Originally Posted By: the G-man
I realize the laws of each jurisdiction vary. But I am unaware of a law in New York City that criminalizes roping off sidewalks.

In fact, when I’ve been to NYC over the years I’ve seen sidewalks barricaded for any number of reasons: street fairs, television production and construction being common ones. Those barricades were all illegal?


Nope, it's illegal to block protestors. It's our right, as free people, to protest the government, business, whatever. Forcefully stopping someone from walking down the sidewalk of Wall Street just because you're getting paid by Wall Street to do so does not make it legal.

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“I can see it from a demonstrator’s view, asking, ‘What changed?’ ” Mr. Richter said. “But there comes a point when the command staff makes a decision that the crowd is too big, and we’re at a breaking point, and we have to take back the street.”


Why? Why would the Police have to "take back the street"? Take it back from what? Who? That presumes anyone had "taken" anything. These people are walking and holding signs and chanting. What did they do wrong? Why is there suddenly a "limit" to how many free Americans can walk down a street at any given moment? Are they corralling people in the rest of NYC for the same reasons? What about Times Square? As you can see here on camera 1, there's more people out here at any one time than there ever COULD be marching on Wall Street.

So, that reasoning is bogus. And very scripted.

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A city can, and does, require even “peaceful groups” to get permits. Try to hold a parade without one. If the protesters needed a permit and didn’t get one, that means they were acting illegally.


And there we are. I knew we would get the crux of this point. The "illegality of protesting".....without PAYING to do so. When the hell did Americans start having to "get permission from the city" to protest an injustice? What if the city just arbitrarily said, "No, we won't give you a permit"? Then, it's illegal for me and my friends to protest peacefully?

Insert Orwellian reference here. We are on the edge of a slippery slope. I would expect civil revolution in the next decade. Get ready.