Occupy NJ - Jersey City

by: KendalJames

Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 11:45:32 PM EDT

Jersey City's Goldman Sachs tower is New Jersey's tallest building. Maybe that's why protestors chose that site for Jersey City's incarnation of Occupy New Jersey - where better to make a point about wealth inequality than at the foot of our state's largest monument to American capitalism?

This was not a large protest - most accounts put it at about 100 people at its peak. Many people commented that there appeared to be more police on the scene than protesters, which did seem to be the case. There were multiple Emergency Response vehicles, a mobile lookout tower, weird trucks with mysterious law keeping capabilities, uniformed officers, guys in suits, cops in polo shirts, and black SUVs rolling around. But the energy between the protesters and the police was generally quite amicable throughout the day and into the evening. At around 6:30 the occupation moved northwest to the busy Grove Street PATH station plaza, but within a few hours just more than a dozen or so folks were left. There also came word that the still robust police presence would conduct a sweep at 10pm with the goal of dispersing the protest. Alex, the protest's main spokesperson and organizer, noted that they would be packing it in for the night, but will be reconvening tomorrow (Friday, 10/7) at 3 p.m. in order to further organize and plan for the future of Occupy New Jersey. Some protestors noted the possibility of convening at the Grove Street PATH plaza on a weekly basis as a way to sustain the effort.

KendalJames :: Occupy NJ - Jersey City

Despite the somewhat low turnout, there was genuine passion in the air, with a definite twist of anger. And while ONJ was peaceful, law-abiding and generally mellow, the intent behind the whole thing - to make a statement of discontent with wealth inequality - was palpable. Here are some photos and a quick video.