Occupiers in D.C. are getting arrested outside the Supreme Court, but Occupiers here were denied a permit to hold a demonstration outside the Federal Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street, with a judge ruling that the downtown location wasn't really a public forum, "It is as far from the soapboxes of Madison Square Park years ago as one could imagine."
Instead, protesters have been gathering at Zuccotti Park and are marching to Foley Square now. Then, between 6-7 p.m., they are rallying across from the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse at 40 Centre Street, with speakers including Reverend Billy, Russell Simmons, Chris Hedges, and Laurence Lessig.
In the meantime, City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez was in court earlier today to address his arrest during an Occupy Wall Street raid. Rodriguez, charged with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, was one of 60 OWS protesters fighting charges from the November incident, and his case was adjourned until March. His lawyer told PolitickerNY that he "was disappointed the case hasn’t been dismissed. I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not. I hope that the Manhattan D.A.’s office will come to their senses and dismiss this because there’s no middle ground here. This case is either going to be dismissed or it’s going to go to trial with a jury trial. They cannot reduce these charges."
And Rodriguez said, "The reason why I’m here today is because I’ve been participating in all the rallies and protests that the Occupy movement has organized. I’m here because I was falsely accused on November 15 when I went to-when I was planning to get close to Zuccotti Park only with the intention to be an observer. As the chairman of the Committee on Higher Education, I know that thousands of students from CUNY have been engaged in this movement and I feel that it was also my responsibility to observe what was going on that day."
