As many of you know, Occupy Wall Street has celebrated its first birthday over the last few days, culminating in an all-day birthday bash today, 17 September 2012, or #S17 as Occupiers say. There were many arrests, several phalanxes of NYPD, and even an unsuspected gatecrasher or two . . . .
Like Bain Capital! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!1!!!!!
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Seriously, who invited that guy! I guess Mittens, himself a victim of gatecrashing lately, decided to send over one of his top men. Perhaps when America's social-safety net is ashes we'll have Bain–Bane's permission to die . . . but Occupy (and the rest of America) isn't willing to wait for that.
Included below are some more photos from the day, interspersed with my random natterings and impressions. Quite a day for me, one mixed with great joy and relief, i.e., many of us are back and we're all not arrested, yet; but also with a sense of fear and trepidation, i.e., Bloomberg and the NYPD et al. are so incredibly willing to put the hurt on Occupy for the worst and most random of reasons; and some other feelings as well that I'm not totally sure about, yet. But, hey, photos!
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A street-theater group known as the Tax Dodgers. They sang a rousing hymn to Bank of America (to the tune of "God Bless America," natch).
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One of the many people holding signs.
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Three young boys.
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Fist-pumping, always a crowd-pleaser. This man did this a lot.
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One of the many counterprotesters-hecklers. She kept berating Us Dirty Hippies to go over and genuflect before the Freedom Tower, something about 9–11, Freedom, etc., a page torn from the Rudy Giuliani Noun-Verb-9–11 playbook, but with the nouns and verbs left off.
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I'm a sucker for American flags at Occupy protests. Don't really know why.
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Tax the rich.
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Another flag. Note the lovely sun on the gentleman: good sunlight is incredibly rare at Liberty Square–Zuccotti Park, something that makes shooting there challenging for me, a natural-light–no flash kinda guy.
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Love the tattoos, especially the Grateful Dead one on his left arm. A long, strange trip, indeed.
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HIPSTER COP!!!!!!!!!1!!!!! (Google him if you don't know.)
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Sleeping.
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iNYPD.
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A man playing guitar.
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Someone who identified him- or herself as Qween Amor. Lovely to have met you!
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Smile.
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And the inevitable arrests. Gotta have those, AMIRITE? The Corporate Titans must see justice being done, after all.
And here's a link to the rest of the set, courtesy of my Flickr. Hope you enjoy!