Occupy Wall Street Protesters Return "Not with a Vengeance, but with Hope"

November 16, 2011 from Democracy Now!

Thousands of defiant Occupy Wall Street protesters streamed into Zuccotti Park late Tuesday less than 24 hours after police forcibly removed them from their camp. Police arrested more than 200 people, including about a dozen who had chained themselves to each other and to trees. As protesters returned, a judge upheld the city's ban preventing them from bringing backpacks, tents and sleeping bags with them into the park. Democracy Now! spoke with protesters as they regrouped after the raid. "The reason I'm down here is because I'm tired of seeing suffering of so many people while you have 1 percent who is accumulating all this wealth on the backs of all the workers," says Ray Lewis, a retired police captain from the Philadelphia Police Department. He critiques his colleagues for "basically just enforcing the laws of the dictators, which is the 1 percent. They're having their healthcare cut, their pensions cut, and their salaries reduced. And they don't even realize it."

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Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street was the name given to a protest movement that began on September 17, 2011, in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district. The Canadian group and magazine Adbusters initiated the call for protest with assistance from the Manhatta... Explore this topic

Occupy movement

The "Occupy" protests are an ongoing series of international protests which began in mid-September 2011 and are primarily against social and economic inequality, corporate greed and influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government. The protests take their name from the... Explore this topic

Zuccotti Park

Zuccotti Park, formerly called Liberty Plaza Park, is a 33,000-square-foot publicly accessible park in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is a privately owned public space controlled by Brookfield Properties. The park was created in 1968 by Pittsburgh-based United States Steel... Explore this topic

Eviction

Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, eviction may also be known as unlawful detai... Explore this topic

Protest camp

Protest camps are physical camps that are set up by activists, to either provide a base for protest, or to delay, obstruct or prevent the focus of their protest by physically blocking it with the camp. They began in the 1920s and became famous in 1982 due to the publicity gene... Explore this topic

Street protester

Street protesting is a form of individual public demonstration, more prevalent in larger cities. Characteristically, street protesters work alone, gravitating towards areas of high foot traffic, and employing handmade placards such as sandwich boards or picket signs in order t... Explore this topic

Sleeping bag

A sleeping bag is a protective "bag" for a person to sleep in, essentially a blanket that can be closed with a zipper or similar means, and functions as a bed in situations where a bed is unavailable. Its primary purpose is to provide warmth and thermal insulation. It also pro... Explore this topic

Michael Bloomberg

Michael Rubens Bloomberg is an American business magnate, politician and philanthropist. He is the 108th and current Mayor of New York City, having served three consecutive terms since his first election in 2002. With a net worth of $27 billion, he is also the 7th-richest pers... Explore this topic

Mayor of New York City

The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City. The ... Explore this topic

Tent

A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or attached to a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using guy ropes tied to stakes ... Explore this topic

Also See

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy movement

Zuccotti Park

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