Gosh, those were the good old days. Or so Meghan Barr at the Associated Press apparently believes.
As what's left of the Occupy Wall Street mobs from last year staged a pathetic anniversary protest in New York on Monday, Barr, in one of the most embarrassing reports I've seen emanate from the self-described "essential global news network," described them as "celebrating" and "giddy." At the end, in a desperate attempt to show that the movement actually accomplished something, Barr cited vague and I believe completely unrelated statements from two banks about "working with their customers." For those with strong stomachs, the first five and final paragraphs of Barr's beclowning follow the jump.
Occupy Wall Street protesters celebrated the movement's anniversary on Monday by clogging intersections in the city's financial district, marching to the beat of drums that were a familiar refrain last year.
Protesters roamed around the lower Manhattan financial district all morning in groups of a few dozen each, from one intersection to another and back again, chanting loudly about the ills of Wall Street. In total, there were a few hundred protesters scattered throughout the city. More than 180 of them were arrested by early Monday evening, mostly on disorderly conduct charges.
The day's events lacked the heft of Occupy protests last year, when protesters gathered by the thousands. But Occupiers were upbeat as they spread out in their old stomping grounds, giddy at the prospect of being together again. They brushed off any suggestions that the movement had petered out.
"This is a movement. It's only been a year," said protester Justin Stone Diaz, of Brooklyn. "It's going to take many years for it to develop and figure out exactly who we are."
But the movement is now a shadow of its mighty infancy, when a group of young people harnessed the power of a disillusioned nation and took to the streets chanting about corporate greed and inequality.
... Banks including Citigroup and Wells Fargo have said they're committed to having open dialogue and working with their customers during difficult economic times.
Misty-eyed Meghan "somehow" forgot something Colin Matheson at the New York Times City Room Blog relayed, namely that the protesters intended to shut down business activity:
... Demonstrators had planned to converge from several directions and form what was called the People’s Wall around the stock exchange to protest what they said was an unfair economic system that benefited the rich and corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens.
... On Monday, the police countered the blockade planned by protesters with one of their own, ringing the streets and sidewalks leading toward the exchange with metal barricades and asking for identification from workers seeking access.
Of course, as far as I can tell in my review of these two and several other stories, nobody in the establishment press has reminded their readers that President Obama supported the Occupy movement last year, and hasn't backtracked:
- ABC, Oct. 18, 2011 -- "Obama: Occupy Wall Street ‘Not That Different’ From Tea Party Protests"
- Weekly Standard -- "Obama on Occupy Wall Street: 'We Are on Their Side'"
- Politico, Oct. 11, 2011 -- "(Obama lead campaign spokeman) David Plouffe: Obama on side of Occupy Wall Street protesters"
- Big Government, May 23, 2012 -- "Why Obama Refuses to Back Off His Occupy Endorsement"
Also ignored:
- ABC, Oct. 9. 2011 -- "Pelosi Supports Occupy Wall Street Movement"
- The Blaze, Oct. 2011 -- "Democrats Offer Solidarity to Wall Street Protesters"
OWS Exposed has a graphic complation of the Occupy movement's carnage and crime as of May 20 -- also, of course ignored in reports on the movement's anniversary.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
