Growing!

Fuck the NYPD, and fuck that rich dogfucker, Bloomberg. They should have been allowed to go to Wall Street.

[Welcome, Guardian readers! --lambert]

Totally understand why the marchers wanted to keep marching towards Wall Street. From Foley Square to Zuccotti Park the NYPD kept nearly 20,000 marchers penned tightly like cattle. Even though the streets were blocked off from all traffic (this march, with all the unions, had a permit) we were allowed only the sidewalk and only about 6-7 feet of the wide roadway.

There was no reason at all to squeeze the marchers like that. It was frustrating, uncomfortable and claustrophobic. And particularly annoying to see so much empty road space alongside us, unused. The point of it seemed to be to make marchers as uncomfortable as possible.

It worked on me. I'm exhausted. Heading to shower and bed.

"I just have to say I have had the WORST experience ever in a march. And it was just confirmed on twitter by the mayor that Homeland Security is responsible for ordering the extreme barricading.... I was stuck on the edge, inside the barricade, with the crowds. After the exceedingly long wait while enduring the speeches, we were stuck for another 1/2 hour--standing there while people were allowed to empty the park in a very small funnel. The streets were completely open--AND closed to traffic, yet we were not allowed to exit anywhere--unless we could make our way thru the massive crowd to the back end of the park. One veteran started shouting to break down the barricades. A DA from nearby was shouting at the police to let her cross--saying she wasn't a protestor. Elderly people were trying to get out. It was awful. I was not afraid of being arrested; I was afraid of being trampled--with all this open space in front of me."

This looks like it happened on Broadway, just outside Zuccotti Park.

Again, my friend nails the frustrated mood tonight:

"By the time we were able to start marching--we had already left the march. [Note: the police kept us penned in for nearly an hour, and forced all 20,000 of us to leave our start point at Foley Square through a narrow funnel.]

People were stressed. The good energy had been deflated. I imagine that is exactly what they intended, because they SURE did NOT have our safety in mind."

Note that DESPITE every effort by the authorities to make the protesters erupt in violence, this action remains non violent.

But that doesn't mean they weren't calling the shots behind the scene.

GEOGRAPHY NOTE FOR NON NY'ers--Zuccotti Park is two blocks from the NYSE, but also two blocks from Ground Zero. The march route went past City Hall, and one block from the construction site of the new big skyscraper (I'm not sure what they're calling it now, since "Freedom Tower" was nixed).

So it wouldn't surprise me if there were DHS involved.