A female protester associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement is arrested while marching through traffic in lower Manhattan on May 1, 2012 in New York City. May 1st, Labor Day, is a traditional day of global protest in sympathy with union and leftist politics. Getty
The following series of photos was taken by Paul Weiskel at the Boston Commons on April 15, 2012. The photos depict a Boston Police Department patrolman identified as Vaden Scantlebury who grabs a protester by the neck and then becomes angry at the photographer for attempting to take his picture. The Boston Police are reportedly investigating the incident along with the ACLU. A video of the incident is also available.
Of Total Income Increase in 2010…
Steven Rattner, a Wall Street executive and New York Times Op-Ed contributor, writes:
In 2010, as the nation continued to recover from the recession, a dizzying 93 percent of the additional income created in the country that year, compared to 2009 — $288 billion — went to the top 1 percent of taxpayers, those with at least $352,000 in income. That delivered an average single-year pay increase of 11.6 percent to each of these households.
Still more astonishing was the extent to which the super rich got rich faster than the merely rich. In 2010, 37 percent of these additional earnings went to just the top 0.01 percent, a teaspoon-size collection of about 15,000 households with average incomes of $23.8 million. These fortunate few saw their incomes rise by 21.5 percent.
The bottom 99 percent received a microscopic $80 increase in pay per person in 2010, after adjusting for inflation. The top 1 percent, whose average income is $1,019,089, had an 11.6 percent increase in income.
Steven Rattner, The New York Times. The Rich Get Even Richer.
University students with their necks painted protest at Bolivar square in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday Nov. 3, 2011. Their signs read in Spanish “We have the right to be outraged,” left, and “Excellent education and for all!!” Students are protesting education reforms planned by the government that propose private funding for public institutions. (Fernando Vergara)
Occupy London protesters evicted – St Paul’s Cathedral has been accused of “betraying” Occupy London activists after giving the City of London police permission to remove protesters from its steps and end the four-and-a-half month camp. Follow the latest on the live blog here.
From IRIN:
One of the key moments in the build-up to the 25 January uprising and the overthrow of Egypt’s former President Mubarak was the alleged beating to death of a young man, Khaled Said, by police in Alexandria - an event which galvanized Egyptians around the issue of police brutality.
Amid allegations of ongoing police brutality, security sector reform, which is vital for the country’s economic and social stability, is becoming an increasingly vociferous demand of protesters and civil society representatives.
Former policeman Ihab Youssef, now campaigning for better relations between the police and public but who is often met with distrust and scepticism on the street, told IRIN: “The gap between policemen and ordinary citizens continues to grow day after day and if this gap is not bridged, Egypt will be in danger… Concerted efforts must be made for the relationship between police and citizens to get back on track.”
(via IRIN • humanitarian news and analysis from Africa, Asia and the Middle East)
Occupy Oakland demonstrators shield themselves during a confrontation with the police near the Oakland Museum of California in Oakland, California January 28, 2012. Police fired tear gas at hundreds of Occupy Oakland protesters who tried to take over a shuttered convention center on Saturday, arresting 19 people in the latest clash between anti-Wall Street activists and authorities in the California city. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
