Holding a mock funeral for Brooklyn’s soul and wearing oversized masks were just a few of the methods residents used during yesterday’s peaceful Atlantic Yards protest, but that didn’t stop the NYPD from locking down the event as if it were a G20 demonstration. Officers were stationed at street level, on rooftops, and in the air. They did manage to arrest at least one person for…drumming. Sigh!
Students at my alma mater, Hunter College, gathered for a mandatory higher-tuition-rates-suck rally on Thursday and briefly tried to occupy the UES campus. The NYPD also attended, but weren’t as supportive and after a little chaos broke out, a total of four students were arrested. Ah, college days. This video gives me idealistic nostalgia. |Gothamist|
When it comes to the MTA and proposed budget cuts, Brooklyn doesn’t play.
And so the movement begins. All across the internet, people are calling on Sea World to free Tilikum, the killer whale involved in this week’s tragic death of a trainer in Orlando, who was dragged into the water by her ponytail. From PETA and Facebook to Twitter and op-eds on CNN, there’s a growing consensus that the male orca, kidnapped when he was only 2-years-old, should be released back into the wild, a move some say would guarantee his death since he’s been in captivity for so long. Read more »
Here’s some video to supplement the photo I published earlier of Vancouver’s anti-OIympic protesters that appears to have been captured the same day. Watch as all hell breaks loose at around the 1:11 mark.
Authorities in Iran just can’t seem to keep up with all the various methods dissidents are using to challenge the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They’ve banned art with the color green, have promised to crackdown on Students Days demonstrations, may have sent a cyber army to hack Twitter, and are now banning money that has been defaced with protest slogans. Citizens with vandalized currency must exchange it for new bills. Maybe the country is turning into one big police state? |AFP|
Although the The Daily Show isn’t on tonight, you won’t have to wait till next week to see some footage of Senior British Correspondent, John Oliver, reporting from the protester-filled streets of Pittsburgh during the G20. Watch a clip of the fake newsman dropping “F” bombs while rehearsing a segment in front of a wall of riot-clad police after the jump.
Photo by Joey Kennedy
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Pittsburgh police finally got around to doing their part and started firing tear gas at activists this afternoon, thereby transforming the G-20 demonstrations into real protests worthy of photo ops and breaking news segments. |SkyNews|
Giant inflatable rats have become a mainstay of NYC and can often be seen in front of construction sites and other locations that don’t hire union workers. But a church? Yup! A notorious rodent was installed in front of Monica’s Catholic Church on the Upper East Side yesterday to protest the Archdiocese’s decision to use non-union workers to paint the sanctuary. |NYP|
In a shockingly egregious abuse of the First Amendment and probably some other laws, police in Wisconsin illegally trespassed onto a businessman’s property to confiscate the American flag he was flying upside down in a liquor license protest. With the advice of the local Constitution-hating district attorney, four officers removed the Stars and Stripes hours before a 4th of July parade and returned it the following day. The man happened to be an Iraq War veteran which always seems to make it even more shameful. |Washington Post|
Photo by Susan Willems via AP
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