Eric Garner Protesters Shut Down West Side Highway

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Eric Garner Protesters Shut Down West Side Highway

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Following a Staten Island grand jury's decision to not indict the NYPD officer who used a banned chokehold on Eric Garner, who's death was ruled a homicide by the city coroner, protesters vented their frustrations at police from behind barricades in the vicinity of 6th Avenue and 47th Street in Manhattan.

A short while later, hundreds of them descended on Manhattan's West Side Highway, staging a die-in at 59th Street, before marching uptown along the highway. Though not everyone was pleased to be stranded on the highway, a number of drivers stepped out of their cars in soldiarity with the demonstrators and honked their horns in approval of the civil disobedience.

Reason TV covered the protests as they began yesterday afternoon in Grand Central Station and throughout the night. For more of Reason.com's coverage of the Eric Garner case, go here. 

About 2 minutes, 50 seconds. 

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher.

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Comments

[JW]

If there's one sure way of getting me to not give any fucks about your cause, even if I'm already sympathetic, it's shitting up the traffic for no reason other than protesting at the level of petulant children.

[Restoras]

Yeah, because sitting in traffic and being alive to suffer it is a real hardship.

[The Sego Sago Kid]

Certainly this protest will single-handedly reform the police! Shit, it's such an awesome display that it might even resurrect Garner from the grave!

[JW]

Really? Ambulances with dying patients? Important business meetings? Job interviews that can change your life? Urgent doctor appointments? Seeing your child's first steps? Missing the flight for that trip you saved 2 years for? Gone.

What selfish fucks they are, sitting in their cars like that.

[Restoras]

Well, with the exception of your ambulance example (which is fair) missing all those events are better than being dead.

Is blocking traffic a misplaced protest? Probably. But when nothing else seemingly works you aren't left with many options what else should they do?

[JW]

Explain to me how using force over persuasion, to gain acceptance of a viewpoint, is a valid concept.

[Restoras]

Persuasion is always preferable.

What do you do when it doesn't work?

[JW]

Are we talking about private individuals? Pack it up and go home.

Gubmint? Start to figure out when it's no longer too early to start shooting the bastards.

[JPyrate]

Restoras. I agree with you. However JW has a good point. It does not do your cause any good if you piss off the people who would be on your side.

It's like organizing a DOS attack. Yes it is illegal, and will piss people off. If you use that strategy, (like blocking a public access) you need to pick your targets carefully.

[JPyrate]

What I am saying is that, if the protesters want to have a positive effect they need to protest the police, not the general public by blocking roads.

Protest in front of Police Stations, Police Union Head Quarters, Town Hall, and when the police escalate the use of force. The media will have no choice but to report it.

Interfere with people's lives, and free movement... You just look like an asshole.

[KPres]

If they really gave a shit about police brutality they wouldn't have made it racial when there's exactly zero evidence of any racial motive.

I wish somebody would have run over them.

[MJGreen]

I know I'm a month late here, but this is an embarrassing false dichotomy, Restoras.

[JohnD]

Think about what you said, dummy. This is supposed to be "Reason". Show some.

[The Sego Sago Kid]

Seconded, thirded, and fourthed.

Is it wrong of me to fantasize about mowing some of these people down with my car, and then getting away with it because they were standing in the middle of the fucking highway like a bunch of retards?

[Restoras]

Tell me, what does cop jizz taste like? Does it taste like coffee and donuts?

[Almanian!]

Concern Restoras is concerned.

Yeah, cause disliking a method of protest that is....ineffective and irritating....is totally like you blowing the police chief.

I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of the fuckers run over. Get some placards and get on the fucking sidewalks, ya fokin' eejits.

[Restoras]

I'd dislike it too but it's better to be alive and, you know, actually able to dislike it than dead, isn't it?

When other means of 'protest' don't seem to generate any results it's hard for me to fault them for blocking traffic.

But sure, fantasize about vehicular homicide if that's what get's you off.

[WTF]

I'm sorry, but as someone who has to periodically commute in and out of NYC, fuck these assholes for, well, acting like assholes and fucking over people who are not the bad guys. This shit is a great way to turn people against what is an otherwise good cause.

[JPyrate]

Thank you WTF. I know I'm late on this thread, and did not read any comments before responding to Restoras.

You however are a perfect example of the point I was making. =)

[Cytotoxic]

So if it's better than death we shouldn't complain about it?

[The Sego Sago Kid]

Yes, I'm a pro-police shill because I think blocking off major traffic arteries is an idiotic form of protest. You got me. I can't wait to get back to the Police One forum and have a chuckle with my fellow Heroes In Blue over what a great troll I am.

In all seriousness though, the only time I tasted cop jizz was when I accidentally ate out your mom's asshole. The room was dark, and I was very drunk.

[Restoras]

Blocking traffic might be idiotic but at least it is peaceful and doesn't involve the destruction of any property. But sure, deny people the right to protest peacefully and in ways that might cause those not involved to ask what the big deal is all about. That's mighty white of you.

[JW]

How is using force peaceful?

Say that you're walking and it's some bully you know with a hard-on for your suffering and a couple of his buddies, blocking your every move on the sidewalk. No matter what you do, they won't let you pass in any direction.

They aren't hurting you, but they are actively using their bodies to deprive you of your right to move about freely. This goes on for hours, as he swaps out toadies to maintain the blockade.

Tell me what your reaction would be at that point. If you're armed, what do you do? At what point are you justified in using force to remove this threat to your liberty?

[WTF]

Good point, physically preventing someone else's rightful movement is not strictly peaceful.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

That's certainly more extreme than what Restoras is defending.

Would you think it is wrong to call the famous Civil Rights sit ins at restaurants peaceful protests?

[JPyrate]

Well Bo... The sit ins were targeted at businesses that voluntarily obeyed Jim Crow laws. They picked their targets carefully, and got people on their side. They also did not force the business owners to serve them.

A poorly constructed Tony argument. I expect better from you Bo.

[Vulgar Madman]

Jim Crow laws were voluntary?

[JPyrate]

You still have a choice whether or not to break a stupid law. The consequences of breaking said stupid law however. =)

[Restoras]

I see your point and it is valid. I guess I just don't think that being stuck in traffic as the result of a protest is as big a deal as others believe it is. If other peaceful protests or measures would generate results then I would be more sympathetic, but since they have not then I am not, in this case.

[The Sego Sago Kid]

Well, my original point was this: your Average Joe, who may or may not give a shit about current events, is now suddenly late for work because of people protesting the police, guess which side he's going to sympathize with?

HINT: It's not the people on the highway fucking up his day.

[JohnD]

You are one disgusting POS.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

"Is it wrong of me to fantasize about mowing some of these people down with my car"

Yes it is.

[The Sego Sago Kid]

Well then I don't want to be right.

[DrZaius]

Give those young people a dose of reality!

http://instagram.com/p/t6oohZk33c/

[Zeb]

Is it wrong of me to fantasize about mowing some of these people down with my car

Yes. I won't blame you for thinking they are idiots, though.

[JohnD]

Exactly. These animals are their own worst enemies.

[sarcasmic]

Wartch?

[Almanian!]

who's death

I don't know, Anthony, who is? You channeling LUCY or something? Now, whose death were we talking about again?

/dickhead

[Florida Man]

I don't think you're a dickhead. I enjoy the grammar corrections because it is something I am weak on and learn from. Also if you write professionally you should be held to a higher standard.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I'm not prepared to engage my brain beyond a reptilian level this morning, so all I will say is this:

Fuck protesters, and fuck the police.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I don't get this kind of thing. Why would ruining a bunch of people's lives help your cause? I'm all for protests, but go protest city hall or the police department or something, they're the bad guys here.

[Florida Man]

Seconded. I don't kick my dog because I'm mad at my wife.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

If they're not worried about being arrested anyway why not go sit in front of where the cruisers go in and out at the police departments or the mayor's office. Focus on the bad guys, don't intentionally turn off people who could be sympathetic.

[Florida Man]

Even just surrounding a police station without blocking access sends a very clear message. There are more of us than you.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Sure, but I have no problem with them blocking the access of police or city officials.

[Florida Man]

It would be dangerous to the protesters.

[Zeb]

As blocking a highway might be. But ordinary drivers probably don't really want to hurt anyone. The police might not give a shit. But there will be a lot of eyes on them.

[Restoras]

Being stuck in traffic doesn't ruin anyone's life. It's a minor inconvenience at best.

Mind you I'm not condoning it but I do get it. It seems clear that protesting at City Hall or One Police Plaza will do no good whatsoever, except create the potential for conflict escalation between protesters and police, so blocking traffic is a safer alternative for them.

[JW]

inconvenience

You keep using that word....

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Those 'minor' inconveniences can be real turn offs. The only point of a protest is to garner more sympathy to the cause, not less.

[Restoras]

Point taken but a 'turn off' as you put second it is a bit different than 'ruining someone's life' as you put it first.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

That's fair, I was trying to note that it will range between a minor inconvenience for many but not all (people will miss flights, not pick up their kid in time, etc).

[JW]

It doesn't matter if it's an inconvenience. It's completely irrelevant. Rights aren't a utilitarian formula.

You have no right to block my travel. None. Full stop.

[Restoras]

You are absolutely right. I guess I am more the fool for being empathetic and willing to tolerate some inconvenience that might, however unlikely, lead to justice and accountability.

[Cytotoxic]

It has already been explained that this will not lead to more justice. Besides, the ends don't justify the means.

[Zeb]

I'm not so sure that blocking traffic is really using force against anyone. Traffic can be blocked for a lot of reasons. There is no absolute right to be able to travel on a particular road at a particular speed. Should someone who causes an accident through negligence be liable for the lost time of everyone it holds up? Or promoters of large events that cause traffic jams? When the president comes to town is he committing violence against everyone who is incovenienced? (Actually, I might go for the last one.)

[Cytotoxic]

There is no absolute right to be able to travel on a particular road at a particular speed.

There is no absolute right to appropriate a public space for whatever you want whenever you want.

[goneGalt]

Hey! Let's not bring food trucks into this.

[Zeb]

It might ruin your day.

If it were an effective protest, I'd be all for doing whatever sort of peaceful civil disobedience. But this just seems counterproductive and will just make a lot of people lose sympathy for the protesters.

[JohnD]

So the cops are the bad guys because the try to arrest someone that broke the law and that person resisted arrest? You are one ignorant mouth breather.

Typical stupid comment from a typically stupid Reasonoid.

[Chumby]

Provided Garner was selling loosies, which hasn't been established by a court of law, does that merit an arrest instead of say a summons?

I was appaled by the callous indifference by the taxpayer funded heros in blue while they were going through his pockets as he was dying. Had that been a group of ordinary citizens and had Garner instead been the spouse of an LEO I imagine the pro-cop crowd would be shouting about good Samaritan laws. And I would have agreed with them.

Typical ignorant comment from a copsucking, double-digit IQ dolt.

[Florida Man]

I don't know if this has be discussed but does it bother anyone that reason is using "freedom isn't free". I mean we all know it cost a buck O' five. Is that really the donation reason wants to shoot for?

[Charles Easterly]

Florida Man,

I took the "Promoting Freedom isn't Free" bit as sort of a jibe at the neocon's overuse of the "Freedom isn't Free" meme that's been running for over a decade.

[Florida Man]

I figured it was more a joke but just kind of cringe when I think about how this was part of the sentiment that allowed the patriot act to pass.

[scallywag]

Can we not argue that Eric Garner at the end of the day got what he deserved? Why not allow oneself to be arrested and then challenge the arrest in a court of law and not on some street pavement?

If we demand civil behavior from our cops, who protect us (do they and whom exactly?) then we must also demand civil behavior from members of society too and how do we expect authority to perform their duties if they are to fear persecution for doing their job?

Could Daniel Pantaleo have used less force, perhaps (and how much racial bias came into play with the use of such heavy handed force?). But let's not forget the law does not forbid cops to use choke holds when it comes to resisting members of society under a lawful arrest.

Perhaps what we really ought to consider is how onerous the law is when it comes to civil liberties, the application of and how we collectively allowed it to become that way....

http://scallywagandvagabond.co.....ndictment/

[JW]

Can we not argue that Eric Garner at the end of the day got what he deserved?

No. Fuck off, bootlicker.

[JohnD]

Thank you for raising the level of conversation. NOT.

People like you give this site a bad name.

[John Titor]

Because you writing like an idiot teenager raises the level of conversation? NOT.

[Paul.]

Can we not argue that Eric Garner at the end of the day got what he deserved?

A death sentence?

[Cytotoxic]

Can we not argue that Eric Garner at the end of the day got what he deserved?

You could, but that's because you're an evil piece of shit.

[Suthenboy]

"Can we not argue that Eric Garner at the end of the day got what he deserved?"

Wow. That is pretty evil and loathsome. No, he did not get what he deserved. I don't know what kind of guy he was in general but he was hurting no one at that time and from what I saw did not attempt to hurt any of the cops. They killed him because he refused to obey their arbitrary commands.

Obey or die, huh? Fuck you.

[JohnD]

If you resist arrest, you have to be prepared to accept the consequences. You really are a fool.

[Chumby]

I only watched each video twice; I don't recall hearing Miranda rights being rendered. If that is true, then it wasn't an arrest but an assault.

I do recall seeing the heros in blue going through his pockets while he was dying. They should all receive official accomodation for their heroism. To serve and protect.

[american socialist]

Dear Reason,

There's no wacky soundtrack to go with this video like the one's you make when you go to an Occupy protest. I guess a campaign for social justice when it comes to the po-po is great. Campaigns for social justice when a banker is foreclosing on your home or a corporation is poisoning your neighborhood are only attended by crazies.

[Vulgar Madman]

Fuck your social justice, you nazi cumwipe.

[Anthony Fisher]

I produced 6 videos related to Occupy protests, none of which contained a "wacky soundtrack."

[Cytotoxic]

Campaigns for social justice when a banker is foreclosing on your home or a corporation is poisoning your neighborhood are only attended by crazies.

Oops you accidentally told the truth by accident.

[Suthenboy]

"I guess a campaign for social justice when it comes to the po-po is great."

Yes, it is.

"Campaigns for social justice when a banker is foreclosing on your home or a corporation is poisoning your neighborhood are only attended by crazies."

Yep, that is correct.

[wadair]

Social Justice = revenge. Justice about civilizational harmony. Social Justice is about payback for a perceived wrong.

[Redmanfms]

It's not even that, it's revenge against people who weren't involved in the crime to benefit people who weren't the victims of the crime.

It's fucking barbaric "crucify the sons for the sins of the father" type bullshit that civilized people rejected centuries ago.

Yet more evidence of the fact that progs are regressive reactionaries.

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[Paul.]

Didn't some place in Mexico suffer a police work "slowdown" from both cops and transit police which resulted in lower crime and more efficiently moving traffic?

[DesigNate]

Yeah, but the villagers took up arms against the cartels and corrupt government officials. Slim chance of the same happening in NYC.

[Cytotoxic]

If De Blasio balanced the decrease in revenue that resulted from the NYPD work slowdown by cutting the NYPD, I'd forgive him for his charter school shenanigans.

[Suthenboy]

"Rank and file officers are also reportedly upset with ........ tolerance for the nightly protests "

The mayor's position and the method of protest aside, the NYPD has been behaving like an occupying army of goons and thugs and are reacting to people protesting that by doubling down on the goonery. Exactly what I would expect from an occupying army of goons and thugs. I loved the video the other day of the dancing guy getting roughed up in the middle of the street by four 300lb thugs in blue. They obviously don't give a frothy fuck what people think of them.

[Almanian!]

Yeah, all of this. I've just avoided engaging in any discussion, because apparently the majority of my acquaintances don't think any opposition to the popo = "wishing them dead".

Yep - most people get the govt they "deserve". The rest of us have to suffer for it.

[PapayaSF]

Restoras is a fool and not a libertarian. To intentionally block someone's way on a street or elsewhere is a violation of the NAP, when that person had absolutely nothing to do with Eric Garner. Protestors have no right to aggress against uninvolved third parties, no matter what their cause. I don't give a shit. I have my own causes, but I'm not going to block the way of some uninvolved person to publicize them. The degree of inconvenience caused is irrelevant, because they are still aggressing against uninvolved third parties.

These jerks think they are "civil rights activists" doing the equivalent of sitting at a segregated lunch counter. They're not. They're just moral narcissists willing to participate in demonstrations run by actual, capital-C Communists in order to feel superior. Fuck them.

[Cytotoxic]

If it there was a situation where blocking the highway was necessary to say prevent cops from killing a bunch of people, it would be justified. This is not that.

[PapayaSF]

Or, while I would dislike it personally, I'd have less of a beef if they (say) protested by blocking a road in front of a police station. At least that is in some way connected with the issue. But just disrupting a random road or shopping mall or whatever? No.

[JohnD]

They will go where they get the most media attention.

[TucsonNotLiberal]

"Protestors have no right to aggress against uninvolved third parties"

This is a time honored "revolutionary" tactic. Everyone is involved, such is morally required, if you aren't for us you are against us. True believer crap.

[JeremyR]

Pretty much.

If they really want to do something, why not form an organization that follows cops around and records their actions on duty?

Might not have much of an effect (as Garner's assault was video taped), but being watched would likely have an effect.

[Chumby]

When cops kill a citizen, they should be put on unpaid leave until it has been determined that the killing was justified.

[JohnD]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to remember one cop was subjected to a grand jury hearing and they didn't indict. The other was investigated by the DA and found there wasn't intent and he was attempting to perform his job.

You sound like an opinionated ass.

[Chumby]

When I pay the bill I expect to set the rules of employment. I will lose my opinion regarding this when I am no longer coerced into paying for something I don't use and don't want.

Having the DA investigate a shooting by a police officer is a considerable conflict of interest.

You sound like someone that grostulates over the Rodney King video.

[FloridaProf]

And, of course, Reason is titillated by anti-cop demonstrations.

[userve32]

SAmmy Joman says that is gonna be really good man.

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[XM]

If these protesters heard suspicious noise inside their homes, 100% of them will call the cops. No one will debate "Oh no, I better not, because cops might shoot my dog".

That's because they don't really care about police misconduct. Most of them are lefty racialists, and their notion of police brutality is derived from causes like the "Free Mumia Jamal" movement and OJ Simpson case. They don't read up on civil forfeitures, drug wars, etc. No prominent black figures even mentioned police militarization until it became part of the national conversation, which was started by the other side.

If we blocked traffic for an hour for every one person killed by the Obama drones, America would be at a standstill. After a certain amount of symbolic protests, you need to start thinking about real reforms. Voters in Fullerton recalled some of the city officials after the Kelly Thomas incident. No building were burned, no one lost their lives.

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