#OWS Keeps Zuccotti Park, For Now
My first-hand account of Occupy Wall Street in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park on Thursday, Oct. 13 and Friday, Oct. 14. I'm a media reporter for TheBrooklynInk.com and a digital media student at Columbia Journalism School. Tweet me: @katz
The first real confrontation with NYPD officers happened around 9:30 p.m. People began running frantically toward the front of Zuccotti screaming "Cameras! Cameras!" -- the occupiers' signal that they needed media attention for a particular event. In this case, officers were attempting to tear down a makeshift sukkah they knocked down three times earlier.
The men who erected the blue tarp on a group of poles resisted once again, claiming it was taking away their religious freedom during the holy Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Protestors and press surrounded the officers and they eventually backed down, carving a path out of the crowd back to guarding the perimeter.Here's the new sign that lists what activities are now illegal in the park as a result of Occupy Wall Street, all of which seemed to undermine its strategy of staying in the private park. Among other things, they could no longer lay down on park grounds or use tents, both of which have been mainstays in the movement that began Sept. 17.
- What's great about breaking news like this is it gave me a reason to finally meet a longtime Twitter friend, Craig Kanalley of the Huffington Post. We sat and talked a bit about what we had seen so far that night and also about the state of digital journalism. Definitely a nice break, but we also took some time to walk the grounds together and bounce ideas off each other about what might happen, what it meant for Americans and how the media was handling coverage.
It was barely after midnight and my BlackBerry was at half-battery. Josh Harkinson (@JoshHarkinson), a reporter with Mother Jones, found a nearby bar that shared its electrical outlets as long as he bought a beer. Fair trade, but by the time my phone needed a jump, the place was closed.
Then, it rained. Rain really means downpour. It came out of nowhere and caught most of us off guard. My umbrella helped a bit but only to protect the Canon t2i DSLR I was toting around trying to capture everything around me. My Asics, Macbook Pro and jeans were in trouble.
