Leaked Internal Memo: The NYPD Is Ready For #F29

We’d heard that corporations in the vicinity of Bryant Park—where tomorrow’s Shut Down the Corporations demonstration will commence at 9:00 a.m.—were warning their employees not to engage protesters in the area. But we are pleasantly surprised to learn that the New York Police Department is expecting us: as evidenced by the department-wide memo they’ve issued (see below), the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau Terrorism Threat Analysis Group (glad to know they’re on top of the important stuff) knows where/when the day’s activities will start, how/when the call went out, why we’re marching and who we’re targeting (B of A, Pfizer and Koch Industries). So that’s where all of our page views are coming from! They even pasted our #F29 poster into the document!

Their ultimate assessment, however, is pretty tame:

“At this time, there does not appear to be a concrete tactical plan for this demonstration, however the event’s main website recommends a number of non-violent tactics, including: “sit-ins, strikes, blockades, boycotts, banner drops, culture jamming, and performance.”

Culture jamming? Wikipedia, help me out:

“Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.”

Subvert corporate advertising? Not unless Poster Boy is back. The memo concludes:

“There have been no specific references to violence in any of the public materials, online comments, or forum posts associated with this upcoming event; nevertheless, the institutions listed are likely locations for upcoming public demonstrations by groups associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which may result in disruptive activity.”

“No specific references to violence”? Great. So how ’bout you not randomly pick peaceful protesters out of the crowd and slam them to the ground tomorrow? Also, please don’t pepper spray us. Thanks.

Here’s the memo (it pays to have friends in high places):

Download: f29-nypd-report.pdf

Source: Occupied Wall Street Journal