Marshall Garrett Arrest - Occupy Wall Street

So to be fair, I know there are illegal arrests too. Here is one that from the arrestee's perspective I can see it is definitely illegal.

Marshall Garrett Arrest - http://preview.tinyurl.com/3undhru

• Protesters went to CitiBank to protest student loans and other financial corruption
• Undercover Police Officer (or hirelings by another source possibly) turned the peaceful protest unpeaceful
• Protesters did not leave when asked by Bank employees giving the Bank the right to call the police
• Bank Security and "White Coats" locked all the protesters inside the Bank until the Police got there
• Question: Did the Bank Security and "White Coats" have this authority to detain?
• Answer: Probably Yes
• Process was prolonged unnecessarily

Garrett in his interview said the White Coats were undercover police officers. I'm not convinced that is who they were, but I don't know that for sure. Also, he seems to think that since they were protesters they were not real inmates. At the time they were arrested, they became an inmate of the legal system. So this comment, "We went to prison in chain link cuffs, as if we were real prisoners instead of just protestors. After that, we were put in correction cells" (Thrasher, 2011) shows a little ignorance because in effect they were inmates until they posted bail or were processed.


At the same time, there is definitely something a little sketchy going on here. I would like to know who those "White Coats" as Marshall refers to them are.

Thrasher, Steven. "Marshall Garrett Tells the Voice About Being Arrested For Occupying Citibank - New York News - Runnin' Scared." The Village Voice Blogs. Villare Voice LLC, 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. .

Occupy Protests and Cops

Since this blog is a place for my contemplations and ramblings, I thought it was a perfect place for this.

I've been thinking a lot about Occupy Wall Street and Occupy D.C. I even visited their websites and looked at news posts about what they've been doing, what celebrities have been showing up and who has been arrested. A lot of people have been commenting about how the police are just arresting people for no reason and taking away their first amendment rights to free speech. So here's the question:

Is it a violation of the First Amendment to be arrested while you are protesting?

My Answer: It depends.

So I ask another question, In each case what are they getting arrested for?

• Author Naomi Wolf - http://preview.tinyurl.com/3gqwk77
• Police was ordering the protesters to stay off the streets and to stop blocking the side walks
• Wolf told the police the protestors didn't need a permit for the megaphone and they were not blocking the sidewalk.
• Police told Naomi Wolf to leave. She stayed.

Without knowing what she was arrested for, there's really no way to answer whether or not it was right for the police to arrest her. But from the video I can see that the police officer gave her a direct order to leave the premises. As far as I am aware, it is unlawful to disobey a direct order from the police. It is not free speech to disobey a police officer. And to be honest, he did give her fair warning that she was going to be arrested for disobeying him, which he didn't have to do. So I would have to say, specifically for disobeying the police officer Naomi Wolf was arrested legally and rightfully.