The Occupy Banner back in place

Today was the six-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. Activists gathered at Zuccotti Park to turn it back into Liberty Plaza. The mood was one of increased radicalism. In the late evening, hundreds gathered from Left Forum and in response to texts: the Plaza was reoccupied.

During the day there had been sporadic confrontation. A symbolic tent appeared. Brookfield’s top cop, dressed in paramilitary-style black clothing from head to foot, rushed into the Plaza with a dozen acolytes to tear the small plastic tent to pieces. Next the drumming on garbage cans had to be stopped because one person from the neighborhood complained about the noise. Drumming in the street at four in the afternoon–on St Patrick’s Day, the rowdiest day of the year–is now prohibited. A man dancing on the wall around the park was deemed illegal and arrested.

Late afternoon, people began discussing the fact that Michael Moore the filmmaker was giving a speech at Left Forum at Pace University on the subject of the Future of Occupy–even as the park was being occupied. It seemed ridiculous and so a group set out to mic check and challenge Moore to come to the park. There were some confrontations with security at Pace, who sought to keep the left away from the left but in the end Moore readily agreed to encourage the audience to head down to OWS at 9pm.

Meanwhile we had a great General Assembly, like the early days–no disrupters, no nonsense, no financial questions and breakouts full of enthusiasm and ideas. Tweets started to come in towards the end about the march being on the way, even as other texts were heading out calling people to come to reoccupy. A group of us headed off in search of the march and soon found it.

March from Left Forum to Liberty

It was an excited and raucous crowd that by-passed police lines and made its ways into the Plaza to cheers, chants and dancing everywhere. For perhaps an hour, the celebration ran free as original Occupiers, long-time activists and new people came together in a very special moment. It’s easy to see that nothing concrete was established but the morale boost and the energy of the assembly was real.

The Plus Brigades began training people in park defense, while well-organized people were bringing in blankets, setting up the People’s Library and a Medical station. The Plaza continued to fill as more people responded to the text and Twitter feed.

I had to leave to supervise a teenage sleepover. As I walked down Broadway, there was no traffic and it was clear the NYPD were planning an immediate eviction. As I write it’s already underway–so the park can be cleaned, although all day OWS people were picking up trash. Or trespass. Or whatever.

In order to keep to my pledge to post every day, this is going to have to go up. It seems that a lot of arrests are taking place, over a hundred. I can see people I know on Livestream. It’s a nasty spectacle to set against the mass drunkenness taking place across the city. It’s Zuccotti Park again, full of NYPD