Media Blackout, Social Media firestorm at Zuccotti Park

"Cops just violently shoved me away as I tried to shoot this
man in a stretcher being loaded into ambulance"
--@JoshHarkinson

After I spent my evening completing assignments and enjoying a book (for once as a pastime), I went through my routine of checking my email and Twitter feed. I was amazed to see Zuccotti Park, OWS and NYPD completely blowing up my feed. What shocked me even more was the fact that this raid and eviction from the base of operations for Occupy Wall Street protestors was at 1 a.m.  For the most part, Occupy Wall Street demonstrators have remained fairly passive. Oakland's Occupy Wall Street movement has probably been the biggest outbreak of violence. Another key point is that the media was forced out of the park and placed in an area where they could not see anything. They were not allowed to cover the event. Reports that the air space above the park was also "cleared out" to ensure that the press could not have helicopters overhead. 


Whether you agree with the 99% or not, I should hope that the right to free speech and assembly would be protected.  The right is protected by domestic and international law.  Despite this, protestors found themselves being forcibly removed from the park in New York City.  Josh Harkinson, a writer for Mother Jones magazine, witnessed and tweeted the police raid as it happened.  With the media being blacked out, journalists and citizens took to social media to document the event and raise awareness of the police raid. Harkinson tweeted that protestors were resisting peacefully and that the police were rounding up the media in a pen away from Zuccotti Park. Tweet after tweet, Harkinson and many others shed light on Zuccotti Park where no one else could. 


@tedalexandro was also constantly updating his followers with the location of the protestors after being evicted from the park.  He commented to his followers after the eviction about the gross violations of the 1st amendment, tweeting, "Helluva night for 1st Amendment: Protects the freedom of religion, speech, the press, as well as the right to assemble/petition govt. #OWS" and "No matter how you feel about #OWS, I hope the absolute disregard for freedom of the press during tonight's raid on the park gives you pause." 



Another account by D.C. reporter, @gzornick, stated over 10 hours ago, "NYC authorities clearly feel #OWS eviction is just and reasonable. That's why they are doing it at 2am and barring all press." 


James West, another writer for Mother Jones magazine, has now begun using Twitter to crowd-source photos and information from those who were at the park when the NYPD raid began.


According to the Huffington Post, "The surprise raid on the Occupy Wall Street encampment included an aggressive, sometimes violent approach to the journalists covering the event." The journalists that were forced or kept out of the area began, like protestors and citizens, tweeting with the hashtag #mediablackout.  Some journalists were reportedly arrested as well,  yet Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated that "Journalists were barred from covering the raid to protect members of the press and to prevent a situation from getting worse." NPR reporter Julie Walker and New York Times reporter Jared Malsin were arrested and a city councilman Ydanis Rodriguez was beaten. 


Education reporter for NY1, Lindsey Christ, tweeted "Reporters/photogs being thrown to ground and pushed to wall if they get in front of the wrong officer. Other officers calm and polite." 

"NYPD officer lines are four deep at the northwest
corner of Zuccotti #OWS"
--Andrew Katz, @Katz
12:53pm Nov. 15, 2011

The courts are now dealing with the issue. Follow Nick Pinto for updates on Twitter from inside the courthouse.


This is the most recent photo that has popped up on my Twitter feed. -->




What do you think, excessive or warranted? Was Bloomberg justified in forcing out the demonstrators? How about the media blackout? 


UPDATE: Check out this blog on Reuters. Very interesting post on the events that happened and some great shots. 


UPDATE 11:20pm 11/16/11: This is really neat--> http://maps.occupy.net/