When the Occupy Wall Street encampment was evicted from the park on Nov. 15, 2011, police officers and sanitation workers dismantled and removed belongings and furnishings that had been kept in the park, tossing them onto sidewalks, into metal containers and into a dump truck.
The city of New York will pay more than $350,000 to settle a lawsuit filed last year claiming that police destroyed the private property of those evicted from a park during an Occupy Wall Street raid.
Occupy Wall Street organizers brought the suit against the city last year, claiming that in a raid that took place in Zucotti Park on Nov. 15, 2011, police destroyed thousands of books the movement had accumulated in its so-called "People's Library."
The "books were damaged so as to render them unusable, and additional books are unaccounted for," court papers read. Furnishings and other equipment were also damaged, the suit claimed.
"Our clients are pleased," Normal Siegel, who represented Occupy Wall Street, said following the decision, according to The Village Voice.
"This was not just about money, it was about constitutional rights and the destruction of books."
The settlement calls for the city to pay Occupy $47,000 for the loss of the books and about $186,000 in legal fees it incurred. New York City will also pay $75,000 to Global Revolutions TV, a broadcaster, along with $49,850 in legal costs, for the destruction of its computers and live-streaming equipment. An additional $8,500 will be paid to Times Up New York, an organization that provided bicycle-powered generators to the Occupiers.
As part of the settlement, Brookfield Properties, the owner of Zucotti Park, will pay the city about $16,000 for its responsibility in the property destruction.
A day after the funeral of 16-year-old Kimani Gray, about a hundred people turned out to once again protest his shooting by the NYPD.
Gray was shot by two officers in East Flatbush on March 9 after police said he pulled a gun on them. But Gray's family and supporters have argued that no witnesses saw Gray with a gun.
Marchers at Sunday's rally began at the location where Gray was killed and walked to the 67th precinct, where the two plainclothes officers who shot Gray are stationed. The protesters are demanding that those officers be charged with a crime.
The rally and march was organized by members from a number of community activist groups, including Stop Mass Incarceration Network and Parents Against Police Brutality. Participants from pro-worker organizations and Occupy Wall Street were also in attendance.
The teen's funeral, at a Roman Catholic church not far from where he was killed, drew relatives, friends, and many mourners who had no connection to the teen or his family except a shared sadness over his death. Many mourners wore clothing or carried laminated cards bearing Gray's picture.
"He was funny. And he always knew how to put a smile on my face," said Sidonie Smith, a childhood friend. "Anytime somebody was in a bad mood, he always knew how to make them happy."
The emotion of the service was too much for Gray's father, who fled the church as the choir sang "Amazing Grace." Gray's mother sobbed during the memorial.
The NYPD deployed a large security force to the area around the church during the service, but there was no repeat of the disturbances that came in the days after the shooting.
The Gothamistreported that the NYPD used an "LRAD X" device during the march:
Groups protesting police brutality staged a rally at the vigil site for Kimani Gray on Sunday afternoon, followed by a march that wound through East Flatbush and eventually to the 67th Precinct. Throughout the march, the 200 or so demonstrators were accompanied by an astounding number of police, one of whom brandished a megaphone designed as a non-lethal deterrent. At times police appeared to outnumber protesters by three or four to one. One protester was detained after stepping off of the sidewalk, but an NYPD spokesman could not confirm that any arrests were made.
An officer from the NYPD's Disorder Control Unit carried the suitcase-sized "LRAD X," a super megaphone of sorts that the company's website describes as capable of issuing a "warning tone [that] provides a non-lethal deterrent, [and] shapes behavior." The LRAD X was not used in any kind of weaponized way. “Just knowing it's here makes me nervous,” protester Libor Von Schonau said. The company is primarily known for its larger LRAD product, a powerful sound cannon that can cause severe injuries not only to those targeted for its use, but also to bystanders.
This reporter has covered countless marches and demonstrations accompanied by a heavy police presence and has never seen that device. The officer carrying the "LRAD X" refused to respond to questions.
Kimani Gray was buried Saturday at the St. Catherine of Genoa Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn.
16-year-old Kimani Gray was shot seven times – four times in the front of his body, and three times in the back – last Saturday. And for a third straight day demonstrators gathered in his neighborhood, East Flatbush, to protest New York Police Department brutality. After 100 people attended a candlelight vigil near Brooklyn's 67th Precinct, as many as 50 people were arrested as a demonstration spread throughout the neighborhood. Thereafter, according to a range of bloggers and social media activists, East Flatbush became a "frozen area," with media barred.
RT reports, "Brooklynites were heard shouting "murderers!" at the massive police presence Wednesday as officers prohibited people from even stepping onto the street in one of New York's poorer neighborhoods while police helicopters circled overhead." Ray Kelly himself, the Police Commissioner, did not characterize the demonstration as a riot, as some local newspapers did, but he did describe the assembly as disorderly.
Police mistrust runs deep in a neighborhood disproportionately targeted by the NYPD's deeply unpopular Stop and Frisk policy, widely regarded as a racist practice.
Franclot Graham told AP: "I'm not going to tell people don't be angry because we're all angry...It's OK to vent but you have to respect the family's wishes and be peaceful." Graham's teenage son, Ramarley Graham, was shot and killed after police chased him into his Bronx home last year. A New York police officer has since been charged with manslaughter in the death.
Gray's family maintains he wasn't armed. According to AP, a cousin of Kiki, Ray Charles, was still having trouble accepting the NYPD's official version of events: "My cousin was scared of guns...I honestly just want justice. They didn't need to shoot him like that...The real issue in Brooklyn is cops have been harassing us for a long time," he said. "It needs to stop."
ON-THE-SCENE REPORTING FROM OCCUPY WALL STREET
One Occupy activist on the scene, Austin Guest, observed:
At the invitation of a comrade from Flatbush, I went down for the second straight night tonight to the protests surrounding Kimani Gray's murder at 55th & Church. Out of a sea of over three hundred people, I was one of maybe a dozen white faces, most of them journalists. For the the first time in over a year spent organizing non-stop demonstrations on Wall Street, I was at a protest, but I was just along for the ride – firmly and gladly ensconced in the back seat. From that back-seat position, I witnessed one the most mind-blowing protests I have ever been to. I felt humbled and at times scared – in the presence of a deep, intense force surging up, demanding to be heard.
A few moments that stick in my head:
A crowd of protesters being pushed aggressively out of the street in front of the 67th precinct by riot cops, turning on a dime, sprinting in the opposite direction, finding and surrounding a cop car, shoving it and hitting its windows, dispersed only by a barrage of pepper spray to their faces from the terrified cop inside the car
A teenage girl staring down a line of riot cops and yelling "MURDERERS!" fearlessly at the top of her lungs into their stone cold faces
The look of panic on the driver of a police van's face after the rear window of his van was smashed, seemingly from nowhere
A crowd being pushed down a side street by scooter cops, followed minutes later by a shower of glass bottles flying from apartment buildings onto the heads of the scooter cops
A car by Kimani's memorial blasting Bob Marley's "War" and a mass of quiet, somber people pulsing and bobbing their heads in slowly growing rage."
Tensions were high, but according to Yoni Brombacher Miller, "I wasn't worried about getting arrested myself; it was clear they (the NYPD) weren't interested in the non-people of color, or adults. They were clearly going after the youth."
Brombacher Miller added, "How can we best amplify and strengthen their militant struggle for justice? Some, like Councilman Jumaane Williams argued that the 'youth should be controlled', and while he argues that they're right to be angry, he is also stifling their rage instead of agitating with them. The NYPD cannot and will not be part of the restorative process. The only steps that must be taken, are a demilitarized, reduced NYPD with expansion of social programs and services, which currently the NYPD is actively a part in preventing.
"I was roughly thrown over barricade by cops, but I'll be back tomorrow, and the night after and after, because this is truly historical, and Brooklyn's moment. The youth today were brave, and many more shall be inspired to join up."
To show solidarity with those arrested, call 311 and demand that everyone arrested at the Kimani Gray vigil be released from the NYPD 71st + 69th precincts in Brooklyn. Or call the precinct directly: 71st precinct (718) 735-0511, 69th precinct (718) 257-6211
[Editor's Note: Sources tell NY1 that two officers involved in the shooting of Brooklyn teen Kimani Gray last weekend were also involved in five separate cases for alleged civil rights violations, including stop-and-frisks, that were settled out of court. ]
At 12pm on Monday, March 18th, Occupy the NRA will take action against Blackstone, Cerberus & Owl Creek Asset Management. These firms were chosen either because they own millions of dollars of holdings in gun manufacturers’ stock or bought stock as a direct result of the Sandy Hook massacre.
p.s. Not a fan of Facebook? Find this Occupy the NRA event on NYCGA.net.
#LifeOrDebt Week of Action Update
Strike Debt is demanding the cancellation of all medical debts and a radically transformed healthcare system based on everybody’s need for wellness and not the 1%’s desire for wealth.
A large amount of medical debt has been bought and abolished, and announcements in that regard are forthcoming. Yet although this will provide real relief to thousands of people who need it, it is only crumbs in light of the 70 million who still owe money on medical bills.
Strike Debt Declares Healthcare Emergency: 'It's a Matter of 'Life or Debt'' The Nation
Strike Debt, one of the offshoot groups of Occupy Wall Street, has planned a week of action March 16–23 in response to what it calls a “healthcare emergency.” A majority of personal bankruptcies in the United States are linked to medical bills, with 75 percent of people declaring bankruptcy even though they have health insurance.
Some updated information on the shooting death of Kilmani Gray, the 16-year-old who was killed in Brooklyn on Saturday night by two plainclothes police officers, was shot seven times: four in the front, three in the back.
The report from the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner did not specify which of the seven bullets caused the death of the teenager, Kimani Gray; that determination awaits further investigation.
One bullet entered his left shoulder in the rear, exiting in the front; two other bullets struck the back of his thighs, one in the left thigh and one in the right. Two bullets struck from the front, hitting his right thigh; one bullet entered his left side, striking his lower rib cage; and the last bullet hit his left lower forearm.
The police said that two plainclothes officers fired at Mr. Gray after he pulled a .38-caliber revolver and pointed it at them; the officers then fired 11 shots, killing him. Mr. Gray’s revolver had four bullets in its chambers, the police said.
The autopsy did not establish the order in which the bullets struck Mr. Gray, or determine the path of the bullets, which might make it clearer if Mr. Gray had his back to the officers when he was shot, or if he had twisted away after being struck from the front. But the findings alone that several of the bullets entered his back appeared certain to fan the flames of a community already distrustful of the police and increasingly incensed about the shooting of the teenager.
Kimani Gray's death led to protests in his East Flatbush neighborhood, and a witness now claims she "had a “bird’s-eye view” of the fatal police shooting of 16-year-old Kimani (Kiki) Gray says the youth did not have a gun in his hand," according to the Daily News.
The NYPD cops who fired 11 shots at Kimani said that he was armed, and a loaded .38 caliber revolver was recovered at the scene.
Brooklyn teens held a protest Monday night -- that some reports say broke into a riot -- in response to the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Kimani Gray by NYPD officers, reports the Daily Mail.
The 16-year-old boy was hanging out with friends Saturday night when they were approached by undercover officers who allegedly asked him to show his hands. Authorities claim that it was only after Gray suspiciously reached for his waistband that an officer fired 11 rounds.
According to The Gothamist, “Gray was shot multiple times in the leg and stomach when he pointed a .357 revolver at the cops in East Flatbush just before 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. ‘The cops, they just jumped out of the car so fast, witness Devonte Brown said. ‘They started shooting him and he went down, he was bleeding, holding his side, screaming, ‘stop, stop,’ Brown said of Gray.”
"After the anti-crime sergeant and police officer told the suspect to show his hands, which was heard by witnesses, Gray produced a revolver and pointed it at the officers, who fired a total of 11 rounds, striking Gray several times," Paul J. Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman, told the New York Times.
But as Think Progress notes, eyewitness accounts differ from the official police reports. One witness, Camille Johnson, told Pix 11 that Gray was "running for his life, telling the cops 'Stop.'" She went on, telling the news station,"They really are, seriously shooting little kids."
According to the Times, another witness told Gray's sister, Mahnefeh, that Gray was fixing his belt, not reaching for a gun, when he was shot. Mahnefeh, as well as Gray's mother, insisted that Gray didn't own a gun and that, even if he did, he would not have pointed it at police, telling the Wall Street Journal, "He has common sense...They killed my little brother for no reason."
Another witness, who lives across the street from where the shooting took place, told the Times that Gray pleaded with the officers, telling them, "Please don't let me die." The police reportedly responded by telling the wounded 16-year-old, "Stay down or we'll shoot you again."
According to NBC New York, there were roughly 70 protesters who marched to the 67th Precinct station in East Flatbush and threw garbage and empty bottles at the windows. No police were injured, and there were no damages to the building during the protest.
"Some angry kids were protesting the death of a friend," said witness Martin Williams. "They were marching through the street, yelling and protesting."
The protesters continued to march from Snyder Avenue and ended up at Church and East 57th Street where the protest continued. There were police in riot gear along the block with barricades, but there were no reports of arrests.
The two NYPD officers who shot Kimani Gray have been placed on administrative duty.
Recently, (2/8/13) I was arrested in Brooklyn while driving a van outfitted with a projector. Long story short, it was pretty horrible; friends and fellow activists have encouraged me to set down precisely what happened and put it in the public record.
If you don’t know, there is a van with a heavy duty projector that comes out of the roof like a turret. It was created by an OWS offshoot with funding from Ben Cohen, and was named The Illuminator. Some months ago, ownership and control was passed on to a campaign called the Stamp Stampede, created by Ben Cohen, and was referred to as the Project-O-Van.
A month ago, Animal New York, a website that covers culture and politics, arranged to carry out a joint action with the Stampede campaign, using our van.. Together, we visited a number of locations throughout the city to project images highlighting the problem of money in politics corrupting our democracy. We visited the offices of Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, Trump Tower, some walls in Soho and the LES, and…. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s home on 79th Street.
It was exciting to get a picture of a ballot box being stuffed with money projected onto Bloomberg’s 3rd floor. As the residence is protected by police, our team was approached by cops who chatted with Animal New York folks and filmed our van. I stuck around for about one minute – just long enough to take a few photos.
The NYPD has a "stop and frisk" program that allows them to grab black people off the street, slam them up against walls, and beat the bejesus out of them. They claim that this keeps crime down in the city, and deny allegations of racial profiling.
Now, that very same judge says that the NYPD can resume that same stop and frisk program temporarily, because stopping this unconstitutional program would be too much trouble for the cops.
"Manhattan Federal Court Judge Shira Scheindlin lifted the order [halting the stop and frisk program] Tuesday after she agreed with city lawyers who said the immediate halt of some "Clean Halls" trespass stops would impose an undue burden on the NYPD, requiring some form of "notification to and/or training of" thousands of NYPD officers and their supervisors."
I never considered the undue burden of "notification" before (Facepalm). I think I'll pose this dilemma to a group of people that I email with and see if they have any ideas for a solution to this problem. But first I've got to finish copying and faxing these documents. Oops, another text message first. Busy, busy...
On Monday, December 31st, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post reported that weapons and high explosive powder were found in the home of a Greenwich Village couple. New York Post reporter Jamie Schram claimed that the accused is an "Occupy Wall Street activist", sans a single source (not even an anonymous one) for the OWS connection.
As Nick Pinto of the Village Voice notes, "a full two days after the Occupy link had already been debunked, CBS This Morning ran a segment doubling down on the false claim," going so far as to bring on Mitchell Silber of K2 Intelligence, a corporate investigation firm. "It's unclear why CBS doesn't bother to identify him as such," writes Pinto, "but well into 2012, Silber was the Director of the Analytic and Cyber Units in the NYPD's controversial Intelligence Division, where he was associated with the division's program of widespread surveillance of Muslim Americans."
Multiple times this year it has become clear that the effort to cast aspersions of criminality over this movement for equity and democracy portends an escalation in repression. When we first called attention to the National Defense Authorization Act, we were seeing frightening signs that violent elements acting outside of Occupy Wall Street and against our principles, will be marshaled to justify a future crackdown heralding from the inner sanctum of the Executive. And the scope of this problem has recently become even more pronounced through disclosures that the "FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are treating protests against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential criminal and terrorist activity. These documents also show these federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and Corporate America." This pathetic, yet extremely damaging example of collusion between Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street tabloid and elements within the FBI, proves the point.
A Brooklyn man has filed papers to sue the city over an alleged hate crime committed by the NYPD. The Daily Newsreports that on Sunday night around 2:50 a.m., two officers came to Jabbar Campbell's Crown Heights apartment following a noise complaint. Campbell was hosting a gay pride party for about 80 people and some of the party-goers were dressed in drag. Those officers left after telling guests outside the apartment to keep it down, but about ten minutes later another group of officers arrived and rang the buzzer. Campbell saw an officer turn a security camera in his vestibule, and when he went downstairs, they were banging on his door with flashlights. "There was a sergeant, he yelled ‘get him!’ and that’s when I got attacked," Campbell told the Post. “They kept saying, ‘stop resisting’ but I wasn’t resisting. I didn’t have any time to respond.”
Campbell claims that two officers held his arms back while one pushed his head down, and another officer repeatedly punched him in the face. “They were yelling ‘you f---ing fag!’ and ‘homo!’” he said. “I couldn’t block the blows. I was fighting to stay conscious but I was blacking out because of the hits I was taking.” Campbell was left with a concussion, a black eye, a split lip, and a bloody mouth, and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
According to the NYPD's account, Campbell refused to "discontinue a party," pushed an officer, attempted to flee, and behaved "belligerently" while police tried to take him into custody. He was charged with resisting arrest, attempted assault, and pot possession. Campbell has released footage of the officer tampering with his surveillance camera. “They were trying to conceal the evidence by turning the camera away,” says his lawyer, Herb Subin. “They committed a hate crime inside a gay pride event.”
