NYPD footage of Zuccotti Park raid leaked
Anonymous releases secret police film from the Zuccotti raid VIDEO
Topics: Occupy, NYPD, Anonymous, Occupy Wall Street, YouTube, Police brutality, News, Politics News
A person associated with the Occupy movement is arrested on a march down Broadway Street in New York enroute to Zuccotti Park, Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephanie Keith) The presence of NYPD TARU (Technical Assistance Response Unit) officers at Occupy protests has long been a source of contention among occupiers and legal observers. The precise role and remit of the camera-wielding officers is ill-defined; the end product of their constant filming usually goes unseen by those featured in it.
However, on Sunday a group claiming Anonymous affiliation released 60 hours of TARU footage from the night of the Zuccotti Park eviction on Nov. 15. The footage is considered particularly relevant in fleshing out the NYPD versus Occupy narrative, since both mainstream and citizen journalists and videographers were forcibly kept away from the park as officers dismantled the encampment and rounded up protesters that night.
A release introducing the footage dump notes, “The NYPD denied freedom of the press the night of the Zuccotti raid by kicking out media and keeping them two blocks away … Much of the video being released is edited by the NYPD, and at times edits are quite blatant, probably trying to cover up their brutality.”
The release urges that readers share the TARU footage and take note of any glitches or time stamp changes, which might suggest selective editing. “We ask for an unedited version of the tapes,” it notes.
A YouTube trailer teasing the footage (introduced, of course, by a trademark Anonymous Guy Fawkes masked man) highlights instances of aggressive arrests and police treatment of the encampment structures.
Continue Reading CloseNatasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.




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