The 10 hours and 35 minutes of video footage shot by the NYPD during the raid of Zuccotti Park that was released by Anonymous on Monday gives a more expansive view of what happened on the morning of November 15, 2011, albeit in a more sanitized form. Much of the footage, which also includes clips from the Duarte Square action and the re-opening of the park the following evening, is heavily edited, especially scenes that include arrests. Still, some of it is informative and contradicts the statements or positions made by city officials defending the raid, most notably, that Occupy's Library was dismantled and destroyed by Brookfield employees, and that reports of press harassment and arrests were part of a "myth."

Via:

The first four minutes of this footage shows protester Ted Hall giving a monologue as police in riot gear watch, but the remaining time shows police notifying Occupy's medical tent that they must leave. An officer tells the doctor on duty that he must leave, but that EMS will take care of his patients. The doctor declines, and refuses to leave his two patients. A long standoff ensues, as several officers believe that one of the protesters stole a scalpel. A nurse ensures them that they haven't. That nurse, "Nurse Jane," wrote about the experience here. She describes the medical tent as "the most amazing clinic I've ever worked in!"

Eventually, the tent is ripped by police knives, and everyone is forced out. Nurse Jane is seen speaking with another officer, explaining to him her concerns (11:40 mark), and notes that it doesn't help that there is a man filming her. "That would be me," the TARU officer from behind the camera replies.

The Gothamist has downloaded the footage into seven videos (including the one above) and breaks down each into note worthy events, you can view them all here.

Non-violent students at UC Davis protesting tuition hikes in November 2011 were sprayed with pepper-spray by campus police.

The University of California has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by demonstrators who were pepper-sprayed during an Occupy protest at UC Davis last fall, according to a preliminary settlement filed Wednesday.

Under the proposed settlement, each of the 21 protesters named in the complaint will receive $30,000 and an additional $250,000 for their attorneys to split.

A Letter from Quebec:They Villified Us,Then We Won.

Elderly veterans facing foreclosure: Robert Moses is 92, an African American and a World War II Navy veteran.

Don Baird is a couple of weeks shy of his 90th birthday, is scheduled for heart surgery next week, and is also a World War II veteran.

Aside from being former servicemen, both men also share one other thing: they are about to lose the homes they owned, each for more than four decades, to foreclosure.

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Help Protect Occupy From Mayor Bloomberg's 'Private Army' For Our Anniversary: http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50112/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8353

Do You Have Occupy's Back? If So, Tell the Mayor of Wall Street, & Join Us For #S17.

Produced by members of the 'Your Inbox Occupied' team and Occupy Public Access TV. Special thanks to 'Spirit Animal' for letting us use their song 'I'm Around' and for helping at large.

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The National Park Service may have clarified where Occupy Wall Street protesters may occupy, a "First Amendment Area" on the steps.

There was a stand-off earlier between the OccupyWall Street protesters and the NYPD. The NYPD threatened them with arrest but Federal Park Police informed them of the rights of the protesters to remain. Then the NYPD shut down Wall Street and cut-off hundreds of marchers and pedestrians from twenty-five protesters who stood their ground

Occupy Wall Street had been sleeping on Wall Street last week and part of this week, the National Park Service moved to barricade the protesters. After designating the "First Amendment Area," the NPS seems to be trying to clarify things. Amelia H.M. Tweeted a photograph of the new rules on the steps. For demonstrations and "1st Amendment Area," a maximum limit of 75 people. Then there's this "At 6 pm a new rule at Federal Hall prevents noise over 60 decibels, which according to this guideline would fall in the range of a "normal conversation" at three feet away.

It also seems that if there are more than 25 protesters on the steps, Occupy will be required to have a permit. Or maybe the NYPD will be able to arrest them then? The protesters are now making it work like a nightclub, by having one protester enter the "Free Speech Cage" when one exits.

The National Park Service police are still on the steps of Federal Hall at this moment, which also happens to be where the very first Congress met and wrote the Bill of Rights. The NYPD, along with a few white shirts, are still hanging around. Seems their determined to harass the protesters as much as possible. Ordering items moved off of the sidewalk, and someone on the stream said that if you set something down to be sure and watch it, as they NYPD will try to throw "unattended" items away. There goes a sleeping bag now...

Journalists covering the drive-by shooting of a 6-year-old girl who was being treated at Chicago's Mt. Sinai hospital were told by a police officer that “Your First Amendment rights can be terminated if you’re creating a scene,” although the video above doesn't show any "scene" going on.

Via:

Apparently at the request of Mt. Sinai hospital security guards, police arrived and told the media scrum to back up. The group had already moved from the sidewalk in front of the hospital to a median in the middle of Ogden avenue.

When police arrived, the group was ordered to move across the street from the hospital, they refused, which prompted the officer in charge to comment on termination of First Amendment rights, followed by place two reporters in cuffs and load them into a van. They were later released without charge.

Maybe someone can explain to me how the Phelps clan manages to have their First Amendment rights protected while protesting at funerals, but media personnel lose their rights for trying to do their job.

Via The Gothamist:

Originally billed as a "First Amendment three-ring circus," yesterday's protest of the NYPD's treatment of journalists and the Constitutional rights of protesters drew only around 60 people at its peak. But with so few in attendance, why did the NYPD feel the need to block access to 79th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues entirely? And how was enacting this "frozen zone" outside of Mayor Bloomberg's residence at 17 East 79th Street legal? "It's not," civil rights attorney Norman Siegel told us. "It's illegal, unconstitutional, and a clear abuse of authority."

A half-dozen livestreamers, recording speeches and intermittent mic checks, were surrounded on the northeast corner of 79th and Fifth Avenue by more than 20 NYPD officers. A massive NYPD mobile command vehicle idled nearby, and barricades prevented anyone but residents from entering 79th street. "I'd say the NYPD's obstruction of the press is higher now than it was during the 2004 Republican convention," Occupy Wall Street press liaison Bill Dobbs said. "It's more frequent, and more severe. I spoke with an AP photographer here who said they hadn't seen things this bad in 30 years on the job."

We witnessed Siegel (who is representing Gothamist in our process to obtain press credentials) speak with an NYPD officer who told him that it's "standard procedure to create a frozen zone on 79th street during any demonstrations." The NYPD has not responded to our requests to confirm that this is in fact department policy.

Just two years ago, Siegel represented two Brooklyn High School students in a lawsuit against the city. The students wanted a permit to protest their school's closure outside Bloomberg's residence. As Siegel told reporters at the time, "The larger issue is clear: Can a public sidewalk be transformed into a private enclave because the mayor of New York lives there?" The court ruled that it couldn't. But that victory was short-lived: less than a week later on the day of the protest, the 2nd Circuit claimed that Judge Alvin Hellerstein didn't have the authority to make the decision, and overruled him. The city won on appeal. "That case troubled me then, and it troubles me now," Siegel said.

Bloomberg's "private army" have also been brazenly hostile to journalists covering the Occupy Wall Street events. Most recent was a verbal confrontation between an NYPD cop and New York Times reporter Colin Moynihan. After threatening to confiscate Moynihan's credentials (which are begrudgingly issued by the NYPD to media outlets only after a bizarre process), the reporter replies, "Don't abuse your badge! You're threatening me for what? This is a public place! I don't take orders. I don't work for the police department." It's telling that the officer fires back, "Do what you're told. You got your badge from us, right? That's who you got it from." The implication, of course, is that the NYPD can restrict the press at will, withholding access and punishing reporters they don't like. Attacks on the press have gotten so numerous and severe that several journalist organizations have formed the Coalition for the First Amendment.You can view that exchange at the 6:15 mark into the video below:

Here's another view of the earlier video of the NYPD arrests yesterday at the Winter Garden atrium in Lower Manhattan's financial district.

Early in the video above, you'll see officers clearly single out a male member of the media with a camera and laptop who is holding his press credentials out in plain view for easy identification. In violation of the First Amendment, the NYPD aggressively target people holding cameras or press credentials during the near riot created by their aggressive tactics. Occupy TVNY reports that five photographers and videographers, and one New York Times reporter were among those arrested.

[Used with permission of Mr. Fish]

This is Carlos. He is 73-years young. Carlos was arrested last night at Occupy Sacramento for exercising his First Amendment rights.

Thank-you, Carlos. In solidarity.