(How do you like my growing headline?)
10:45 PM: Here’s the livestream. “The NYPD is about to devastate the camp,” the woman narrating the live feed just said.
A moment later, referring to the cops and the fire department, the woman added, “They are throwing and breaking everything. They are destroying everything you donated.”
“All news coverage of this demolition is being prevented by police tactics…” the narrator says, referring to the way large police and fire vehicles are blocking the road, “and so we are led to believe that it’s because what they’re doing in the park is so atrocious they don’t want you to see it. That’s a tent! That’s a tent they’re destroying! Not moving it, destroying it.”
UPDATE, 11: 15 PM: New York Times reports, “Hundreds of New York City police officers began clearing Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street protesters early Tuesday, telling the people there that the nearly two-month-old camp would be ‘cleared and restored’ before the morning and that any demonstrator who did not leave would be arrested.”
This is going to get ugly.
UPDATE, 11:44 PM: OccupyWallSt tweets, “All trains except for the R are blocked to lower Manhattan.” Occupy Wall Street’s website adds, “Brooklyn Bridge confirmed closed. 400-500 marching north to Foley Square… Press helicopters evicted from airspace. NYPD reporter arrested.” Holy shit. Can’t verify the arrest of the NY Times reporter anywhere legit yet.
UPDATE 12:15 AM: More updates from Occupy Wall Street’s website, which has more information than anywhere right now. None of this stuff is confirmable yet by a major news organization. Most recent developments first. “NYPD deploying sound cannon… NYPD cutting down trees in Liberty Square… NYC council-member Ydanis Rodríguez arrested and bleeding from head…. Defiant occupiers barricaded Liberty Square kitchen… NYPD destroys OWS Library. 5,000 donated books in dumpster.”
UPDATE 12:36 AM: Al Jazeera’s liveblog for the win.
UPDATE 12:45 AM: Al Jazeera’s guy on the ground is saying that they’re bringing in “chain cutters,” presumably to arrest the protesters who’ve chained themselves to the kitchen. Al Jazeera says there have been “about 50 arrests” so far.
UPDATE 1:01 AM: The other livestreams have gotten so many viewers and so herky-jerky that I’m watching on this one right now. They’re in the middle of the street—OWS—voting on whether to have a general assembly right now. At 4:02 in the morning. In the middle of the street. I’m a big skeptic about general assemblies, but this is beautiful.
UPDATE 1:12 AM: Someone speaking on the official livestream just said that filmmaker Michael Moore is calling for people to meet at Foley Square. Michael Moore’s Twitter stream confirms this. Apparently there’s also a standoff over the garbage truck with crushed tents in it: Protesters are not letting the garbage truck out.
News reporters who were barred by police from covering arrests are tweeting with the hashtag #mediablackout.
If you’re just joining, watch all the action here.
UPDATE 1:30 AM: Protesters are chanting “Let us through” and “Drop your weapons” to the cops. OpenMediaBoston is tweeting “the 1st amendment now being read to cops by 1000 people on Broadway in NYC. Now female protesters are chanting to the cops, “You’re sexy, you’re here, take off your riot gear” and “You’re sexy, you’re cute, take off your riot suit.”
UPDATE 1:38 AM: Guy on the livestream says, “I’m also hearing that Broadway and Pine is trending.” He keeps repeating “Broadway and Pine is trending on Twitter.” Don’t be alarmed, he means a different Broadway and Pine.
Some anarchists were letting air out of cop tires and The Other 99 livestream guy walked by, and then the anarchists got all up in his face for filming what they were doing, but livestream dude rightly stood his ground and keeps going:
UPDATE 2:35 AM: Every living creature in Manhattan has reconvened at Foley Square, and multiple NYPD helicopters are overhead. “It appears we’re having a general assembly right now,” someone said. I’m starting to feel sleepy…
@48: And I say this because I want this to become a continued, meaningful movement. It’s created discourse, it’s made those in power nervous, and it’s spawned some powerful rallying points and slogans. But the “generational divide” or the desires for ideological purity or the anarchist element or the “agents provocateur” have left us without anything resembling goals or consensus. As people have said above and in other threads, the police overreaction has been a huge boon to OWS movement because it creates an external foe to distract from infighting as well as television-friendly MSM examples of OWS being unjustly persecuted.
Without some sort of goals and leadership or plans beyond occupying public space, there doesn’t seem to be a long life ahead for Occupy or a reason for the movement to continue.