While the exact details of this incident are not yet known, what we know so far is that
TWENTY or more protesters have been arrested inside the LaGuardia Place branch of Citibank. An estimated
fifty people entered the bank location with the intention of closing their bank accounts, in an effort to make a statement about their disgust for the United States' financial crisis, and the portion of fault belonging to the banks themselves.
Right now, protesters are preparing to start their march starting at Washington Square and culminating at Times Square later this evening. The
non-violent, peaceful means of protest, choosing to go into one of
their bank's various branches, and ultimately closing their accounts, have been treated as though they were criminal acts. I personally have seen footage from just minutes ago, where at least two people were arrested
after leaving the bank. One woman in particular was first approached by a plain-clothes undercover police officer who briefly said to her "you were inside ... you were inside with everybody else." I clearly heard the woman respond to the uncover officer
repeatedly, but in a calm and respectful manner, "I am a customer." She also had paperwork in her hand which appeared to have been given to her by an employee of the bank branch before she had left the building.
The young woman was not in any way acting aggressively, and she responded to the plain-clothes police officer when approached. She did not try to "flee the scene." Despite the fact that it was clear that there was no crime being committed in the first place, she did stick around to respond to the officer. After he repeatedly said "you were in there with everybody else," to her, as if he was suggesting that being inside of
your bank, during
regular business hours, for the purpose of speaking with a bank employee in regards to
your bank account is suddenly illegal, he forcefully grabbed her and detained her. Excessive force was used, despite the fact that this poor young woman had not committed any crime, was not interfering with the police officer's "investigation," and was not causing a scene whatsoever. At least one other individual was approached in the same manner, after leaving the bank, and was also detained completely against their will and without cause.
At one point, the bank was actually locked down, keeping the people inside, and that reportedly is when the majority of the 20+ arrests took place. Some sources are now saying that the estimate the arrest total at about 23. As far as I'm aware at this point of the evening, all these people were doing was simply walking into the bank and attempting to close their bank accounts. Most, if not all, of the bank customers in question, have reportedly been charged with crimes such as
criminal trespassing. Good luck explaining that one in court, guys. I've never heard of anyone being charged with criminal trespassing because they
entered the bank where they are an established customer, and asked to close their bank account. The NYPD is going to have to think of a better story if they want to keep arresting New Yorkers that are choosing to take a stand and make a statement through non-violent, peaceful acts of protest.
I'd like to point out that I have heard reports and seen footage of a
very small amount of protesters ignoring direct orders from police officers and/or committing minor offenses such as disturbing the peace, and therefore being arrested. I am not trying to tell you that every one of these protesters is staying within the limits of the law, or that all of the police officers in these locations are abusing their powers. What I
am saying, however, is that the vast majority of these protesters are exercising their rights to protest, and their legal right to freedom of speech. I have seen and heard of
far too many NYPD police officers abusing their power, using excessive force, and making unlawful arrests.
Earlier today, I saw two different videos that showed an NYPD police officer on a motor scooter literally driving into crowds of people, and at one point,
the officer drove right into a cameraman and proceeded to drive directly over the man's legs. This makes me sick; these officers need to be held accountable for their actions, and I wish that the law-abiding cops were doing more to uphold the integrity of the NYPD by holding these corrupt cops responsible for their gross misconduct and completely illegal and dangerous actions.
