Around a hundred Occupy Wall Street protesters marched from their camp at Liberty Park in Manhattan to the District Attorney’s office at 1 Hogan Place yesterday evening in order to express their outrage over a series of brutal attacks on activists by police.
Individuals clutched yellow flowers to symbolise one of their own, Felix Rivera-Pitre, a young man who was punched in the face by Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona (Johnny “fists” Cardona, as protesters refer to him).
Here is the video that allegedly shows Cardona attacking Rivera-Pitre:
Rivera-Pitre, who is HIV positive, told Gothamist he “shot the cop a look,” before Cordona “lunged at me full throttle and hit me on the left side of my face.”
Now, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne states that cops are looking to arrest Rivera-Pitre for “attempted assault on a police officer, obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct” even though many witnesses say the attack was completely unprovoked, and even if Rivera-Pitre did indeed shoot the cop “a look,” that’s not grounds for a vicious beating. It’s not yet illegal to roll your eyes at a police officer in the state of New York.
While the protesters had gathered outside D.A. Cy Vance’s office to oppose the treatment of Rivera-Pitre, they also cited numerous other examples of police brutality as inspiration for the meet-up. Individuals referenced the pepper spraying of young women, the mass arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the horse-charging incident during last weekend’s massive Times Square demonstration.
Thus far, the punishment for the above offenses has not been satisfactory, according to protesters. Officer Bologna, the man starring in those viral videos in which he peppers sprays penned women, simply lost ten vacation days. I’m sure retail employees everywhere wish they could get away with cracking unruly customers in the face and risk only the loss of some down time.
Other department investigations are under way, but there has been no serious repercussions yet for abusing activists.
Some speakers referenced other instances of police brutality in their own lives. One woman said she had been smoking a cigarette in her apartment building’s hallway when the cops raided her floor. She lives in what is considered a “bad neighborhood” and these kinds of general sweeps are a common thing. She claims the police roughly grabbed her before storming her apartment and throwing her paralyzed boyfriend out of their bed.
This was one of many stories. Of course, many also recognised that the police force is not a monolith, and there are good officers who have shown great patience and kindness toward the protesters. Indeed, OWS considers the NYPD part of the so-called “99 percent,” but the activists added that’s why it’s all the more important to hold dirty cops accountable so they don’t besmirch the character of the force as a whole.
Josh, a young teacher from P.S. 721 in Brooklyn, was at Times Square on Saturday and witnessed some of the arrests. “I don’t think an act of violence is just police brutality. When you’re wrongfully arresting people for trying to close their Citibank accounts, that’s also police brutality,” he said, referencing the protesters who were arrested at a Citibank over the weekend when they attempted to close their accounts.
I asked Josh about the lack of solidarity thus far between protesters and police even though, as OWS keeps declaring, the police are part of that 99 percent.
“It’s an interesting thing when you put on a uniform. You start to forget who you are and you start to go with the mob rule. What’s great about this movement is we don’t have a uniform…We can be individuals, and unfortunately for our friends in blue, they don’t feel that way.”
During the demonstration, one of the marchers learned that Gov. Cuomo had plans to attend a nearby awards ceremony in his honor (he was, ironically, receiving the “game changer of the year” award from Huffington Post.) When a speaker proposed “paying him a visit,” the crowd erupted in cheers.
They were especially fired up about Cuomo’s “millionaire’s tax” cut that cost the state $5 billion. The governor has insisted that adopting such a tax would put New York at a competitive disadvantage. A OWS speaker referred to Gov. Cuomo as “Governor One Percent,” which received big applause from the crowd.
Eventually, protesters moved out to Hudson Street where the Cuomo event was reportedly taking place. As they stood around, waiting for the governor to emerge, the crowd thinned to about fifty hardcores.
Author Naomi Wolf, who had been attending the Huffington Post event, joined the protest and was later arrested along with a companion. Wolf objected to an officer’s claim that the crowd was blocking the street. “Tell it to the judge,” the officer reportedly replied.
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