Ellen Barkin Shoved By NYPD Amidst Protests And Arrests?

[ via Huffington Post ] 4 Jan

Actress Ellen Barkin tweeted early Sunday morning that she was shoved to the ground by a New York City police officer as she was walking near her apartment on 13th street and 6th avenue. This prompted an uproar on Twitter.

"Just threatened on my street by NYPD,cop shoved me,both hands,onto sidewalk..Is it a crime 2 stand in the street in NY?WTF is going on here?" the "Another Happy Day" star wrote over the social networking service. A few hours later, Barkin wrote that she was shoved by police as she was trying to help a girl who was being arrested.

"I was trying 2 make my way 2 young girl they had thrown in2 the van.She was not a protester.Was not drunk.She was walking home," she wrote.

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But as for now: Barkin clarified on Twitter that she was not shoved to the ground, just jostled by police officers as she tried to help a protester being arrested.

It now remains to be seen why she elected to make the first statement and then what made her change mind?

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Occupy protests move to foreclosed homes

[ Yahoo News ] 7 Dec

The Occupy Wall Street protests are moving into the neighborhood. Finding it increasingly difficult to camp in public spaces, Occupy protesters across the country are reclaiming foreclosed homes and boarded-up properties, signaling a tactical shift for the movement against wealth inequality.

The events reflect the protesters' lingering frustration over the housing crisis that has sent millions of homes into foreclosure after the burst of the housing bubble that helped cripple the country's economy. 

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Police dismantle two anti-Wall Street protest camps

The Times of India

Hundreds of riot police flooded into downtown Los Angeles and Philadelphia on Wednesday to clear anti-Wall Street protest camps in mostly peaceful operations that saw dozens arrested. 

It is reported that dozens of officers in helmets formed lines to seal off an area around the City Hall park camp, while others began arresting around a dozen protesters and leading them away in plastic handcuffs. 

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Who do you call 1%

Full Story: BBC News / Magazine 24 Nov

The Occupy Wall Street campaign has divided us between 99% and 1% - but how should we differentiate between the two. Even a man in a brand new Mercedez considers him part of 99% when something better and more expensive whiz by him. So the question remains:

Caroline McClatchey of BBC has put in some research work on the issue. According to her "findings":

In 1880 a rich person would have had £100,000 in assets or an income of £10,000 a year, he says. About a hundred people a year died leaving £100,000 and by 1910 this was 250 - "a microscopic fraction of the number of deaths at the time".

Prof Rubinstein thinks annual earnings of £250,000 is the cut-off point today and says the rich-poor divide has always been tolerable only as long as the poor have opportunities.

Read full story to find more on definition of 1% and the "remaining." 

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Campus pepper spray condemned

Full Story: BBC US & Canada 19 Nov

Police blasted protesters in  University of California with pepper spray almost on their faces from a very close range. The incident has been widely condemned and the university authorities have demanded investigation of the incident.

However despite the chemical spray, protesters sat in a line on the floor with their arms interlocked as seen above, refusing to move. The protest was part of solidarity support to the Occupy Wall Street protests.

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Occupy Wall Street Protests: 300 arrested in NY

[Full Story: BBC USA & Canada] 18 Nov

Thursday was a day of protests and arrests. While thousands protesters marched towards NY's Brooklyn Bridge as a mark of solidarity rallies across USA, police had a field day of stuffing their vans with protesters. At least 300 have been reported arrested only in NY. In the scuffles between police and the 99%, five police officials have also been injured.

Thursday's nationwide protests were seen as a test of Occupy Wall Street's momentum, as the grassroots movement against economic equality marked two months since it began, reports BBC.

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