BLOOMBERGVILLE PROTESTS LATE NIGHT CITY COUNCIL DEAL JUNE 25 (PICS)
Posted: June 25, 2011 Filed under: BREAKING NEWS, PICTURES ARE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS 3 Comments »Last night at 9pm, Bloombergville learned City Council was meeting to make last moment deals on the budget at their offices at 250 Broadway, half a block from the encampment. Postponing the General Assembly, about 2 dozen members of Bloombergville gathered banners and posters and drums and set off immediately to protest.
Gathering posters
Ready to go
Outside 250 Broadway, the chanting and picketing begins, as more Bloombergville participants and supporters arrive and join in. Among the chants: “They say budget cuts. We say: That’s Fucking Nuts!” and ”Come on, let’s face it — these budget cuts are racist!”
At 250 Broadway
"These budget cuts are racist!"
"That's Fucking Nuts!"
Support comes from the streets, too. ”Honk for the Workers” one sign says. Fire trucks, city buses and sanitation trucks honk their horns as they pass by.
Honk for Workers
As Council Members leave the meeting, Bloombergville follows them to 52 Chambers Street (the Tweed Courthouse behind City Hall) where the deal is finalized with the Administration and a press conference will be held.
By 10pm, about 50 protesters are gathered at the steps of the building. To get upstairs, Council Members have to pass through the crowd.
At 52 Chambers Street
Council Members pass through protesters to go upstairs
A line of police officers keeps protesters off the stairs. ”How come we’re down here — and they’re up there?” a Bloombergville organizer calls as he and a few others start up the stairs, chanting “This is what Democracy looks like!” (See video here.) More follow. Soon police move back as all the protesters crowd the entrance.
Chanting “Let us in!” “Vote No! Vote No!” “No Cuts! No Layoffs! No Compromise!” and “Your Job Next!” Bloombergville stays at the entrance for more than 30 minutes.
Let Us In!
Vote No!
No Cuts! No Layoffs! No Compromise!
As City Council left the building — most taking a side entrance to avoid chants of “Shame! Shame! Shame!” — two Council Members met with protesters. “What you’re doing is making a difference,” said Jumaane D Williams, Council Member of Brooklyn’s District 45, “Your voice is being heard… But you have to keep fighting.” They report that fire stations and senior centers will no longer be cut and “only” 2000 teachers will be eliminated through attrition. Other cuts remain.
Council Members meeting with Bloombergville protesters at 52 Chambers Street
Jumaane Williams: "You have to keep fighting"
Afterwards, protesters returned to Bloombergville to assess the action and plan what’s next. There will be cuts, Yotan Moram, one of Bloombergville’s organizers, said to the group, but they also had to acknowledge “what has been achieved is the result of a movement we started.”
Returning to Bloombergville
Handing out water to returning protesters
Discussing the night's events
Photos by Harry Newman
[...] night, we have some good news from Manhattan. After a lengthy negotiation process, which included constant pressure from protestors, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office reached a deal with unions and opponents on the City [...]
[...] night, we have some good news from Manhattan. After a lengthy negotiation process, which included constant pressure from protestors, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office reached a deal with unions and opponents on the City [...]
I am sick of the way the MSM is ignoring the doronstmatiens against the war. It’s as if they don’t want the apathetic and pathetic citizens who sit on their asses to know there are people who disagree with Chimpus Maximus and his illegal and immoral war. This time, even several of the so-called A-List bloggers even failed to mention Saturday’s mobilization.Some of us do care. We may not have the readership of the Huffington Post or Daily Kos, but we try to get the word out the best we can. Over at my place, I did post .