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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Occupy / Books Occupy Wall Street Sues New York City for Destruction of the OWS Library

Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, May 29, 2012 at 1:24 PM

One of the best things about Occupy Wall Street was that they quickly and efficiently set up their own library. One of the worst things about New York City's response to OWS was the way they handled that library:

The Occupy Wall Street movement and OWS librarians have sued New York City in federal court over the destruction of the Occupy Wall Street Library during a late-night raid on Zuccotti Park.

The suit names mayor Michael Bloomberg, police commissioner Ray Kelly and sanitation commissioner John Doherty.

[The suit reads in part:] “We believe that the raid and its aftermath violated our First-Amendment rights to free expression, Fourth-Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure, and Fourteenth-Amendment rights to due process, as well as the laws of the City of New York regarding the vouchsafing of seized property."

This will for sure be an interesting case to watch.

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Comments (15) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Hey, book burnings are coming back, right?

Fahrenheit 451, anyone?

Posted by Will in Seattle

on May 29, 2012 at 1:40 PM

OWS has turned into an episode of Judge Judy. It had so much potential, only to be squandered by advocates of violence. Sad.

Posted by Vince on May 29, 2012 at 1:44 PM

@2 I think you mean Portland and Idaho anarchists, right? Cause the ones they did arrest WERE NOT FROM SEATTLE.

At least according to the MSM if you read the whole story.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on May 29, 2012 at 1:50 PM

@3: it's not just the May 1st protests. Occupy Seattle specifically voted against being a non-violent movement.

http://occupyseattle.org/document/ga-min…

"proposal: Commit to using methods of non-violent civil disobedience at all of our demonstrations and define violence as unprovoked physical aggression.
[...]
proposal fails, 16 to 54"

Posted by doceb on May 29, 2012 at 2:38 PM

OWS (OS) is so irrelevant, that saying that it has jumped the shark, has jumped the shark. Check out this babble:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/occupysea…
I heard NYC has a people's library already. It's called the Public Fucking Library. I hear we have one here too. Indoors.

Posted by hmmmmm on May 29, 2012 at 2:53 PM

so hmmmm, you wouldn't mind if I came and stole all your books? (assuming you have any).

Posted by JonnoN on May 29, 2012 at 2:56 PM

@6, were I to put all my books in Westlake Park and refuse to move them, the risk would be MINE.

Posted by gloomy gus on May 29, 2012 at 3:24 PM

They were just setting free all those words and letters. Books are an artificial construct created by the man to falsely imprison and impose meaning upon letters. When words are forced to carry meaning they become the club used by the powerful to place the yoke of servitude upon the necks of the poor. Free the Words! Let the Letters run free!

Posted by Senor Guy on May 29, 2012 at 4:47 PM

No, Paul, this will not be an interesting case to watch.

Freedom of speech doesn't give you the right to open a library on publicly-accessible private property, and it doesn't protect your stuff when you decide to store it there, either.

Posted by robotslave on May 29, 2012 at 6:07 PM

Weren't they given a dozen opportunities to move their stuff before the crack down?

Posted by Kinison

on May 29, 2012 at 7:32 PM

NYC did them a favor by remaindering that awful garbage heap of outdated hippie bibles.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on May 29, 2012 at 7:43 PM

Everyone knows that if you put items in a container that is not in a house you bought, they may just disappear three days later.

Posted by Theodore Gorath on May 30, 2012 at 6:54 AM

There is no right to store books in a public park. I doubt this will get any traction.

Posted by Rob in Baltimore

on May 30, 2012 at 7:22 AM

Hey, Paul Constant thine post expressly motive-able. virtually Street movement and OWS librarians awesome!! police commissioner Ray Kell is the most diverse.
http://www.nanakasha.com/high-income-hyp…

Posted by jecktom11 on July 4, 2012 at 10:23 PM