As
Occupy
Wall Street
Protests Obama
Fundraiser,
"Sidewalk
Arrest"
by Police
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
MIDTOWN
MANHATTAN,
November 30 --
When Occupy
Wall Street
protesters
gathered
on Seventh
Avenue and
53rd Street
across from a
Barack Obama
fundraiser
Wednesday
night, they
did not know
they would be
penned in
by police and
detained. But
it happened.
Photos are on
www.twitter.com/innercitypress
Inner
City Press
arrived across
from the
Sheraton Hotel
fundraiser at
8:30 pm. Soon
thereafter,
police rushed
and installed
metal
barricades
behind the
protest,
penning it in.
There were
drums and
signs, for
example that
"Obama is
Controlled by
Wall Street."
After
a time, a
long convoy of
black vehicles
passed, twice.
After the
second time,
regular
traffic
resumed on
Seventh Avenue
and Broadway.
But the
protesters
were not
allowed to
leave.
"The
area is
frozen," an
NYPD Community
Affairs
officer told
the Press,
even
as pedestrians
on Broadway
were visible
behind him. It
seemed clear
that those who
protested were
being
penalized. A
cry went up
about
medical
conditions.
There was no
response.
While
under
"sidewalk
arrest" on the
last day of
November 2011,
a
comparison
occurred to
two other
Obama
fundraisers,
before OWS
began
on September
17. Uptown at
the Red
Rooster,
people
strained for a
view of Obama.
In midtown,
people tried
to take
pictures. And
now,
there are
protests.
Some
Obama
supporters,
including in
the United
Nations orbit,
say that
Occupy
Wall Street
helps Obama,
because "the
debate has
shifted from
the deficit to
jobs."
It's said that
SEIU intends
to bus
Occupiers to
Washington for
a staged
"Occupy the
Capitol" about
the jobs
bills.
But when the
critique is,
as it should
be,
on the big
banks and
their
bailouts,
Obama doesn't
look so good.
What's next?
Watch this
site.
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