Naomi Wolf arrested at Occupy Wall Street

by Intern Courtnay

Naomi Wolf is not the only woman to be arrested in the Occupy Wall Street protests but she is probably the most famous. The feminist author and activist was attending the Huffington Post’s Game Changers 2011 events in New York City last Tuesday when she was arrested. She was entering the event when she saw over 200 protestors peacefully assembled snd chanting. They did not have a megaphone so they were using a human mic technique, where the audience repeats every word a main speaker says. Wolf informed the group that the first ammendment right allows protestors to use megaphones. People think they are not allowed because of stealthy creations created by community governing bodies that are designed to limit the rights of assembly and petitioning of governmental bodies. The author previously published a book on civil society and has a chapter on permits.

Naomi then asked the protestors for demands and said she would pass it onto Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was attending the Game Changers event as well. She was unable to stay to meet with the governor but decided to share it with him at his office the next day. As she was leaving she saw that the protestors had been corralled to another side of the street, far from the event they wanted to address. She asked the police to see a source or permit that allowed them to occlude access to the public street where the protestors had previously been. A man with the event admitted the permit it did have granted the protestors permission as long as it did not block a public walkway. She then proceeded to walk on the other side of the street, not blocking access and about 40 people followed her. The next thing she knew, about 40 police officers plummeted  and told the group they were causing a disturbance and ordered them to disband. Wolf said she was confused and repeated the terms of the permit that allowed them to walk as long as they did not block a passage. The police officer asked if she was going to move and when she did not she was arrested. She spent half an hour in a cell that night and still hasn’t been shown a permit that gave the events manager “control of the sidewalks”, a stipulation as to why she was arrested. She is baffled by the whole ordeal and feels that it is a blow to civility and social liberty. You can read more about her arrest and thoughts on it here. Sources:
Image Huffington Post

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