucking fact. Watch the livestream or the Twitter feed if you have doubts.

We also know what's going to happen in the aftermath - the arrestees will probably spend a few hours to a day in jail, a few days at max, before OWS's lawyers get them out and get all the charges dropped. The NYPD knows this. And they care about convictions. They just want arrests.

The NYPD's true purpose was to conduct a mass-scale act of extrajudicial punishment upon the OWS protesters for the crime of exercising their First Amendment rights. They didn't care about getting convictions. They just wanted to swallow up these protesters into the bowels of NYC's jail system, scare the hell out of them, maybe beat the hell out of them, force them to stew in their own juices in Abu-Ghraib-like conditions, then shit them out the other end with a soon-to-be-dropped ticket for disorderly conduct.

The NYPD does not believe in liberty.
The NYPD wipes its ass with the Bill of Rights.
The NYPD does not share American values.
They are unpatriotic, bullying, vicious and un-American!

Any questions?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. The NYPD is under orders to protect and defend the powers-that-be

And it's the powers-that-be that have destroyed this country.

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. Opinion? As another DUer said, they're punishing the protesters and not the damn banks/speculators!

[ClarkUSA]

3. Christopher T. Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union was at this march, The NY Times reports ->

“Protesters who used the Brooklyn Bridge walkway were not arrested,” said the head police spokesman, Paul J. Browne. “Those who took over the Brooklyn-bound roadway, and impeded vehicle traffic, were arrested.”

<snip>

But about 20 others headed for the Brooklyn-bound roadway, said Christopher T. Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union, who accompanied the march. Some of them chanted “take the bridge.” They were met by a handful of high-level police supervisors, who blocked the way and announced repeatedly through bullhorns that the marchers were blocking the roadway and that if they continued to do so, they would be subject to arrest.

<snip>

Mr. Dunn said he was concerned that those in the back of the column who might not have heard the warnings “would have had no idea that it was not okay to walk on the roadway of the bridge.” Mr. Browne said that individuals that were in the rear of the crowd that may not have heard the warnings were not arrested and were free to leave... Mr. Browne said that the police did not trick the protesters into going onto the bridge.

“This was not a trap,” he said. “They were warned not to proceed.”

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/police-arresting-protesters-on-brooklyn-bridge/

[uppityperson]

8. If "about 20" headed for the roadway, why'd they arrest 400?

[ClarkUSA]

11. Apparently, it seems many more followed the first 20. The police did not arrest those at the back.

One hopes Dunn will have more to say at some point.

[Kurovski]

9. Ten busses, twenty plants?

I wish i could get the full live feed, but alas...

I trust they still exist. More to come.

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. What i want to know is who were those few who were chanting

"take the bridge".

There are also other reports that the police made no effort to stop people from entering the roadway.

I've seen no videos, but it seems to me that if there was a police line that guided the crowd away from the roadway, that's one thing; if there were police already ON the roadway when the marchers arrived, and they made no effort to stop them, that's something else again.

[MADem]

24. Love to see pics of those guys.

I don't see how the police could stop people who linked arms and came out in force. What were they to do, run into traffic and wag their fingers at them?

Police do have the ability to get into position very quickly. I wonder why the people who led the others onto the road deliberately ignored the people on the walkway who told them to go back?

I think the Wall Street guys are OVERJOYED at all the anger at the police, myself. If people are mad at the police, they're not paying attention to the corruption and vice on Wall Street.

[msongs]

4. well arrests (legit or otherwise) bring media attention so that's good for the overall scheme nt

[virgogal]

5. Baloney !

[backscatter712]

6. Tony!

[Kurovski]

7. Meloni!

K&R

[EFerrari]

10. What is the bail for something like that?

ETA: I guess you could sit it out until they drop the charges. That would work, too, and maybe just as fast.

[Kurovski]

12. Are they still packing folks into busses? I read they brought in at least one NYC buss

Is the live feed still on?

(I had to look up "ETA", stop making me feel derpy.)

[EFerrari]

14. I dunno. My derpy neighbor called the FD because he smelled smoke

so I had to go smile at them big in hopes they won't charge us. lol

[Kurovski]

21. We derpsters imagine all sorts of things.

Thanks for helping out a kindred doofus.

[Lint Head]

13. This is exactly what it takes. It's called sacrifice.

[malaise]

15. So were they following the mayor's orders? n/t

[MADem]

16. No--the organizers told people to stay off the road and ON the sidewalk.

If you want to talk "entrapment," stop getting pissed at the police, who were only doing what any sane police force would do to protect public safety (there were CARS on that bridge--what if a fire truck or ambulance needed to use the road?), and ask yourself what JERKS "linked arms" and exhorted others to march on the roadway?

And don't give me that "civil disobedience" crap, either--the protest organizers, as I said, told people to stay on the sidewalk and follow the law.

As I said in another thread, if I were a fat cat Wall Streeter who wanted to discredit this protest, I'd make sure that it was as unfocused as possible, with stupid, tangential BRADLEY MANNING/TROY DAVIS/FREE MUMIA-type complaints mixed in with the anti-Wall Street message, and I'd make sure that troublemakers, disguised as activists, shit-stirred the proceedings and led the well-meaning innocents astray--like, say, into the streets when they need to be on the sidewalk.

See, if you make the POLICE the enemy, the Wall Street fat cats get off scot-free!

[backscatter712]

19. Funny thing... The police had officers and barricades clearly marking the march route...

except for the opening that let people onto the bridge roadway. Gee, they left that part a little ambiguous, didn't they?

It was fucking entrapment.

[MADem]

22. No they didn't--there was no "march route" because there was no PERMIT.

See, that's why you need PERMITS when you have a lot of people going from Spot "A" to Spot "B"--the mean old police can do things like put up a barrier so that both vehicles AND the marchers can safely walk across a bridge. Oh, the horror.

That said, the organizers told people to stick to the pedestrian walkway. They have said that they announced this before they got moving.

I'd look to the protesters who exhorted others to "link arms" and take to the streets of the bridge, and stop blaming the police for the behavior of some people who created a situation and who ignored the cautions of those on the pedestrian walkway who told them to NOT use the street.

Keep blaming the police, though--that's exactly what the Wall Street fatcats want. If you're hating on the police, you aren't hating on them.

You're playing their tune to perfection.

[WinkyDink]

17. The final words are: CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT.

Wait for it. It will be finally settled in 2013.

I'm quite serious.

[MADem]

23. For WHAT? nt

[47of74]

20. We need to not spend our money in NYC or with NYC based businesses

The only thing Bloomberg and the NYPD understand is the almighty dollar. Well, we can spend our money in other places in this country.