Protesters filled downtown New York on Monday, September 22, to protest climate change, the parties responsible for contributing to climate change and those who profit from climate change. But the demonstration resulted in several arrests.
The unpermitted Flood Wall Street protest transpired one day after the much larger People’s Climate March. These demonstrations were intentionally scheduled to coincide with the United Nations' Climate Summit in New York. The People’s Climate March drew an estimated 300,000 participants for the largest climate change protest in history. Approximately 3,000 protesters turned out for Flood Wall Street.
The Flood Wall Street event began on Monday morning with a rally in Battery Park. Protestors eventually made their way to the New York Stock Exchange where demonstrators blocked streets. NYPD ordered the crowd to disperse.
“You are unlawfully restricting vehicular traffic," an officer announced. “I am ordering you to leave. If you do so voluntarily, no charges will be placed against you,” he informed the crowd.
Some obeyed, but other demonstrators stood their ground, while others grew unruly and began moving police barricades. This action prompted NYPD officers to implement the use of pepper spray to control the rowdy crowd.
Photo album: Flood Wall Street - https://t.co/BN8nYBFzcl #FloodWallStreet @FloodWallStreet @YourAnonNews pic.twitter.com/k2O446aMUo
— Jenna Pope (@JennaBPope) September 23, 2014
The Wall Street Journal reports that, “In defiance, about 100 protesters, including someone wearing a polar bear costume and two women dressed as Captain Planet, remained in the roadway with arms linked.”
The civil disobedience resulted in more than 100 arrests, in which the accused are charged with disorderly conduct.
