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NYPD marks OWS 6 month anniversary with violent crackdown and arrests

11mo ago
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NYPD marks OWS anniversary with violent crackdown and arrests A number of OWS protesters have reportedly been arrested and several injured at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan during celebrations of the movement's six-month anniversary. Police broke up the peaceful rally that had gathered almost 600 people to OWS' founding There have been no confirmed reports on the number of arrests, but eye witnesses report more than a twenty. Police drafted in public buses to carry away the detained. Demonstrators held their ground there locking arms in solidarity as dozens of police swept through the downtown Manhattan Park. Several people were injured in the police assault, with three women being taken away in ambulances from the scene. Many demonstrators accused the police of being unnecessarily aggressive. Twitter users reported broken jaws and thumbs and one man who had his head smashed into a window by police. According to eyewitnesses, a woman suffering from a seizure was handcuffed by police and deprived of medical attention for several minutes. "It was a good 10 or 15 minutes before they got an ambulance. I thought, oh no, is this the moment when this woman is going to die right there?" demonstrator, Leslie Kauffman told news agency AFP. The police were said to have been obstructing members of the press from entering the square "for safety reasons." New York City police announced Zuccotti Park had closed for the evening before moving through the excited and sometimes agitated protesters, who chanted and beat drums as they went. New York Policeman Brian Sessa told the Associated Press that the police acted because the demonstrators had begun to break park rules. "They set up tents. They had sleeping bags," he said. OWS twitter channel reported that after the crackdown at Zuccotti Park, protesters moved on to Union Square where they were met by a large police presence. Saturday's police crackdown on OWS protesters marks the 6-month anniversary of the anti-capitalist movement since its inception last September in Zuccotti Park. The group gathered significant momentum in the subsequent months, giving rising to copy-cat groups across the US and in major cities around the world. The Occupy movement suffered a significant blow in November when a police crackdown dislodged the group's main encampment at Zuccotti Park, arresting some 200 hundred people in the process. The group's existence has been dogged by widespread reports of police brutality being used to disperse protesters. Before arriving at Zuccotti Park, protesters had marched on nearby Wall Street, resulting in another unspecified number of arrests. tags: news nypd police cops 2012 anniversary ows occupy wall street movement protest protesters arrest brutality shutdown new york shame riots bankers sheeple crazy nwo world order illuminati crackdown techbytigz the unseen forces we are change we the people rt russia today anonymous truth truther debt poverty occupy corporation worldcrisistoday