Occupy Wall Street Gets the Boot, As Twitter Watches and Reacts
#OWS End Right Now
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If you were watching Twitter last night and this morning, then you already know: the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York is — at least temporarily — no more. Early this morning, New York City police cleared Occupy Wall Street protesters out of downtown Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. Protesters have been there for almost two months.
Word of the action spread quickly last night, as most people outside the general vicinity learned about the movement’s eviction from the private park and then followed along for the next several hours via Twitter.
Occupy Wall Street launched in September and has since spread to cities across the U.S. Organizers and participants are protesting, among other things, what they see as the lack of equity in the American economic system, with, they contend, 1% of the population controlling a vast portion of the wealth. In addition to Twitter, #OccupyWallStreet has used Facebook to organize and Kickstarter to raise funds. Organizers have worked to build out its own mini-Internet in the Park and even launched Hackathons to develop new digital innovations to support their cause. Twitter has, though, remained an important part of the movement’s outreach and communication. It’s also been the way many people outside Occupy Wall Street have kept tabs on OWS movements dotted across the country (Occupy Oakland’s was apparently, also cleared out last night).
Do a quick Search for #OWS on search.twitter.com and you’ll see a steady flow of tweets first detailing the movement of NYPD into the park, as they forced protesters out and then dismantled the encampment and all of its equipment.
Tweets ranged from stunned outrage and eye-witness accounts to #OccupyWallStreet organizers planning new occupation zones, protests and marches. There were also a couple of Tweets from NYC Mayor Bloomberg announcing the police action. Later Bloomberg held a press conference, its salient points were also live-Tweeted by a multitude. Here we’ve collected some of the more interesting #OWS Tweets.
How did you learn about New York City’s decision? Were you shocked and did you Tweet about it? Share you reactions in the comments below.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Atomische • Tom Giebel
More About: Occupy Wall Street, ows, Twitter
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