My respect for the police is melting away, day by day.

They were locked in ?

is that not forcible confinement by the bank ?

*wtf? *promote

Some additional info here:

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/10/15/occupy-wall-street-protesters-reportedly-arrested-for-closing-their-accounts-call-the-ceo/

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Saturday, October 15th, 2011 5:37pm PDT - promote requested by notarobot.

Adding video to channels (Wtf) - requested by notarobot.

>> ^notarobot:

wtf? promote
Some additional info here:
http://www.a
ddictinginfo.org/2011/10/15/occupy-wall-street-protesters-reportedly-arrested-for-closing-their-accounts-call-the-ceo/


So, they were just closing their accounts?

But they walked away, according the The New York Daily:

Update: 1:05 Pacific Time
New York Daily News Reports -
12:17 PMMeena HartensteinTo those of you hearing reports of a standoff and arrests at Chase Bank at Astor Place, our photographer on the scene says about 40 protesters talked about getting arrested and had a brief sit-in before getting up at the last second and avoiding arrest.

Chase is a different bank. I wonder if customers were trying to close accounts there too?>> ^Boise_Lib:

>> ^notarobot:
wtf? promote
Some additional info here:
http://www.a
ddictinginfo.org/2011/10/15/occupy-wall-street-protesters-reportedly-arrested-for-closing-their-accounts-call-the-ceo/

So, they were just closing their accounts?
But they walked away, according the The New York Daily:
Update: 1:05 Pacific Time
New York Daily News Reports -
12:17 PMMeena HartensteinTo those of you hearing reports of a standoff and arrests at Chase Bank at Astor Place, our photographer on the scene says about 40 protesters talked about getting arrested and had a brief sit-in before getting up at the last second and avoiding arrest.

Yea in my town the local news reported last night that local banks are all changing the policy you must give 3 days minimum notice before closing out an account here.

it's crazy what this is sparking around the world, and I live far deep south. On the evening local news they had interviews with 2 of the 6 banks whose policy has now changed 4 refused to be interviewed but they said due to the protesting and state of the economy they can no longer allow people to close their accounts without proper notice.

shit is getting wild...

*money *law

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Citibank statement -- “A large amount of protesters entered our branch at 555 La Guardia Place around 2:00 PM today. They were very disruptive and refused to leave after being repeatedly asked, causing our staff to call 911. The Police asked the branch staff to close the branch until the protesters could be removed. Only one person asked to close an account and was accommodated.”


From what I read only two of the protesters went to close accounts. The other 28 stood there chanting and shouting stuff about student loans. They didn't leave for about 5 mins when the bank then locked some of them in that didn't leave.

What is shocking is, how can you arrest someone OUTSIDE the bank for trespass? and then forcibly drag them inside. Also, didn't CITI violate illegal imprisonment laws? I mean how can someone be trespassing if you lock them inside? So you call 911 because you are ?scared and then lock them inside with you?

@joedirt I was thinking the same thing. The next time I get into a heated argument with a friend I have to try calling 911 with:

"HELP!!! There's a friend of mine in my house who won't leave!"

"Ok, is he still in the house sir???"

"Yes, I have him handcuffed to a pipe and he still refuses to leave!"

"I've got the police on their way to take care of that trespassing scumbag."

>> ^JiggaJonson:

@joedirt I was thinking the same thing. The next time I get into a heated argument with a friend I have to try calling 911 with:
"HELP!!! There's a friend of mine in my house who won't leave!"
"Ok, is he still in the house sir???"
"Yes, I have him handcuffed to a pipe and he still refuses to leave!"
"I've got the police on their way to take care of that trespassing scumbag."


I think you have a Monty Python skit right there

*nochannel
*politics
*news
*money
*law
*wtf

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It's pronounced "Citibank," not "City Bank." sigh

There will come a time, and I believe it will be soon, when the cops realise they're protecting the wrong side.

>> ^ForgedReality:

It's pronounced "Citibank," not "City Bank." sigh


I do believe those two spellings result in the same pronunciation.

@ForgedReality, @nock,

Funny, I always thought the "C" made a "Sh" sound in the case of CitiBank...

hmmm... you can always OPEN an account in another bank by essentially writing all of your money from your previous bank on a check to the next bank account.

Maybe watch that you keep the minimum amount in that previous account until you're able to close it, but closing an account with $50 in it should take but a minute.

>> ^cito:

Yea in my town the local news reported last night that local banks are all changing the policy you must give 3 days minimum notice before closing out an account here.
it's crazy what this is sparking around the world, and I live far deep south. On the evening local news they had interviews with 2 of the 6 banks whose policy has now changed 4 refused to be interviewed but they said due to the protesting and state of the economy they can no longer allow people to close their accounts without proper notice.
shit is getting wild...

as much as the video interest me... holy crap! my ears! They BLEED!

Unfortunately, people have spun this arrest into an untruth.

Sadly, the police was warranted in arresting them for disorderly conduct. They were told to leave and then proceeded to yell in the bank for 5 minutes. There were undercover cops in the crowd and they told the bank to lock the doors until enough police arrived.

The actual in-bank protest video is here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2vtXJ0k7AA

I sure hope people don't start going down this road en masse. #1- It is incredibly stupid to hold a public discussion on the evils of a bank within the bank. #2- It is incredibly stupid to blame someone else for your being in debt. If you want to close your account as a form of protest, do it silently. The act of closing the account is enough. Let's not encourage stupid people to get arrested for causing trouble on bank property just so we can point and yell "Look! They got arrested for trying to close their accounts!"
That's the kind of crap that starts mindless riots which will un-do any good this movement could accomplish.

Is the guy who bear-hugged that woman a plain-clothes cop? If not: WTF? And if so: WTF?

The exchange at the beginning of the video is priceless, by the way:

Young woman: "This is Occupy Wall Street."
Elderly woman: "Occupy Wall Street? This isn't Wall Street! This is Greenwich Village!"

There will come a time, and I believe it will be soon, when the cops realise they're protecting the wrong side.

Oh - well that must mean that the OWS guys are going to stop conducting illegal activities soon then, right? Get a grip folks. The only times OWS people are getting arrested are when OWS people are doing illegal things like clogging up streets, blocking activity, and so-on. No sympathy for these dummies. They got what they deserved, and the only bad thing about this story is that the protesters didn't get hauled to Rykers for a month or two to teach them a lesson so they will hold a peaceful, proper protest next time around.

I have no issues with people closing their accounts, in fact, I commend them.
But they should have been organized in their movement and done it quietly and peaceably.

The protesters yelling and picketing is where they went wrong. They need to realize that it is a place of business and there are other business customers. When they form and create the ruckus they did, they need to be refused service at that time.

I don't think the bank was having people arrested for closing accounts, just for causing a disturbance. They might close their doors if there was a line up out the door and down the streets with the sole purpose of closing accounts though. Those that close their accounts win, while those that wait until those measures are taken will lose out.

The bank can only operate while using your money. if all money is withdrawn or if it is withdrawn too quickly, the bank is in danger of having investments collapse and those with money still locked within the system will see the value of their money depleted and valueless.

In order to stop this from happening, the bank would be obligated to close it's doors to protect not only their investments, but other people's money.

It can only take massive amounts of people withdrawing their money to open the banks eyes. They will respond. They can't stop you from withdrawing but they will stall the process of closing the account.

@laura and @Sagemind, I'm not sure you understand what the word "protest" means.

"to give manifest expression to objection or disapproval; remonstrate."

If you do it silently and without causing a fuss, you're doing it wrong.

Absolutely, but sometimes there is more than one way to go about it - The method they tried just got shut down and had no effectual change. Sometimes the chanting works against you.

Sometimes planning and stealth works better than blunt force or being pushy. In this case a slow but steady stream of people withdrawing their money and closing accounts would start getting the bank's attention - and they would change to compensate.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

@laura and @Sagemind, I'm not sure you understand what the word "protest" means.
"to give manifest expression to objection or disapproval; remonstrate."
If you do it silently and without causing a fuss, you're doing it wrong.

Make the protest, they are already doing that - continue to do that. Then if enough people can swoop in without being noticed and close accounts before the bank realizes the trend isn't going away - things will start to happen and a snowball effect will occur.

...and I'm most definitely all for protesting and protesting loudly...but in this specific case, it pays to be smart about it. They asked to be arrested by going INTO the bank and being disruptive. The other video shows that they were trying to have a public "discussion" with testimonials from people who were in debt. That's stupid. Like I said, keep it outside the bank, don't do anything blatant to get yourself arrested just so you can film it and cry injustice...that's what I feel was being done in this case.

For my part, when I went in to our local credit union two weeks ago to open an account, the guy behind the desk said he'd had a LOT of people switching from BofA. It is a pain in the ass, what with moving direct deposits and bills that I had on "auto-pay"...plus our credit union didn't have online banking until the first of September this year, which was one reason we weren't with them in the first place. As soon as everything is squared away, I'll be going down to BofA (which has many protesters OUTSIDE the building) to close my account. With an appointment. Then I'll join the protesters. Again.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

@laura and @Sagemind, I'm not sure you understand what the word "protest" means.
"to give manifest expression to objection or disapproval; remonstrate."
If you do it silently and without causing a fuss, you're doing it wrong.


What you are describing is called civil disobedience. That can be good too, but it has a time and place. Most importantly, everyone involved should know that arrest is among the risks they are taking on, and be prepared for that eventuality. I've argued other places that this action would have been fine if the headline read "two dozen willing to be arrested to voice discontent over Citi's handling of student loans." Instead the headline read "mean old cops wouldn't let us shut down a business." Do you see how one can garner support and the other makes you look either clueless or manipulative.

I'm so glad I've been WITH a credit union for like a million years now. I don't know how people didn't realize they were being dicked around earlier. I'm better than everybody else.