Activists & Journalists Demand NYPD Accountability for #N15 Occupy Wall Street Eviction Abuses

[New York, NY] On November 15th, 2011, the NYPD evicted Occupy Wall Street’s Zuccotti Park encampment. The department’s Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) was on site to videotape the eviction and Mayor Michael Bloomberg took the controversial step of imposing a media blackout.

On Sunday, September 23rd this TARU footage, totaling over 60 hours, was released to the public by an unknown party. We have logged much of this footage on our wiki. Although heavily edited, this footage reveals widespread police misconduct including arbitrary arrests, physical abuse, and press suppression.

The behavior of “Bloomberg’s Army” has been condemned by the United Nations rapporteur on Human Rights, and well-documented by the NYU School of Law and Fordham Law School, which concluded: “‘All the case studies we collected show the police are violating basic rights consistently, and the level of impunity is shocking,’ said Sarah Knuckey, a professor of Clinical Law at NYU and one of the lead authors of the report. ‘The point needs to be made that NYPD does not exemplify international human rights law, it violates it.’”

We demand:

● The release of ALL unedited TARU footage pertaining to Occupy Wall Street protests. We plan on filing “right-to-know” requests to achieve this. We encourage others to do so as well. It is important that the NYPD not permitted to redact their crimes against peaceful protesters and journalists.

● A truly independent investigation by an agency (such as the investigation undertaken of the Oakland Police Department) outside New York City into the NYPD’s brutal and illegal behavior the night of November 15th, 2011, as well as the legality of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s media blackout. All offending parties must be held accountable – from Mayor Bloomberg to rank-and-file police officers.

● An end to police oppression in minority communities and the abhorrent practice of “Stop-and- Frisk.”

We stand in solidarity with @ChangeTheNYPD, people of color and the LGBT community who are brutalized and wronged by police throughout New York City, the country and world.

Interview requests and media requests regarding the NYPDTapes Wiki should be directed at NYPDTapes@gmail.com.  You can follow the NYPDTapes project on twitter at @NYPDTapes