Natasha Lennard, a reporter for the New York Times, has been detained as the NYPD continues its mass arresting of #occupywallstreet protesters.
An AlterNet staffer, who was trapped on the bridge for a substantial amount of time, has been arrested as well. (See her unsettling timeline in "Author's Note 6" below).
N.R. Kleinfield, who authored this interesting report on the Occupy Wall Street protests that appeared in the Times yesterday, was reported by Democracy Now to have been arrested. However, the NYTimes metro desk has Tweeted that he was not at the protests. (A tip of the cap to commenter Ice Blue for this.)
Natasha Lennard's last Tweet before being arrested was this:
Updates on this will come when more information is in hand.
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Author's Note 1: NYT columnist Nick Kristoff has just penned a piece on the Occupy Wall Street protests: Are They Tahrir on the Hudson?
Author's Note 2: AlterNet has also been caught in the march. Here's a first-person account of an AlterNet staffer trapped on the bridge.
Author's Note 3: Here's an interesting anecdote on the inverse-efficacy of arresting peaceful protesters. Natasha Lennard had around 200 Twitter followers at the time of her arrest. One hour later, she's up to 650.The arrests are doing nothing but giving those who cover and participate in them a larger voice!
Author's Note 4: Yahoo! News (via the AP) has a shameful report on the arrests on its homepage: Wall Street protests shuts half of Brooklyn Bridge.
Author's Note 5: And now we have the New York Times reporting, and the reporting actually intimates what appears to have happened: that the police allowed protesters onto the bridge and then cut them off. Money section:
There were no physical barriers [blocking the bridge], though, and at one point, the marchers began walking up the roadway and the police moved aside, in front of them – seeming, from a distance, as if they were leading the way. The Chief of Department Joseph J. Esposito, and a horde or other white-shirted commanders, was among them.
After allowing the protestors to walk about a third of the way to Brooklyn, the police then cut the marchers off and surrounded them with orange nets on both sides, trapping hundreds of people, said Mr. Dunn.
Officers plunged into the crowd – with protesters at times chanting “white shirts, white shirts” — and, one by one, they made the arrests, using plastic flex cuffs. A freelance reporter for The Times, Natasha Lennard, was among those arrested. Charges against those arrested were not immediately available.
Author's Note 6: Below is the timeline of the AlterNet staffer who was trapped and then arrested. It's sickening:
UPDATE, 6:26 pm, Kristen reports: "Now it's pouring and we're huddled five people to an umbrella. People just sang that [Rihanna] song "you can get under my umbrella. " Spirits are high and people are sharing what they have and coming together to protect each other."
She adds, "Probably not much longer until I am arrested. Some people have to use the bathroom!"
UPDATE, 6:32pm, Kristen reports by phone: "Protesters are asking able-bodied male people to go up to the cops and accept their arrest, to speed along the process. Boyfriends and girlfriends are kissing each other goodbye as the guys go off to get arrested."
The pace of the arrests, she says, "is still pretty slow, but this is strong in size and we're probably all going to get arrested soon."
6:40pm: A police officer told Kristen that there were less than 150 people left and they're all lining up to get arrested. "They also have a bus here, a New York city bus, that's taking people away," she says.
7pm: No word from Kristen in a while, which means we assume she has finally been arrested and taken to be booked and hopefully, released quickly. More information forthcoming as soon as we have it.
Author's Note 7: Natasha Lennard has been released, and Tweets that most are still being held, handcuffed, on buses as the NYPD tries to find room for everyone in precincts.
