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On #Occupy anniversary in NYC, new tactics on both sides of police barricades

[Editor's note: Reporter Sarah Berman sent this dispatch on day one of the Occupy anniversary protests from New York City today.]

One year after Occupy Wall Street put income inequality on the global political radar, the movement is showing some organizational maturity.

As I walked through Washington Square Park in New York City on Saturday, hundreds of people sat in semi-circles, listening to legal trainings and other spontaneous teach-ins. Medics wore red crosses. Legal observers identified themselves with blue ball caps. Some demonstrators practiced sitting down and linking arms, while others attempted to drag individuals away from the chain -- a dry run for what would become a spiritual and tactical battle against police on Monday, Sept. 17.

New York Police also took lessons from past confrontations, executing an unprecedented amount of force throughout Lower Manhattan. Before 7 a.m. on Monday, NYPD set up barricades and checkpoints around the perimeter of the financial district, requiring employees and residents of Wall Street to present identification or proof of address. Police buses, paddy wagons, cruisers and scooters lined all major streets.

Jim Lawless, an ironworker and New York native was surprised to see entire streets blocked off to the public. "They must be scared," he said, passing a police checkpoint on Broadway and Wall Street. "I'm glad someone's getting pictures."

Demonstrators had planned to gather from several directions to form a "human wall" around the New York Stock Exchange. To avoid confrontation with police, occupiers instead marched around side streets of Lower Manhattan, singing "Happy Birthday" and tossing balloons. Rather than accumulating in one large mass, splinter groups arranged pipeline actions and student debt resistance.

"I would say spirits were high, but police were really nasty," explained Atiq Zabinski, organizer with Occupy Public Access TV, a weekly show that curates news from the protest diaspora. "I think their strategy was to terrorize people, because they did an awful lot of grabbing people out of the crowd without provocation."

Smiley face

A police officer stands in front of the Wall Street bull. Photo by Sarah Berman.

During demonstrations, NYPD intermittently plunged into crowds, carting off one protestor at a time. Protestors were repeatedly told to keep moving, or face charges of disorderly conduct. Zabinski said photographers and livestreamers were especially targeted. As of 5 p.m. Monday, NYPD confirmed 146 protestors had been arrested.

Later in the afternoon, demonstrators from several groups converged at Zuccotti Park, the site of Occupy's two-month camp last fall. Police barricades surrounded the square, with two security openings on each side of the park. "Do you want to go see an action at Goldman Sachs at 2 p.m.?" asked Mariano Muñoz-Elías, a videographer with Indignación, Occupy's Spanish language publication. Later, Muñoz-Elías would ask me to take his photo with Amy Goodman.

The resurgence of occupiers in New York City proves income inequality and corruption in the financial sector are still deeply contested issues. But while turnout was high, Occupy's return to New York's financial district has yet to gain the attention of new members. Commuters and tourists didn't engage with the movement.

Sarah Berman is a freelance reporter based in Brooklyn, NY.

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