Whether the New York Police tricked people into marching onto the Brooklyn Bridge's roadbed as multiple eyewitnesses have claimed, including our own MinistryOfTruth, or protestors ignored police warnings as this new City Room blog post at the New York Times suggests, once thing is clear:
It was the Bridge Heard 'Round the World.
If people have been complaining about the lack of news coverage, they should complain a bit less -- at least for today. The Brooklyn Bridge confrontation and subsequent arrests have propelled this story across the nation and around the globe.
Below the squigly are few samples from other than the usual US news outlets.
The Guardian: Occupy Wall Street protest: NYPD accused of heavy-handed tactics
BBC News: Hundreds freed after New York Wall Street protest
Forbes: Arrest of 700 Occupy Wall Protesters a Good Sign for Protests
Al Jazeera: Hundreds held over Brooklyn Bridge protest
New Zealand Herald: 400 arrested at anti-Wall Street protest
Now it's up to the 99% to keep the movement going, and the stories alive.
Nate Silver recently tweeted
fivethirtyeight Nate Silver
Tea Party protests in 4/09 got ~20x more media coverage than Occupy Wall Street. But also had ~50x more protesters.
If the NYPD insist on continuing to pepper spray protesters and do mass arrests that include thirteen year-old girls, they will make their job harder and the cause stronger. Publicizing those videos and images and images like these will help.
But whatever the truth on the number of people really protesting at Tea Party events, #OccupyWallStreet can only succeed if it can increase its own numbers, increase the number of protest sites around the nation, and have the support of the 99% of the 99% who can't be in Liberty Square for weeks at a time.
Check here for ways to support the protesters.
From the liveblog:
2:48pm: From the livestream, Lorenzo:
- "People asking about donations: gloves, jackets, sweatshirts, mummy socks [? waterproof bags for sleeping bags? ] -- things to keep people warm."
- "If you want to order pizza for us go to our donate page and you'll find places that will deliver."