💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 3456.gmi captured on 2023-09-08 at 18:15:34. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2011-10-12 06:09:46
By MEGHAN BARR - Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) The national Occupy Wall Street movement has been heating up
again resulting in about 50 arrests in Boston early Tuesday and plans for a
Manhattan "Millionaires March" to the homes of some of New York City's
wealthiest residents.
The protesters from the Occupy Boston movement were arrested after they ignored
warnings to move from a downtown greenway near where they have been camped out
for more than a week, police said.
Police spokesman Jamie Kenneally said the arrests began about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday
and were mostly for trespassing. A conservancy group recently planted $150,000
worth of shrubs along the greenway and officials said they were concerned about
damage.
Related: 5 facts about the Occupy Wall Street movement
Hundreds of college students marched through downtown Boston on Monday and
gathered on Boston Common, holding signs that read "Fund education, not
corporations." The protesters are angry with an education system they say
mimics "irresponsible, unaccountable, and unethical financial practices" of
Wall Street.
During the York City march on Tuesday afternoon, protesters will bear oversize
checks, intended to symbolize how much less the wealthy will pay when New
York's 2 percent "millionaires' tax" expires in December.
The marchers plan to visit the homes of News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, JP
Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and oil tycoon David Koch, among others. They
don't have a permit, but will walk in a narrow column so they don't block
sidewalks, according to Doug Forand, a protest leader.
Forand, citing budget cuts affecting schools and senior citizens, said the
state's plan to end the "millionaires' tax" is "unconscionable" and urged
lawmakers to extend it.
Asked if he thought any of the millionaires would be home, Forand replied,
"They don't share their schedules with me, but probably not."
On Tuesday, several hundred protesters marched around the Financial District in
Lower Manhattan.
The police presence is constant, and comes with a price tag. The New York
Police Department already has spent $1.9 million, mostly in overtime pay, to
patrol the area near Zuccotti Park, where hundreds of protesters have camped
out for several weeks. Though cold weather is on the way, they're prepared to
stay put for the long haul.
The expense comes at a time when Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered citywide
budget cuts.
"The bottom line is that people want to express themselves, and as long as they
obey the laws, we allow them to," Bloomberg told reporters Monday when asked
about the protesters' staying power. "If they break the laws, then we're going
to do what we're supposed to do enforce the laws."
Last week, Bloomberg ordered all agencies to prepare to cut expenses by a total
of $2 billion during the next 18 months. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said
the budget cuts may cause the cancellation of a new class of police officers
entering the academy in January.
Police officials would not comment Monday on whether the Occupy Wall Street
protest would have any bearing on how the budget cuts would play out. A
spokesman for Bloomberg declined to comment on any financial issues.
"We always prefer to not spend overtime, but again, this is a big, complex
city, lots of things going on," Kelly said last week, describing the
protesters' effect on the NYPD. "And we have to spend overtime for unplanned
operations."
The protesters say they're fighting for the "99 percent," or the vast majority
of Americans who do not fall into the wealthiest 1 percent of the population;
their causes range from bringing down Wall Street to fighting global warming.
The movement gained traction through social media, and protests have taken
place in several other cities nationwide.
___
Associated Press writers Laura Crimaldi in Boston, and Kiley Armstrong, Deepti
Hajela, Colleen Long in New York, contributed to this report.