May Day NYC What a Difference the Protest Permit Makes in NYPD Crowd Control

The lines of class war are far less clear and solidarity deeper than elites depict

By now most folks have seen footage of hundreds of combat gear clad NYPD storming Columbia campus to remove about 100 unarmed college kids. The show of force is an embarrassing display of force that undermines any idea of a well trained tactical team to convey a single message about crushing dissent.

Thanks to Obama era 1033 program recycling Iraq War weapons to local police across America we now have an unconstitutional, domestic military in place. Wariors for Homeland Security that dumber than DeBlasio, Mayor Eric Adams was proud to promote like it was the capture of Bin Laden not coeds with six figure student debt. Adams seems clueless they looked as cowardly as cops in Uvalde raiding a campout by Ivy Leauge students and finding sleeping bags and chairs blocking doors no match for massive, fully armed force with enough weapons for a small scale foreign coup.

Years of covering street protests makes it clear the NYPD presence reflects elite attitude toward the protesters that is visible in both numbers and dress. Small groups of chillaxed uniform cops with arms down and hands in pockets is a dramatic difference easy to spot the ratio difference and absence of tactical units in riot gear with huge numbers of zip tie handcuffs hanging from their belts. Any of my Flickr albums with a Palestinian flag has ample NYPD pics to find. It’s also a nice reminder some amount of worker solidarity goes beyond the divisions imposed by the ruling class.

May Day is primarily a celebration of workers and unions so much like the No Mandate Health Freedom events that had FDNY, NYPD and other city unions in the ranks we see officer friendly attitude of safety and respect absent from student protest.

It is also an encouraging sign that false claims of antisemitism promoted by atheist AIPAC does not ring true with huge numbers of New Yorkers including Jews from every walk of life including Orthodox Rabbis. We are Americans defending free speech and object to weaponized foreign policy to impose unconstitutional limits.

It’s been a busy week and sorting is going slowly so it may be a few more days for the full Flickr album to be uploaded but the images capture the flavor and many thousands who clearly express opposition to genocide, worker exploitation and specifically Biden, AOC and Democrats as frauds. The lone sign to Free Julian Assange made me sad in that his fate is seldom noted or seen as related to a world where war criminals are held up as leaders and truth tellers dangerous insurgents.

Pictures are theoretically worth a thousand words so take your own meaning from the balance of preview images and see you in the streets! :~)