We were trying to get to Zuccotti Park, but on our way, saw a crowd of people going towards Foley Park. We parked and ran to see what was up and as we got closer we saw the police perimeter.
I called the newsroom to ask if they had someone from ABC (we are an affiliate) at Zuccotti Park because I wanted to stay here and see what would happen. Many of the people gathering here were protesters who had run from Zuccotti to keep from being arrested as the park was being cleared out...
Shortly after we arrived they worried about being kettled (where the police surround everyone and start arresting the group) so they wanted to move. And like that, Katie and I were in the midst of a mobile protest of about 5-600 people...
In the beginning there was some violence. Again, just as in the past. Everyone that got arrested at this time did something they knew not to do. Some would run off the sidewalk and taunt the police, hit hats off, toss bags of garbage, etc... And the police would grab them and arrest them. Well, not quite. None of the protesters went easily in the early morning. They would try to run from the police into the crowd, with the help of others pulling them and then the police would rush into the crowd to try and get them.
Katie and I got barreled over a couple times. The running protester would push right past us, the police would plow through to get to them and voila, we were crushed.
At one time, we slowed down in an area where there was some scaffolding set up and I told Katie to stay close to the railing, to keep us on the sidewalk, but less likely to be dragged with the crowd if they surged. Surges tend to happen when someone gets into it with a police officer and is getting arrested. The crowd surges towards the officer(s), things are often thrown, and they try to pull that person back into the crowd with them. It's easy to get swept away in the crowd, kind of like a rip tide, but you can't swim out of this one. Katie found a piece of rail to lean on, but I pointed out it had a bolt sticking out, and depending on the direction of the surge, she could have had the bolt cutting into her back, so she moved down the rail. It's interesting the things you have to think of to keep from getting injured.
That is not to say there were no injuries. During one of the 'bowling' down events we were in, I saw the surge coming and she didn't so I pulled her towards me, but there was no getting out of the way. We were literally shoved into the street by the impact of the running protesters and the police trying to stop them. For some reason there was a folding chair that was half folded in the street.... It connected squarely with my shin as I tried to keep my balance during the melee. I was thankful I had tall boots on about then. It hurt, but not as bad as it could have.
After a couple arrests, things got calmer and there was chanting and walking... a lot of walking... We walked... and walked...and walked....
The idea being the police would have a tougher time stopping a moving target. I believe we walked about 10 miles in the almost 3 hours we were walking. Now the police responded to what was happening with a divide and conquer approach. They would let half the group cross an intersection and then close the road and tell the other half they had to go another way...do that a couple times and each smaller group becomes more manageable. It was as this was happening that we were kettled.
We got to a crosswalk and were part of that second half and told to stop. We turned around and there were a line of police behind us too.
And within seconds the group of us were surrounded. I was not sure exactly what was happening, so I went to an officer towards the edge, politely introduced myself, asked if we could get out of the 'containment area' and was given a stern 'no'. Got it. I told Katie we should get against the wall and stay calm and quiet and I called the newsroom to ask a question I have never asked before "Who do I call if we get arrested?"
We didn't. After about 10-15 minutes we were allowed to move on.
A couple more times our group was pared down and at one point we found that we were far from any of the larger groups, and we wanted to catch up, so we took a side street and started running to get ahead of the crowd. Now, I was dressed to be outside all day, but not to run. Honestly I don't there was anything I could have worn to make me feel better about running. And no, I don't mean jogging. I mean sweating, huffing, running. At one point, I told Katie and the other young NYU student who was running with us that I was too old for this running crap and that I was not that far from 40... They both told me I did not look like I was that old and seemed more liked their age... which seemed to give me some of that young, foolish energy, and I was back to running...
We ran down one side street, up four blocks, then cut back, and made it just in front of the larger group and the police so we were back in the bigger part of the march.
The police continued following the groups through the streets, trying to keep them in contained areas as they walked.. this is when 'Occupy Walgreens' happened. There were a number of protesters who saw there was a Walgreens store with two exits and dashed in, trying to come out the other side and get out of the police containment area. I'm not sure if it worked as I kept on moving.
It was interesting to see how information is sent around in the streets as these groups were being divided. There were a few methods of communication. First, they quickly set up a twitter group and those with phones and iPads were sending out updates for everyone. Then there were the bicycles. Bicyclists would ride from one group to the next passing on information of what they were planning to do and when.
Now that there were a lot of small groups all over town, the decision was made to go back to Foley Square and try to regroup.
There was a large crowd that just kept growing when we arrived. Many of them were tired and hungry. They had been moving all night, as we had, after leaving Zuccotti Park. Someone was coming around with bagels, bananas and water and many of them grabbed something to snack on. Others threw their bags and packs on the ground and decided to lie down for a couple minutes or take a nap.
At one point we saw a pair of NYPD buses go by. They were packed with protesters that had already been arrested and that led the crowd to get riled up again. I believe there were a few more arrests around this time.
Also while we were at Foley Square Katie spotted actor Joseph Gordon Levitt. He was doing his own documentation of what was going on and she grabbed a quick interview.
I will admit... this is when we got bored. At Foley, as they were regrouping there was a lot of down time and it hit Katie and I like a brick. They were discussing proposals of what to do for well over and hour...and well it was like sitting through any meeting... even worse, sitting through a meeting after a couple hours of marching and intensity of the situation.
It was an adrenalin drop and we both felt it. She was nice enough to go grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks for each of us to keep us awake...and back on the job we went!
A decision was finally made on the next course of action. The Mayor was going to speak about the protests at 8 am, so the protesters decided they were going to march past city hall to give him a piece of their mind.... and then onto another location where they were meeting up with other groups for a larger demonstration at 9... and the march was on again....
And that part of the story will be continued in part two of this blog...
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