2011-12-01 "Occupy Philadelphia viciously attacked by police" by Joseph Piette
[http://www.workers.org/2011/us/occupy_philadelphia_1215/]
Nov. 30 — We woke up this morning to the news that the cops had finally shut down Occupy Philly. The eviction deadline had been announced for Sunday, Nov. 25, at 5 p.m., but nothing happened until around 1 a.m. Wednesday. By then the 322 tents had dwindled to less than 100, with maybe 75 people at the General Assembly Tuesday night. The homeless population had been moved to another location Sunday afternoon.
From email, Facebook reports and discussions with activists, this is how I think the police attack went down. First as many as 500 police in cars, on horses, bicycles and foot cleared out the City Hall encampment, arresting 25. Then they went after the supporters. The protesters who had been yelling "shame, shame" from the street were told by the police to disperse. Instead they marched to Rittenhouse Square. A 100 cops met the marchers there, so the protesters meandered around Center City until finally being surrounded at Broad Street and Callowhill.
Bicycle cops and pigs on horses viciously attacked one side of the street, letting those on the other side escape. Those on the wrong side suffered 25 arrests, while others suffered injuries from cops who shoved bicycles onto people. One women had two toes broken when she was stepped on by a horse. One young man was run over twice by bicycle cops; his face looking battered tonight. Tonight one woman asked me to take photos of her bruised face outside the police headquarters, known as the Roundhouse, as evidence of police brutality.
At 4 p.m. this afternoon, about 100 Occupiers rallied in Rittenhouse Square, closely watched by an equal number of police. Despite the police violence early that morning, speaker after speaker repeated the "police are our friends" garbage. The planned march arrived at police headquarters with a crowd of 300 people.
There, the more militant marchers wanted to stay in and block the street, but the majority were able to win the vote and move to a nearby park for a General Assembly. However, most activists soon returned to the Roundhouse when it was announced that those arrested were being released.
As of 10 p.m. tonight, 42 have been released from jail.
Go to [occupyphillymedia.org/video/police-attack-occupy-philly]