chaos in union square

i was pretty bummed i had to work today, but hey, gotta pay da bills. i would have rather been out with the people, exercising my first amendment rights. but lo and behold, when i left work and walked through the east side of union square i got caught right in the middle of what seemed to be some sort of police riot. hundreds of cops swarmed the area, on foot, on bikes, on scooters, in cars and yes, there were a couple paddy wagons ready to take in more unruly protesters. i had just missed the immediate action. from what other spectators told me, a group of musicians started to gather and march around the square. apparently tons of people started to follow, dancing around and shouting out. i suppose the numbers got out of hand, stopping traffic on the streets and the sidewalks and the cops decided to take action. doesn't make any sense to me.

i stood around for a while, along with many other bystanders trying to get a glimpse of "police brutality" but there were so many cops swarming the site, you couldn't see what was going on. next thing, i could see them carting in about 10 plastic hand-cuffed kids into the van. wonder what they did to get arrested? i just read there have been 500+ arrests made since last thursday.

soon enough, as i was standing around, being a looky-loo, the chants began "this is what democracy looks like, that is what a police state looks like" and "who are you protecting?" nuttiness. i have a feeling shit's just gonna get crazier as the week wears on.

luckily i'm not working tomorrow and will be out there. hopefully with more reports. so stay tuned...