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Subscribe to RSSAs the Occupy Wall Street movement comes out of hibernation, a day of protests are planned around the nation. MSNBC's Richard Lui reports.
Updated at 03:38 A.M. ET: Protesters across the world marched through the streets Tuesday toting signs, playing instruments and wearing costumes to rally against austerity measures, call for more jobs and seek greater immigrants' rights on May Day.
Marches turned violent in Oakland and San Francisco, where a protester was throwing what appeared to be bricks and metal rods from the roof of a building into the crowd of demonstrators, reporters, and police - injuring at least one person, according to NBC Bay Area.
In Seattle, protesters dressed in black smashed windows and police pepper-sprayed some in the crowds.
In the United States, the protests are seen as the biggest test for the Occupy movement since many of its camps were shuttered late last year. Occupiers in more than 100 cities across the country were expected to protest on the day that traditionally celebrates workers’ rights.
In New York, demonstrators held a “free university,” and a “guitarmy” led a march.
“It was a long, energetic day with scores and scores of events and protests that is another step in building a movement for economic justice,” said Bill Dobbs of the Occupy Wall Street public relations team. “Occupy has re-blossomed in over 100 cities."
Occupy Cleveland cancels protest, distances itself from alleged bomb plot
Earlier Tuesday, about 1,000 Occupy protesters gathered in New York's Bryant Park, home to the main city library, with hundreds assembling the “guitarmy” and making posters before they left to march downtown. Chanting "Out of the stores, into the streets" and "Banks got bailed out; we got sold out," they filed down Manhattan’s iconic Fifth Avenue.
“There's too much fear for the general public to actually want to strike. They don’t want to lose their job. ... We haven’t reached that tipping point where people are more frightened for some place to live," said Robby McGeddon, 47, a tech worker carrying a maypole for May Day. "It will get to the tipping point but right now we're just practicing."
Miranda Leitsinger / msnbc.com
A protester representing the Musicians Union in New York's Union Square calls for eliminating "sour notes."
Of the protest, Daphne Carr, 33, co-organizer of the Occupy Music Working Group, said: “We're trying to find new, positive community-building ways to engage and protest and be a part of the burgeoning civil dialogue about what this country should be doing."
She also noted that music making "has been eroded from our public sphere so we're taking and re-claiming the right to play music publicly together in the streets, in the parks, without permits.”
The crowd swelled to a few thousand later in the day in Union Square as immigrant rights groups and unions representing teachers, transport workers, nurses, musicians as wells as others joined in a lively afternoon of art and music.
But the day was not without its detractors: at least one man heckled protesters and another yelled “Get a job!” as he elbowed his way through the crowd.
That didn’t get the protesters’ spirits down.
"This is like the resurgence of the Occupy Wall Street movement," said photographer Joel Simpson, 65, of Union, N.J., as the "guitarmy" sang "This land is your land" nearby. Though most of New York City didn't know the May Day protest was going on, he said, the movement "touches public consciousness in a very broad way and politicians have to at least pay lip service to it."
The New York protesters then streamed downtown, in an early evening march heading past the former Occupy Wall Street home, Zuccotti Park, to Bowling Green park near the southern tip of Manhattan. Occupy sent out a text message saying 30,000 people were in the streets, though it was not possible to determine how many were and police do not give crowd estimates. At one point, the protest appeared to stretch about 15 city blocks.
“We’re not so fragile that a day is going to make or break things but this was you know, a great … step,” Dobbs said, noting that the “organizing that goes on day-to-day and week-to-week is just as important in building a long-term sustainable movement.”
New York police reported 15 arrests by late afternoon for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, the New York Daily News reported. Several demonstrators were caught carrying hammers but there was little vandalism, police said. Later Tuesday, Occupy said more arrests had been made.
Elsewhere:
Oakland police and May Day protesters face off. Watch video courtesy of KNTV.
San Francisco: Police armed with non-lethal pellet or bean bag guns aimed them at a protester who was throwing objects from the roof of the building, located at 888 Turk St, according to NBC Bay Area. The protester, dressed in black with a handkerchief covering his face, was throwing what appeared to be bricks and metal rods into the crowd of demonstrators, reporters, and police. Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Andraychak told NBC News the individual threw several items off the roof for several minutes, including two bricks and pipes. One brick struck a person and hit them in the head. The injured person refused treatment from medical personnel. NBC News reported that the rooftop protester was arrested and taken into custody.
Oakland, Calif.: Protesters playing cat-and-mouse with police pounded on windows of banks and other businesses, SFGate.com reported. After surrounding a downtown Bank of America branch, protesters chanted, "Oakland is the people's town; strike, occupy, shut it down." they also gathered at a Wells Fargo bank branch. Police later confronted demonstrators marching through downtown. Video by NBCBayArea.com showed at least one protester being dragged away by police. Protesters hurled items including a paint bomb at police and windows out of a police van, NBCBayArea.com reported. Police fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades before the skirmishing crowd dispersed. Police arrested at least four people.
Jim Seida / msnbc.com
Police tape off a Wells Fargo Bank in Seattle Tuesday after protesters broke the banks windows during a May Day march.
Seattle: Windows were broken and police arrested a handful of protesters as about 100 marched in downtown, NBC station KING reported. Many marchers were dressed in dark clothes, wearing face makeup and carrying sticks, live TV video showed. Police pepper-sprayed several protesters as problems developed. KING reported numerous tires slashed and large amounts of glass on the ground from vehicles and buildings, including the federal courthouse, smashed by protesters. Peaceful protesters remained at the downtown Westlake Plaza, where speeches and concerts continued, KING reported.
John Brecher / msnbc.com
Trumpeter Opaulo Mekkelsen marched with the Movitas Marching Band in Seattle. He said he was motivated by immigrants' rights.
"Part of me, I want to understand where they're coming from and then they pull something like this," said Sam, who would not give his last name, as he saw the back window of his car smashed out by protesters. Sam was on holiday from his home in British Columbia. "I'm from Canada," he said, "imagine the impression this gives me of the United States."
At an afternoon press conference, Mayor Mike McGinn said a group known as the “Black Block” did extensive damage to the Federal Courthouse, then moved on to block traffic. The mayor signed a proclamation authorizing police to seize from protesters any items that could be used as weapons, KING reported. Evening marches and protests were planned.
A group of May Day protesters dressed in black clothes and wearing face makeup smashed windows in downtown Seattle. Video courtesy KING.
Photoblog: May Day protests turn violent in Seattle
San Francisco: Golden Gate ferry workers picketed ferry terminals in the North Bay, but union organizers canceled a protest on the Golden Gate Bridge to give support to the ferry workers, the Oakland Tribune reported. However, scores of California Highway Patrol officers with helmets and batons lined the bridge and gathered around the toll plaza just in case. Bridge traffic was not disrupted.
Albany, N.Y.: State police arrested two men who set up a table without a permit in Lafayette Park, where Occupy protesters assembled Tuesday, the Times Union newspaper reported.
Jim Seida / msnbc.com
Sam (who declined to give his last name), left, speaks to local media after protesters in a May Day march in downtown Seattle smashed out the rear window of his car on 6th Avenue. "Part of me, I want to understand where they're coming from and then they pull something like this," he said. Sam was on holiday from his home in British Columbia, Canada. "I'm from Canada," he said, "Imagine the impression this gives me of the United States."
Chicago: Protesters and union supporters held rallies and marches with little disruption to the business district, the Chicago Tribune reported. Police Superintendent
Denver: Nearly 200 people marched downtown before turning onto the 16th Street pedestrian mall, blocking mall buses and traffic as they walked. The marchers also stopped in front of the Federal Reserve Bank. Police did not interfere, and only one person reportedly was arrested.
Los Angeles: Several demonstrators were taken into custody during a protest on Century Boulevard near the entrance to Los Angeles International Airport as union members, workers, immigrant-rights activists and others demonstrated for better-paying jobs to changes in immigration laws, NBCLosAngeles.com reported. However, about 2,000 police officers prepared to deploy early at a staging area in Elysian Park before a ralliers were to converge downtown Tuesday evening. Los Angeles County activated its Emergency Operations Center.
Dorian Warren, an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University, said he thought Tuesday would be the “biggest test since the fall of where Occupy is.”
Occupy activists fear becoming Democrats' 'pet'
“I think it’s still alive and thriving. I don’t think it’s going anywhere soon,” he said. “But I think after [Tuesday] we’ll know whether or not they were hibernating all winter and now they’ve re-emerged, or if they’ve died out.”
Occupy held protests during the spring on student debt and worker rights. They also have been working on a rollout of new versions of outreach web sites to facilitate coordination among different Occupy outfits. But a lot of effort has been focused on holding a May Day that will make a splash.
“Many activists have been working toward May Day for months and so they’ve decided to make it a test of strength,” said Todd Gitlin, a former leader of the 1960s-era group Students for a Democratic Society who has just published a book on Occupy. He added: “A lot of people in the larger society don’t think the movement still exists, so there’s some need to prove to them that it does exist.”
Occupy Wall Street has struggled during the last months without a camp, with some members starting their own groups while keeping a loose affiliation to the movement.
“It’s become fractured over time and I think people point a lot to that to the breakup of Zuccotti Park, and the natural disagreements that people had came more to the fore when people were separated and people formed their own circles upon which they continued. But it wasn’t the circle of great diversity that was right there at Zuccotti Park and people could grow from,” said William Johnsen, a 63-year-old veteran activist from Staten Island, N.Y. “It’s obviously a long-term process right now which will ultimately change into something else.”
Lefteris Pitarakis / AP
Workers and activists rally on May Day.
But Konrad Cukla, a 23-year-old graduate student who has been helping with Occupy May Day planning, said that since the park shut, occupiers have been engaging in key coalition building work, such as with immigrant rights groups in the city.
“All the labor unions have come together and for the first time are going to have a unified march with immigrant rights groups and Occupy,” he said as he walked with a musical band of occupiers -- the Rude Mechanical Orchestra -- dressed in green and black on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. “I think the movement is evolving, it's taking on more concrete allies and issues, engaging more with labor struggles -- also just expanding its horizons and bringing more people into the movement."
Rain City Superheroes: Midnight Jack, left, El Caballero, center, and Phoenix Jones relax Tuesday at a downtown Seattle Starbucks.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com's Jim Gold contributed to this report. Follow Jim Gold at msnbc.com on Facebook here.
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I think its wonderful to see some American people growing some balls. Our government has sold us out to the highest bidder. Our corporations are whores and rapers of the world. Seeking slave child labor in 3rd world countrys where no worker safety or enviromental laws exist. That is the dream of the American Corporations to use everyone and everything then announce gross incomes for their CEO's and Board Chairman. It has been documented over and over that these people serve on each others boards and vote each others raises. I have a job today and work 60 to 70 hours a week to make ends meet. My pay has stagnated for the past ten to fifteen years while profits at the top have soared. People who smuggly remark about Unions and American workers will be worse off in the end. If you are not an Elected official, a Bank President or a CEO and you do not back OWS you are alittle sold out rat whore yourself. You probably rat on your fellow employees at work. You have trouble looking at yourself in the mirror and you wonder if your children knew what a little rat you were what would they think of you. Your wife probably longs for a real man to hold her. When the people win the coming social war people like you will be in just alittle bit of trouble.
The OWS movement in no way represents the working man; they believe they were born with entitlements and don't have to work for what they have. Without government handouts they would find it hard to survive; ironically, if they were to get their way, corporations and then subsequently government would die and the OWS parasites would be on their own.
truthhurts=-
or maybe it's because people like myself own my own businesses and control my own life instead of being a pathetic whiner like yourself
you better be able to back up your spewing mouth. azz hole
and take your business and do a better job of trimming my sidewalks the next time.
the reason your job has stagnated for the last 15 years means you fill a diminishing position and have done nothing of value to improve your position. If you had half a brain you would have long ago figured that out and gotten an education or training that would provide upward mobility. As many corporations have stated, repeatedly, they cannot find qualified employees. You seem to be one of the unqualified, yet you blame everyone and everything else for you own shortcomings. You seem to be the "azz hole"
Interesting: Robby McGeddon, 47, a tech worker carrying a maypole for May Day, said, “There's too much fear for the general public to actually want to strike. They don’t want to lose their job ... We haven’t reached that tipping point where people are more frightened for some place to live ... it will get to the tipping point but right now we're just practicing.” very Interesting indeed!
so the People are not willing to sacrifice, because they are afraid....Such a shame, and disgrace if you ask me. I guess our forefathers who had gone this way before, should have been afraid to go to war against the British, and even the French for fear of being killed. What Americans do not understand is that it is the 1% taking control and killing Americans from within, and they do not care one bit of crp about what happens as long as they make a few billions or two. wake up america, and strike and register to Vote, and get informed and vote these radical terrorists, (Yes I'm refering to the GOP & Tea-Party backed by financial terrorists and Corrupt corporations) the ones you fear!!! March, Strike and show them what you are really worth. Grow a pair!
The terrorists who are attempting to destroy America are in the streets today; they are the scum of the country: lazy, needy, worthless, pathetic parasites who thinks the world owes them a living; it doesn't.
I agree Ray it is a shame and the American people are afraid of losing their jobs. I watched the people rise up behind a labor union and a long shoreman and free a communist country. America cheered for this union leader and he won the Noble Peace Prize but all the while our Government was chopping away at every right the American workers had. It should not mean a person loses their job if they go on strike. Scab replacement workers should be outlawed. Our American Corporations have shown their true colors. They are 'for profit only'. People mean nothing, see the third world labor force of children they use. Pathetic at best is all you can say for America and its current so called leaders.
Ray, Words of wisdom from you, who got out of the 3rd grade after only three years. Dry up.
The most dangerous animal in the wild is one that has nothing to loose, an animal that is cornered and desperate. That is true in humans, and so many people are that desperate. Its only a matter of time before these mob protestors take to the streets for blood and patriotism-to take the cities that control them. Its not a matter of when, its just a matter of time.
Truthhurts - Do you have a job? If so, what do you work for? Something to do? Status? I think you possibly work for money to sustain your pathetic life. Much like corporations do. They work and make and supply to provide all of us with "things" (goods or services) and to sustain their lives as well as the people who work for them. Those nasty bastards eh truth?
Damn, I was wondering when we'd hear from these losers again. I've really missed their amusing speeches and sound bytes on CNN and MSNBC. I hope they stay around for a while for entertainment purposes.
the media can say whatever they want. Go OWS, true patriots fighting for freedom and justice. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. These pigs will lose.
FIGHT? I thought OWS was a peaceful protest.
This just hit on msn.com
BREAKING NEWS:
Violence breaks out during May Day protests in downtown Seattle. Developing.
I TOLD YA!!!!
I wouldn't talk to anyone smashing windows and burning things. I would just shoot them!!
Anonymous members (the guys in the Guy Fawkes mask) will always find a idea to protest by. They support protesting everywhere, and that will never change. However, I feel that protesting will never work unless action is forced behind it. The country is teetering on the Brink of revolution, as it rightly should be, because the morons in Congress cant get anything done. What will it take for the criminals in our government to change. An armed revolution? A burning on the scale of the London Fires of 1666 in Washington DC? Another person like Hitler to rise to power in America?
WAKE UP, DC-the people are speaking, raising their fists. Its only a matter of time until the Country you serve comes to your privalaged doorstep to throw you out and beat you in the streets
It's true Congress can't get anything done; the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, hasn't passed a budget in three years, not even during the first two years of the Obama administration when he had a filibuster proof majority in the Senate and a super majority in the House. There may be a revolution soon, but it will be to put this OWS parasites in their place. Enough is enough!
Enough is enough indeed. But this country needs drastic changes in the government to survive all of this disorder. I feel that everyone in Congress should be forced to retire after one last term-and be restricted to 3 terms only. This will stop carrear politicans and allow for a revolving door of new faces and opinions to enter the Government. Also, I believe that the Judical System needs a complete overhaul, and instead of 1 Judge sitting on a court case their should be three to counter-balance the opinion of one pompous fool.
The situation we have is pathetic, and its sad to see how these arrogant S.O.B's have let this nation fall because of pure laziness and fear
Actually those rioters that call themselves the so-called "99%" have it all wrong...the actual 99% do not have time to riot because they are WORKING!
I think the view that all the "have-nots" are stupid and lazy is short-sighted and ignorant. What is worse is that many of the people who habitually use the words stupid and lazy have indeed taken a helping hand. The "I got mine, you get yours" group or "They got theirs now stop taxing them so they can create more jobs for the rest of us" group are failing to realize that many of the "haves" have taken the same handouts they decry - especially many of the large business owners who were bailed out by "We The People."
It would be wise for everybody in this country to realize that we all need each other to be successful. The fact is that large corporations have been taking advantage of society any way they can, AND many people are truly lazy and don't want to work. But, I find more often that when people feel that they are working very hard full time + and still can't provide for their family, that they may not be motivated to work. I know people will say to remove the safety net, but if wages from working are not high enough for people to be self-sufficient, there will be many more problems than there are now. Now, let's consider the person who hates rich people. It is foolish for people to hate rich people, because rich people provide jobs. Then you have large corporations who don't want to pay fair wages so they set up shop in other countries so they can get by not paying an American minimum wage, payroll taxes and other taxes, etc. These companies do realize that eventually, in their attempts to be profitable, they are taking jobs from the very people they need to purchase their products to be profitable, right? Sure, as it stands, it is working, BUT in time these large corporations, as more jump on the bandwagon will start to feel the pain of the lost American consumer. Many people will have little to no choice but to go into business themselves. I have noticed a great deal of consumer dissatisfaction with large companies. These people may well start turning to the smaller businesses for their products and services.
Another issue is that many people say "I made money, why can't you?" Well, this is a great argument and all, except for many of them don't realize that they made their money on the backs of the lower wage workers, the same ones they are calling lazy because of their lower level of education. What if all Americans were to educate themselves so they didn't have to do lower level work? Wouldn't this mean that companies that stayed in America would have a harder time finding workers? They would. One thing for those who are making a ton of money right now because they have skills that society values more highly than others to keep in mind.....How valuable will you be to society if a larger portion of society has the same skills as you do? Sure, you can always just pull out of America and go elsewhere, but there is a good chance you will lose this large customer base who will probably do just fine without you.
I guess my point is that everybody needs to realize that everybody who contributes to society offers value. My suggestion to those who aren't well off: Quit hating people for being wealthy. Wealthy people can create jobs that can in turn help further your position in life..maybe even allow you to earn enough money to start up your own business. Those who are well off because they were able to exploit the skills of the general population: Treat your workers right, which means willingly paying a living wage and quit outsourcing jobs because you can get the labor cheaper. It isn't going to help you when one of the largest, most willing consumer bases is located in the United States and they can't buy your products.
Break their heads wide open and throw them in jail !!!
they will. and you support that kind of thing do you? Cops breaking peoples heads open for speaking their minds? Maybe you should consider Cuba or China as your new home. You could rat on your fellow man and then hide and watch as the police carried him off to a secret prison, you are the type guy to really get off on that.
Well I'll bet there are some proud parents out and about today, wishing they had used birth control. these sorry puddles of dog vomit. (these occupy wimps).
The press continues to confuse anarchists with the occupy movement...Occupiers are not the ones that splinter off of the rallys and cause damage. These are anarchists jump on the moment in pretty much the way a flea jumps on a dog...They can push their violence on the occupiers wagon... The press continues to not make this distinction, in order to make the occupy movement look bad.
Splitting hairs? Do the "occupiers" denounce this? I think not. Any group that denounces capitalism is not worthy of any consideration in our society.
If the people committing destruction do not represent the "cause" as OWS claims, they should police their own people. If OWS refuses to enforce their own peaceful code of conduct, then they cannot complain about anarchists.
Not really surprised about Oakland, having been there!!
I believe violence only hurts your cause and those that partake in it are idiots. That being siad, since when do you need a permit to assemble? Setting up a table doesn't sound like anything too crazy...
I'm loving the picture of the protester offering a policeman a rose, in an article about violent protesters. MSNBC, try and give a more accurate view of the protests, would you?
aah there are some real winners there. lets see if i destroy what real people work for then i can have an easy job with all the pay i want.
well they are helping keep cops EMT and fire fighters busy.now it will be window makers and installers busy as well. We once again see the true colors of the protesters that only want a better life for all..what am i saying just their friends only.
Greed: It's not just for the rich any more.
greed was never just from rich. its any one wanting to get more and more of anything....
well at least it's easy to see were the idiots were today. it's one thing to be a goof and another to promote it.we need more responsible and dedicated working people and a lot less hippie wanna-beees. it was about self indulgence in the 60's and it is now.
So destroy property, threaten workers trying to make end meets while living under the same crooked government is the answer? Some of you people just do not make any sense. Taxpayers (you know the same people living under their rule in the end have to pay for this. You talk of rights? What about our rights not to have to pay higher taxes or insurance premiums simply becaue you are careless with your voting habits and dont pay attention to who you elect? Violence, destruction of property and denying safe streets and working enviornments is not the answer unless you are for the occupiers, then we have no rights because you have decided to deny them to us. That is fair? That is how things are done?
These anarchists think they are so smart, why don't they come up with solutions? They just want to spread negativity and havoc.
They are reliving their adolescence when they got attention by rebelling against their elders. They are just bums of society and want everyone to be pulled down to their level of performing far below their abilities.
Quick report from Chicago:
Early in the day (10:00, which is about right) there was a visible dust cloud seen in downtown moving in a northerly direction. Some loud noises were heard. We got a little rain from noon to 2:30-3:00 which settled the dust cloud down quite a bit. The local coffee shops -- with free internet -- are reporting smells similar to pig hauling trucks and many have closed and locked there doors for fear of rapidly spreading disease. The mayor has declared it "Take a Shower please day" and is now arresting any OWS protestor who nears a bridge.
That's about it, quite mundain.
Them teabaggers...MERCY!!!
I'd protest but hey, I'm WORKING for a living.
Like I said before, get these loons out of the country, along w/Assbagma & the rest of you liberal WHACK jobs!!
Desperate times for liberal parasites. Hope and change is just about over. Free healthcare is going down. Peggy still has to pay her mortgage and fill up her tank. With hindsight, most of them secretly wish Hillary was the nominee.