Get News & Views Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Occupy Protests Follow 123rd Annual Rose Parade
PASADENA, Calif. - The 2012 Tournament of Roses brought its flowery floats and strutting bands to a worldwide audience Monday under clear blue skies, and in its wake came a scruffier parade — hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters.
The thunder of the retreating marching bands mingled in the air with chants of "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out" as the Occupy the Rose Parade demonstrators retraced about 1.5 miles of the 5.5-mile parade route before veering off for a rally near City Hall. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon) The 123rd annual New Year's Day event, with the theme "Just Imagine," flowed along downtown Pasadena to the cheers of hundreds of thousands of sidewalk spectators.
An estimated 40 million people viewed this year's procession of 44 floats, 16 marching bands and 22 equestrian troupes on U.S. television.
There were 10 arrests overnight, including four felonies, as thousands of spectators staked out viewing places along the route but that figure was down from the previous year, police said.
"Everything went very, very well. We're very pleased," police Lt. Phlunte Riddle said.
On the heels of the two-hour parade came anti-Wall Street protesters in a pre-arranged demonstration.
The thunder of the retreating marching bands mingled in the air with chants of "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out" as the Occupy the Rose Parade demonstrators retraced about 1.5 miles of the 5.5-mile parade route before veering off for a rally near City Hall.
They carried a 250-foot-long banner that said "We the People" to represent the U.S. Constitution. Some also held a 70-foot-long octopus made from recycled plastic bags that represented the tentacles of perceived corporate greed.
"This is about getting money out of politics," said Greg Stevens, a 38-year-old public health lecturer at the University of Southern California. "I support everything this movement is about."
As the protesters marched by, some Rose Parade spectators yelled "get a job" while others snapped photos and cheered.
"It's kind of crazy but kind of exciting," said Alana Olvick, 26, of Valencia, Calif.
The ragtag group of protesters made an interesting comparison to the slick, glittering Rose Parade offerings.
"It's contradicting the parade," Olvick said.
Behind the protesters came three truckloads of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in riot gear but no arrests were immediately made and the protest was noisy but peaceful.
Occupy the Rose Parade organizer Pete Thottam estimated the crowd of protesters at 5,000, although police said it was around 400.
Police, parade and city officials held numerous meetings with the protest organizers to ensure that they did not disrupt the parade.
Heightened security is nothing new to the parade, which took place on Jan. 2 this year because New Year's Day falls on a Sunday.
Police also stepped up measures after 9/11 and the Y2K threat, and have regularly dealt with protests through the years ranging from anti-Vietnam war demonstrators to Native Americans incensed at the choice of a descendant of Christopher Columbus as grand marshal.
This year's parade featured Iraq war veteran J.R. Martinez as grand marshal, the children and grandchildren of Roy Rogers on a float commemorating cowboys, and the parents of Christina-Taylor Green, the 9-year-old girl killed in the mass shooting that injured U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords last year, on the Donate Life float honoring organ donors. The Greens donated their daughter's corneas.
The 2012 parade was the first in 58 years without the famed Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale horses after the company withdrew in a change of marketing strategy.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
31 Comments so far
Show All"As the protesters marched by, some Rose Parade spectators yelled "get a job" while others snapped photos and cheered."
That's the Fox trick: "Some people say..."
Don't believe or trust the AP.
It is the Republican way. Blame the victim!
Along with another phrase I've seen in AP articles on OWS and elsewhere: "perceived corporate greed" Yeah, it's just my perception.
how many cops in a "truckload"?
Too many, but maybe it takes that many to have one proper thought.
that would take a (think)tankful.
Don't gimme none a yer Truck
To all those who yelled 'get a job'. All good jobs get 'that' day off idiots. How about, 'Get a Life'.
Those that yelled "Get a Job" really ought to Get a Clue.
To those who yelled 'get a job', I suggest they GET A BRAIN. If there were plenty of jobs for everyone, there probably wouldn't even be an OWS. Morons yell the loudest.
The perfect reply to that insult is "make me an offer!"
for centuries job holder were kept locked on promises, until someone discovered; since they have to eat, they will come to work on their own - now they even have wheels to get there
- get the job means be a slave too
for centuries job holder were kept locked on promises, until someone discovered; since they have to eat, they will come to work on their own - now they even have wheels to get there
- get the job means be a slave too
"There were 10 arrests overnight, including four felonies, as thousands of spectators staked out viewing places along the route but that figure was down from the previous year, police said."
Inquiring minds wanna know: Were those arrested OWS protesters? If so, it's interesting to note how the trumped up charges are being escalated to felonies now. Won't be long before Obomber puts his brand spanking new Fascist NDAA to good use, declares all protesters "terrorists," pre-emptively arrests them all and throws in the reported FEMA camps (USan gulags) for all eternity A-la-Fidel Castro and his "law against vagrancy and dangerousness" (Ley Contra La Vagancia y La Peligrosidad) which criminalized people for being unemployed (even though the state was the only employer and there were no jobs) while others were pre-emptively arrested on suspicion that one day, maybe, they could commit a crime (profiling a-la-Minority Report). See boyz and guls, how much your government has learned from its foe 90 miles away? Who says they hate each other when they're all birds of a feather?
Note to self:
From today's DemocracyNow: "In the course of the action, a protester allegedly cut a police officer’s hand with a pair of scissors. Protester Zachary Miller was arrested and charged with felony assault. Miller could face up to seven years in prison."
As feared. And the best part is that the cop stabbed HIMSELF with the scissors while going thru the kid's pockets. Even DN is pandering to the story line of the Fascists. And this I know because I watched the event on livestream as it was taking place.
Yes, more information on those arrested and the reasons for their arrests should be in order.
Bullshit, these are not tea party, Koch brother,fox news, ass holes! These are real people, the stupid cops need no reason, they were following orders! These people are the 99 percent, thump them their opinion doesn't count. Remember to vote republican.
Not sure where you're coming from so I'll refrain from jumping the gun here until you explain your comment.
I'm compelled to make another comment, after reading this little gem:
"Behind the protesters came three truckloads of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in riot gear but no arrests were immediately made and the protest was noisy but peaceful."
Reminds me the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" -- and wherever Mary went, the lamb was sure to follow (even if the imagery is a bit reversed and/or inaccurate here and the Occupiers should be represented by a scarecrow and the Storm Troopers as a hungry, rabid wolf).
And a last observation, what jackasses they made of themselves. Ha ha! All that show of excessive police force for nothing. Wonder if they'll dare say how much it cost them. Easy to see that unlike their brutal brethren in NYC, they couldn't stage kettling of the protestors and a provocation that would allow them to unleash their brutality. Hopefully, somebody somewhere brings this to their attention so they understand how they proved that the protesters are peaceful and all they did was splatter their own poopoo on their ugly faces.
Very strange, because for some reason I don't remember ever reading that "Behind the "Tea Party" protesters, some of who showed up at political rallies openly carrying guns, came three truckloads of local County sheriff's deputies in riot gear but no arrests were immediately made and the protest was noisy but peaceful."
Oh, but the TP (Tea Party ? Toilet Paper Party ?) were funded by the righteous Koch Brothers. Dey is all american patri-rots, can't mess with em.
One thing OWS has done to perfection -- even if it wasn't their intention -- was to show the sheer hypocrisy of the US today. From the differential treatment of the Teabaggers to all the whooplah with the Arab Spring, they've shown what a hypocrisy the USG is and how their rhetoric means absolutely nothing but lies and theater.
"Truckload" of sheriffs seems like the wrong collective noun.
"PACK" of Sheriffs? "Gaggle" of Sheriffs" "SWARM: of Sheriffs (as in bees)? "CARTLOAD" of SHeriffs (as in monkeys)? "MISCHIEF" of Sheriffs (as in mice)? "PLAGUE" of Sheriffs (as in Locusts)? "LOUNGE" of Sheriffs (as in Lizards)? "NUISANCE" of Sheriffs (as in cats)? "DESTRUCTION of Sheriffs (as in wild cats)?
"QUIVER" of Sheriffs (as in cobras)? HERD of Sheriffs (as in pigs)?
endless possibilities.....
Hey they had plenty of practice with over-reaction during the Michael Jackson funeral. Remember that, lots of police standing around doing nothing but earning overtime.
Will we be reminded obsessively about the cost "to the taxpayers" of the clean-up after the Rose Parade, caused by "decent hard-working Americans" who left their couches, wood stoves, hibachis, garbage, plastic cups and bags, and tons (literally) of sundry trash strewn along 5 miles of Pasadena streets? Will this "extraordinary cost" be added to Pasadena's sizable financial problems and looming budget deficit, in the same manner that the Occupy L.A. encampment was demonized by the well-dressed and smirking bleeting sheep that pass for newscasters here in TinselTown? Somehow, I doubt it. I guess the Pasadena Cleanup will be seen as a "job creator" that improves the local GDP. Praise Be!
I would stay up all night for a chance to see an actual grandchild of Roy Rogers. It would be something I could tell my own grandchildren, worthless and floatless as they are.
Trylon
"...Some also held a 70-foot-long octopus made from recycled plastic bags that represented the tentacles of perceived corporate greed."
That would be a Giant Vampire Squid, representing Goldman Sachs. Which is symbolically wrapped around the face of humanity....
AP just doesn't get anything right these days!
There wasn't any TV coverage of the OWS, as far as I could tell and this is the first and only article I have seen. The usual main stream reporting.
In addition to OWS, among all the corporate floats and signs, I liked the Pulaski High School marching band's rendition of "Union Maid" chorus. (Oh you can't scare me, I'm stickin to the union, etc). Go marching band! The kids are allright.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNWWG_YzF_I
PS - I do not watch football. The link was sent to me by a friend.
Those in the crowd who yelled "Get a job" need to get a brain of their own and learn to think with it instead of allowing that useless grey matter in their heads to be filled by the words of others.