Occupy movement plans May Day protest
Occupy Wall Street protestors demonstrate near the New York Stock Exchange. (April 13, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
The Occupy Wall Street movement, joined by labor unions, planned a daylong series of demonstrations around Manhattan Tuesday to coincide with May Day, the traditional international workers' day of protest.
“We want the [wealthiest] one percent to know that the working people have had enough and we want our humanity back,” Marisa Holmes, 24, a member of the OWS May Day Committee, said at a news conference at Zuccotti Park Monday. Organizers said their purpose is to promote workers' rights and bring awareness to the issue of student loan debt. The protesters urged people not to go to work or school and instead participate in “A Day Without the 99 percent.”
The planned actions include “civil disobedience” and “other creative disruptions against the corporations who rule our city,” according to Occupy Wall Street websites. Jackie DiSalvo, an OWS spokeswoman, said financial institutions may be targeted for nonviolent disruptions.
Groups planned to assemble at Bryant Park, Madison Square Park and Union Square in the morning and march to Wall Street in late afternoon.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said police are expecting the main march, for which the Transport Workers Union and other unions have permits, to be “uneventful.”
Since the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations began last September, several have resulted in clashes with police, at times leading to hundreds of arrests.
Four City Council members sued the city Monday over its handling of the protests, saying police conduct is so problematic that the force needs an outside monitor. The city and police violated demonstrators' free speech rights, used excessive force, arrested protesters on dubious charges and interfered with journalists and council members in their efforts to observe what was going on, the federal civil rights suit charged. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has defended police handling of the protests.
DiSalvo said 15,000 trade union members have committed to marching, “and that's a conservative number. We have not tallied up the number of students and Occupy Wall Street protesters.”
Local 100 transit union leader Charles Jenkins said his members will be marching at 4 p.m. with OWS protesters from Union Square to Wall Street. They will continue to march to 2 Broadway to the MTA administrative offices to hold a rally.
May 1 demonstrators across the city will also be going to 99 picket lines across the city to offer support to striking workers.
With Anthony M. DeStefano and AP
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Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
